On the waterfront

S

Sharon Bowman

Sharon Bowman
It is summer, and what better time to hop on the Ikea ferry and boat on over to Red Hook?

This I did yesterday after work with an office-mate, and we made our way up to Fort Defiance, to discover... CLOSED TUESDAYS.

Undeterred (or only partially deterred), we found our way back to the welcoming charms of The Good Fork. Not being possessed of DEET, we decided to eschew the back garden and squeeze in at the two empty stools at the (seriously) four-seat bar.

We ordered a bottle of 2012 Taille aux Loups Montlouis "Les Dix Arpents" and some fried oysters and started chatting with the bartender and two owners.

I like the feel of this place. The music ran to Marvin Gaye and the like, and each food thing was terrific (fried oysters with green goddess sauce; arugula and pickled carrot and bacon salad; hamburger with gruyère, more bacon (because) and great fries; key lime pie from the guy in the former warehouses on the waterfront who only makes key lime pie).

We talked of voodoo; soul music; why Earth, Wind & Fire did not include Water; and the like.

The 2012 Jacky Blot was a really interesting wine. I'm much more familiar with his non-dosé sparkler, but this still Montlouis from, I assume, a plot of the size named in its title, was an interesting drink. On the attack it had an almost grainy, slightly oxidative (but only slightly-slightly) texture I associate with the wines of René Mosse and Marc Angéli. Only it was more streamlined than theirs, less fatty. It was a bit short on the palate, unfortunately, but charming at the outset of a sip.

Then out into the Uber-waiting night.
 
They have always had surplus DEET when I have visited, but I haven't been in a long while. Maybe Sandy washed it all away.
 
I assume they redid it in the same fashion, like they did at Fort Defiance. It looks the same, in any case (and still has that wonky sliding door on the WC, and the narrow pass between front room and back indoor room before the garden, with wood floors in front and tiles in back: why?).

I ate there last in the summer of 2013 (so, nine or so months after Sandy) and didn't even notice/remember.
 
The garden tchotchkes have changed and the decor was redone but the general layout of the building did not change. As I recall, Good Fork has their kitchen upstairs so most of their expensive equipment was unharmed.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
The garden tchotchkes have changed and the decor was redone but the general layout of the building did not change. As I recall, Good Fork has their kitchen upstairs so most of their expensive equipment was unharmed.
Click to expand...

The kitchen is upstairs but they had a lot of equipment downstairs:

Good Fork Sandy
 
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