Mac-n-Cheese Spring Rolls, the Giants and Beer on Tap

Brooklyn Tap House –Bed-Stuy’s first beer garden – celebrated its grand opening Friday night, just in time for this Sunday’s Giants game!

Nearly two years in the making, and finally it’s here: Purportedly the largest beer garden in the borough of Brooklyn. But its arrival came not without a nice shot in the arm of Murphy’s Law, according to Brooklyn Tap’s Executive Chef Vince Visceglia.

At 4:00pm, only two hours before its grand opening, the restaurant’s owners and staff were rushing about, cleaning still, adding finishing touches and making last-minute repairs to the refrigeration and ventilation systems.

“It’s been crazy here all day,” said Visceglia with a frazzled smile. “But thank God, we’ve been able to get things working again… at least well enough for the 6:00pm opening tonight.”

Aside from the 140 different types of beers (40 on tap and 100 bottled beers), Brooklyn Tap will feature a menu to rival any upscale tapas bar, with choices so tantalizing, both vegans and meat-eaters alike may switch positions, just to try a few of the tempting menu items.

Visceglia has been working hard to make sure that if the beer, the music, the large flat-screens or the ambiance aren’t enough to draw the customers in, the food certainly will be.

What’s on the menu?

“All of the best ingredients. For example, we don’t use jalapenos; we use habaneros,” said Visceglia. “We’re paying twice as much for our food products to make sure the customers always enjoy what they’re eating.”

Okay, so let’s start with the hot dogs. Yes, they're $10 for one order, and that’s just crazy. But this isn’t your ordinary hot dog: It’s a Cobey Beef Hot Dog made of Japanese filet mignon. The meat comes from beer-fed cows that, Visceglia explains, are massaged for an entire year. The Cobey hot dog is topped with beer caramelized onions, homemade Creole mustard and chipotle aioli mayo. All of this is served on a brioche bun.

Now, whether the taste of the Cobey Beef makes up for the 200% markup in price, we’ll let you decide!

For the seafood lover in you, there are crab cakes, priced about right at $10. The crab cakes are made on the premises of lump crab, corn, basil, roasted red peppers and Habanero, for a little kick, deep fried in panko bread crumbs. Personally, I prefer my crab cakes pan-fried so that they’re soft, versus a hard deep fry that gives it a fishstick-like crunchiness.

Get ready for the mac-n-cheese spring rolls. This may be the only instance you will justify to yourself paying $5 for a single spring roll, because what’s inside is some sure ‘nuff cheesy goodness. The egg roll’s wrap is the perfect crunchiness, without being greasy, while the macaroni inside is blended with three fantastic cheeses: brie, aged white cheddar and asagio parmesan. A must-try.

Also, there’s Spanish Chorizo, pan-seared and braised in woodchuck hard cider, $8; the “Pull My Pork” Sliders made of angus pork shoulder, $9; the “Three-Way” chicken wings with housemade BBQ sauce and two different housemade hot sauces; and the housemade warm pretzel, accompanied with beer cheese sauce, $4.

But I must say that my absolute favorite dish of the evening was the vegetarian chili. For someone who is not a vegetarian, I was wholly impressed with how much better this dish tasted than the traditional meat variety. The blend of black and white beans, zucchinni, red pepper, portabello mushrooms and chili spices was near-nirvana in a bowl, accompanied by homemade fried pita chips. And the price was just as heavenly, $7.

Come check out the food, the beer and watch the Giants play the Atlanta Falcons this Sunday, January 8, at 1:00pm, at Brooklyn Tap House, located at 590 Myrtle Avenue (on the corner of Classon Avenue).