Brooklyn Star

A supremely juicy half roasted chicken offered flavors both delicate (lemons, sage and thyme; a side of verdant pea-shoots) and robust (rice, with curls of—you guessed it—bacon). What a good bourbon could do for this food we’ll never know; a liquor license is forthcoming for beer and wine only. Also in development: dessert. When we visited, the sole sweet was a seemingly improvised dish of strawberries dipped in corn-bread batter, tossed (why not?) into the deep fryer and served with a scoop of vanilla Hagen-Dazs.

“Come hungry” to this “excellent” Williamsburg Southerner where “interesting takes” on “good ol’” American food are served up in “plentiful” portions; though it’s “perennially packed” for brunch, the “reasonable” bills, “jovial” staff and “homey” vibe all add up to one “lucky find.”

Fools gold, that’s what Brooklyn Star is. The menu reads like an Infatuation wet dream, listing all kinds of unhealthy hotness like fried steak and a molasses pork chop.

Chef Joaquin Baca’s handiwork at Brooklyn Star displays a fun and creative streak that yields admirable results. Pork chops are brined with molasses, striped bass is poached in duck fat, and roasted chicken is glazed with sweet tea and plated with dirty rice. Gluttony will convince you to bolster a meal here with bacon-jalapeño cornbread or buttermilk biscuits… Though the focus is on the eats, the room is comfortably outfitted with brick red terrazzo floors and grey-trimmed walls.