Cocktails, fondue and raw oysters at the funeral home.. er.. Bourgeois Pig.
Photos by Joshua Kristal
There was a time when I’d have to leave Brooklyn to get an impeccably made craft cocktail. Now, I barely have to walk two blocks and I’m at the Bourgeois Pig Brooklyn in Carroll Gardens sipping a Munich Old Fashioned, a deft and ever so slightly sweet mix of Asbach Uralt German Brandy, Austrian Apricot Liqueur, Baerenjaeger Honey Liquer and bitters snaking around one extra large ice cube.
Of course, Bourgeois Pig Brooklyn isn’t the first South Brooklyn neighborhood establishment where one can procure a fancy cocktail, but what stands out to me is that–unlike so many of the others–there is nothing Brooklyn about it. Instead, there’s a lot of Manhattan boho chic in the red lights, velvet settees, gilded ceiling, fleur de lis, and rich luster of the place that’s meant to evoke old world Europe.
That is no accident, according to one of the partners and Cobble Hill resident, Ravi DeRossi (Death & Co, Cienfuegos), who wanted his Brooklyn Pig to mirror that of his solidly popular East Village one, with the notable exception of the cocktails—the Seventh Street spot is wine and beer only.
The Brooklyn Pig’s food varies from the original, too, owing to its small kitchen. The lounge’s partner Luis Gonzales (Mayahuel) helms the menu—a short, simple list written on a central chalkboard that always offers up cheese and chocolate fondues, fromage and charcuterie boards, and raw bar selections that included some excellent West Coast oysters served with a tangy horseradish cocktail sauce on the night I visited.
The cocktail list is courtesy of another of the spot’s partners, Frank Cisneros (Prime Meats, Dram), and jumps from France with the Fleur De Florence (Florentine hazelnut and cocoa tea, black walnut bitters and Champagne) to Germany and Austria with the beautifully layered Kaiser Swizzle (brandy, lime juice, ginger, Kummel caraway spirit, Zucca, bitters) to Italy with the Il San Marino (gin, lemon, pear liqueur, Galliano, sparkling wine). The wine list also spans Europe with selections from Germany, Italy, Spain and Greece.
Starting today and Tuesday (and every Monday and Tuesday thereafter), you can experience the bottled wine list at half off, a program that DeRossi hopes will have lines out the door as it does in the East Village location.
The best seats in the house are either the bar seats, where one can watch Cisneros work his mixology magic, or the elevated rim of seating that hugs the windows and feels surprisingly private and romantic for such a tiny space.
Of course, it’s not a stretch for neighborhood barflies to have visions of hot fondue and belly-warming wine on a cold winter’s night, but there will be a new reason to visit come spring, when planned sidewalk seating will double its current capacity.
Bourgeois Pig Brooklyn
387 Court Street
(718) 858-5483
Daily 5 p.m. to 4 a.m., serving food late.
