Restaurant Review: Dumont

Photo Via http://www.freewilliamsburg.com

Restaurant Review: DuMont

Home is what you make it--I'll make mine with cheddar, bacon, and pickled onions. 

I’ve been going to DuMont since before I moved to Williamsburg three years ago. It was one of the first restaurants I ever ate at in Brooklyn and easily opened my eyes to what Brooklyn had become. 

Back in my late teenage years, my friends and I would hop on the train from Westport, CT en route to Grand Central Station. We would wolf down a few slices of pizza from Two Boots right next to the platform and make our way downtown to Union Square and eventually to Brooklyn. Our destination was always the same; Studio B in Greenpoint. Studio B was an old dance hall smack-dab in the center of Greenpoint around Franklin and Calyer. It was infamous for underage drinking, and we found no problems gaining access to the club—No IDs necessary, no bribes needed; we didn’t even look of age. This is probably why they were shut down three times and eventually, for good. We were so happy to find a place where our favorite DJs were performing that we could get trashed in until the wee hours of the morning, get the first train in back to Westport, and sneak back into our houses before our parents woke up. I remember getting off at the Nassau Avenue G station thinking I was in the worst part of Brooklyn; I surely thought I was going to get mugged. While Williamsburg and Greenpoint weren’t what they were now eight years ago, I was naive to think they were so seedy. The walks from the club back to the Bedford L station past McCarren Park actually made my heart race… we were slightly sheltered in Connecticut. 

Studio B Via http://www.newyorkshitty.com

Brooklyn slowly started growing on me. Maybe it was the readily accessible booze or the laid back attitude, but it’s no surprise to me that I found myself here again later in my life. Of course, now McCarren park is a destination for me if I’m in search of grass and trees, and I don’t worry about how much money I’ll need to bribe a bouncer to drink somewhere that night, but Brooklyn will always be sentimental to me. Once I moved to the city to go to culinary school, I was spending almost as much time in Brooklyn as I was in Manhattan—It was only a matter of time before I moved there. As I said, the sentimentality kept me coming back, especially with DuMont. It will always hold a very special place in my heart, right above my stomach.

I took my girlfriend to DuMont on our first date... we were talking about it when we were sat down in DuMont’s sprawling, covered, backyard dining room this past weekend. I asked her if she liked burgers in a text message. When she replied yes, I knew where we were going. It fit all the criteria for a great date night: Warm and inviting, not too loud, but lively, great drinks, great food, not too expensive, and all-in-all, familiar seeming. The moment we sat down, I was able to loosen up and be myself without the feeling of butterflies barfing in my stomach—I knew this place, I’ve been coming here for years. I actually ate like I wasn’t an Ascetic Monk, and was more than happy to drink from DuMont’s spectacular seasonal drink list, not just to take the edge off my nerves. I was able to be myself without worrying about my surroundings and the meal that was to come. I think I picked the right place seeing as my girlfriend and I have been together for eight months now and are still going strong.

Photo by Todd Q. Via Yelp

This time around wasn’t for a special occasion, just a casual night out when I didn’t want to cook and delivery didn’t sound appetizing. We weren’t kept waiting for a table and were whisked off to the back of the restaurant. For anyone that has never eaten at DuMont, the backyard area may be surprising—It easily holds a hundred patrons and is set in a lovely garden with plants and trees littered around. It’s covered, heated and/or cooled, and seats comfortably everywhere. The front of the restaurant is inviting, through cozy, but the back is where the true charm lies. DuMont offers great specials as well as an extensive and creative drink list. The drink of the evening for me was The Mantooth, a perfectly balanced mix of Dewars, Cardamom syrup, orange, and lemon juice. It was like a smoky, herbaceous whiskey sour that left me crunching on the ice cubes for more. My girlfriend had the Ocelot, a mix of tequila, Lillet Blanc, Lime, yellow Chartreuse, and a Maraschino cherry. I’m not a huge fan of tequila, but the mix was right and the drink was very tasty. The specials for the night were seasonal, soI couldn’t help but go for one.

The special appetizer we shared was diver sea scallops with pancetta, fingerling potatoes, mushrooms, white asparagus, and frisee. The scallops were seared perfectly and were fresh, seasoned well, and matched with everything on the plate. The appetizer disappeared quickly. For our entrees my girlfriend had the amazing DuMont Burger while I went for the hanger steak with Maitre d’ butter and Bordelaise sauce. The steak was cooked to perfection and was damn good. The Maitre d’ butter was just right, with the perfect mix of herbs and slightly acidic from a squeeze of lemon. The Bordelaise sauce was composed well, although a little thin for me. The fries that the steak and burger came with were hand-cut, crispy, and amazing—some of the best fries in Brooklyn. The burger is always amazing; truly a work of art. I don’t always add lettuce, tomatoes, and onions to my burger, but here, it’s a staple. The Boston Bibb lettuce is crunchy and cool, the tomato is always ripe, and the onions are pickled in the nectar of the gods. I could eat a plate of these pickled onions at any notice. Whether you add ketchup, mustard, or mayonnaise to your burger, make sure you add those onions! We had dessert waiting for us at home, so we paid the bill and hopped away from DuMont in the fresh Spring air.

Photo by Kevin S. Via Yelp

My lease is up in my current apartment in August, which means I’ll be starting my search for a new apartment sometime next month. Whether or not I stay in Williamsburg is yet to be seen. Williamsburg has been good to me, but my neighborhood has gotten extraordinarily booshie in the past year. I’ll stay in Brooklyn for sure, but I may be moving on to a new adventure something like ten minutes away. If I’m in Williamsburg, Greenpoint, or Cobble Hill, it’s safe to say I’ll be making frequent trips back to DuMont. It’s the type of place you crave; ever wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night fresh off a nightmare of a thick-cut rib eye steak chasing you through a slaughterhouse with a butcher’s cleaver? Maybe I’m the only one, but those dreams usually mean you’re craving something. I’ll be craving a bite from a juicy, tender, and succulent DuMont Burger in about five months from now and I hope I wake up before that fictional burger sinks a boning knife deep into my spine and realize what it is I’m craving. I’ll drop all my plans the next night and sit down in my home away from home truly enjoying what’s on my plate.

-Adam from Tipped Mixology