At the current rate, there will be more restaurants in Williamsburg than asymmetrical haircuts by the end of the year. And roof decks—who doesn’t have one? What’s notable about Juliette, the new bistro that just went up on North Fifth Street, isn’t its novelty or the possibility of drunken Sunday afternoons overlooking the East River, but the attention to detail and the high quality of the dishes served.
In a space big enough for a nightclub, the former tenant was once the local band lair Black & Red. Now, completely transformed, Juliette has more room than your average local boite, and it’s tastefully filled with plants and antiques as well as enough tables to accommodate an army of hungry, hung-over hipsters looking for some grownup grub.
Open for breakfast only on the weekends, Juliette offers a French-style menu that’s nothing if not decadent but at a reasonable fixed price of $13. The French toast, made with homemade brioche, arrives topped with lardons (cubes of bacon), and all the dishes come with a side of potatoes topped with a thick hollandaise sauce. Breakfast service includes top-notch coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice in addition to one of the 10 entrees—from a burger to gravlax (thin slices of cured salmon) made in-house. This isn’t the rowdy brunch crowd that packs the Bedford corridor hoping to cure last night’s vodka tonic with this morning’s Bloody Mary. And while there’s an air of calm and reserve, which is definitely refreshing in the land of unlimited mimosas for the legwarmer set in last night’s makeup, it’s not so stuffy that you’ll mistake it for the Upper East Side.
For dinner, the dining room at Juliette opens at 5 p.m. seven nights a week with an impressive selection of apps and entrees. Starting with classic French onion soup ($6), the meals are well conceived and prepared. Specifically, standout dishes include the Indian curry moules frites (steamed mussels) with coconut milk and fresh cilantro ($15), the grilled Cornish hens with Roquefort polenta ($18) or the classic steak frites ($19). Portions remain substantial—more American than Continental—though you may have to dredge up some of your high school French to pronounce the menu correctly. But don’t think Juliette’s gone overboard with euro snobbery: Guacamole shows up whenever possible, including in a standard grilled chicken sandwich—with smoked mozzarella, arugula, tomato, Portobello, roasted garlic mayonnaise and guac ($13)—as well as in something called Tartine’s Spicy Chicken ($16), which also comes with a side of fries—very French.
In addition to the broad dinner menu, there’s a respectable wine list to match. Strong selections of red, white, rosé and champagne all show up, and while none of them would qualify as terribly inexpensive—the lowest-priced bottle clocks in at $22—there’s no reason not to splurge. If you’re a cheap date, however, all of the beers are priced at $5 and can be used to wash down dishes from the escargot ($7) to any of the classic fruity desserts (poached pears, pear crème brulée and orange soufflé glacée all go for $6.50 a piece).
While late-night spots serving upscale cuisine are still few and far between in these parts, Juliette does its best, staying open until midnight most evenings and 1 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. With rumors of a movie theater being built on Berry Street—and the unstoppable construction of apartment towers along the waterfront—the area’s quickly sprouting dining spots to match its fancy new image, and Juliette is one of the best in the bunch. It might not be “vintage Williamsburg,” but if this is the future, it doesn’t look too bad.
Juliette
135 N. 5th St. (betw. Bedford Ave. & Berry St.)
718-388-9222
