North East Kingdom--Brooklyn

718.386.3864

Northeast kingdom is exactly what it is. That statement is so tautological it becomes nonsensical, and I’m okay with that. The small, modest little place deep in the heart of Brooklyn, call it Williamsburg, or Bushwick, or Bed Sty, (I don’t know exactly where it is), doesn’t try to clobber you with gourmet comfort food pretense. It doesn’t overwhelm you with fancy-pants soft cow’s milk cheeses or exotic seasonal vegetables. The décor is modest, not riddled with post hipster kitsch appeal. No, Northeast Kingdom presents itself in all its layers as a small, quiet, neighborhood place that serves an affordable dinner. Thank God, for if I have to visit another stupid, gimmick riddled, quasi-gourmet Brooklyn restaurant I’d puke.
As most of the restaurants in Brooklyn, Kingdom’s staff is composed of older idealistic artists awaiting their upper middle class inheritance. And that’s cool. To be honest I find most people in that demographic to be educated and generally quite nice. What separates the Northeast Kingdom’s staff from the rest of the echelon is that they’re not trying to shove some sort of foodie snobbery down your throat.

I visited this restaurant with a group of friends in the know about a new place. Believe me you, I don’t necessarily know good restaurants from bad restaurants, and still feel that the Polish Diner on Bedford Avenue might be a contender for the best place in Brooklyn (to be honest this has less to do with the food than it does with the stiff, aloof Polish Lesbians who run the joint). None the less, when we got there we drank some beers and basically mixed it up enough to sample about everything on the menu. It’s not the best meal in town, in fact the green salad was rather ordinary, but the menu had some gems. For instance the chicken pot pie rocked. Granted, if you fuck up a chicken pot pie you’re either an idiot or my mother, but it was still a non pretentious down home meal. And that’s how most of the meal was, nothing flashy, nothing gross, just hearty and warm and inviting. The food was good, it was served hot, and it didn’t cost much money, really, what more can you ask for?