228 Dekalb Ave., Fort Greene; sailor.nyc
First, the bad news: Sailor, which sees restaurateur Gabriel Stulman team up for the first time with chef April Bloomfield, has only eight bookable tables (fewer than any lingering streeteries), and its excellence appears to be a consensus view. The chances of getting in are low. Still, Sailor is as good as promised: casually superlative and suspiciously affordable. It can be deceptively simple, too. Why go out for toast? Bloomfield’s menu contains two types, and both have stayed with me, most especially her mussel toast, plump bivalves on a thin plank, licoricey with fennel. After eating Bloomfield’s chicken, I was compelled to call her to plumb its secrets (time to dry out in the walk-in, salt, and dried herbs), and it’s a testament to her cooking that as soon as I hung up, I kicked myself for not investigating her bay-scented smoked pork shoulder as well. There are precious few misses on her menu, just as there are precious few tables in the dining room. — M.S.
