What do you get when you mix a Bolivian restauranteur, a Cuban chef, a Paraguayan waiter and Uruguayan beef? The answer is Carniceria, a pan-Latin restaurant that opened this summer on Smith Street’s restaurant row in Carroll Gardens. Like a Colombian telenovela, Carniceria arrives on the scene amidst a backdrop of scandal and intrigue. The restaurant is a reincarnation of Porchetta, which opened to much fanfare last fall with dynamo chef Jason Neroni (of 71 Clinton Fresh Food) at the helm. Within months, Neroni had been sacked and Porchetta, shuttered. Neroni cited irreconcilable differences, owner Marco Rivero accused Neroni of misappropriation of funds, and the entire saga was reported breathlessly by the city's food blogs. In the meantime, Rivero has quietly regrouped and switched directions. Carniceria is the result.
The name means “butcher’s shop” in Spanish, and the first thing you notice when you approach the restaurant is the faded sign that bears its name above the front door. The sign is perfectly weathered, its letters just faintly visible beneath decades of rust and grime. Our waiter told us that the owner had found the sign nearby, and a long-time Carroll Gardens resident whom we bumped into outside confirmed that it had once adorned a local butchery-cum-social club. As a prop, it’s magnificent, evoking an earlier era in Carroll Gardens or, if you let your mind wander with the restaurant’s Southern Cone theme, a dusty town in the Pampas.
The decor on the inside matches the mood established out front. Tin ceilings, faded wallpaper and chipped cafeteria-style tables and chairs suggest a vanished past. On a hot summer day, with Latin big-band music playing in the background and the doors and windows thrown open to the street, you feel like you’ve been transported to Peronist Buenos Aires or pre-revolutionary Havana. Some of the smaller details are puzzling—chintzy antler candelabra in the main dining room, stuffed blackbirds on wooden branches protruding from a wall in the bathroom—but they’re more weird than offensive, and the overall effect is pleasant and casual. A long bar facing the windows is the perfect place for a drink while waiting for friends or a table.
Carniceria’s chef is Alex Garcia, formerly of Novo and Calle Ocho, and his menu incorporates products and influences from throughout Latin America. Of course, this being a butcher shop of sorts, the menu leans heavily towards beef, specifically Uruguayan beef. When asked how the beef from Uruguay and Argentina differ (Argentina’s is widely touted as the world’s best), our waiter shrugged and said that the beef is basically the same, but the cows hate each other. Fair enough. The important thing for diners is that Carniceria’s beef is grass-fed, and the cuts have a juicy richness.
While the steak is good, however, the real draw at Carniceria is the assortment of Nuevo Latino starters and appetizers. The empanadas ($8)—one stuffed with buttery Swiss chard, the other with delicate ground beef—are delicious and could constitute a meal on their own. Also good are the camarones ($12), which win additional points for presentation. Cooked to perfection and lightly glazed, the shrimp perch atop an avocado salad resting in a pastry shell bowl with a crisp onion lining. For something a little lighter, try the conchitos ($9), a ceviche dish composed of bay scallops, salsa verde, avocado and pico de gallo. And for those who can’t get enough meat, make sure to sample the costillas ($12), a savory pile of short ribs with an apricot glaze and a grilled onion salad.
Like the food, the drinks at Carniceria are also pan-Latin. The beers cross borders from Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia, the Dominican Republic to Argentina. The selection of affordable wines is also broad, with Spanish, Chilean and California bottles priced from $21 to $65. And if you’re in the mood for a cocktail, you’re in luck: All of the bar’s concoctions are made with fresh fruit juice. Try the watermelon mojito or a cactus pear daiquiri.
As I settled into my chair after a gluttonous meal, I had a flashback to a summer I spent studying Spanish in Ecuador: lazy afternoons in sidewalk cafes recuperating from morning classes and salsa lessons. The food at Carniceria is good, but sometimes a restaurant’s other attributes render the food almost irrelevant. Such is the case with Rivero’s new venture. In what must have been a Hail Mary pass following Porchetta’s sudden demise, he’s managed to distill the Latin American ethos in this little corner of Brooklyn.
Carniceria
241 Smith St., Brooklyn 718-237-9100
The name means “butcher’s shop” in Spanish, and the first thing you notice when you approach the restaurant is the faded sign that bears its name above the front door. The sign is perfectly weathered, its letters just faintly visible beneath decades of rust and grime. Our waiter told us that the owner had found the sign nearby, and a long-time Carroll Gardens resident whom we bumped into outside confirmed that it had once adorned a local butchery-cum-social club. As a prop, it’s magnificent, evoking an earlier era in Carroll Gardens or, if you let your mind wander with the restaurant’s Southern Cone theme, a dusty town in the Pampas.
The decor on the inside matches the mood established out front. Tin ceilings, faded wallpaper and chipped cafeteria-style tables and chairs suggest a vanished past. On a hot summer day, with Latin big-band music playing in the background and the doors and windows thrown open to the street, you feel like you’ve been transported to Peronist Buenos Aires or pre-revolutionary Havana. Some of the smaller details are puzzling—chintzy antler candelabra in the main dining room, stuffed blackbirds on wooden branches protruding from a wall in the bathroom—but they’re more weird than offensive, and the overall effect is pleasant and casual. A long bar facing the windows is the perfect place for a drink while waiting for friends or a table.
Carniceria’s chef is Alex Garcia, formerly of Novo and Calle Ocho, and his menu incorporates products and influences from throughout Latin America. Of course, this being a butcher shop of sorts, the menu leans heavily towards beef, specifically Uruguayan beef. When asked how the beef from Uruguay and Argentina differ (Argentina’s is widely touted as the world’s best), our waiter shrugged and said that the beef is basically the same, but the cows hate each other. Fair enough. The important thing for diners is that Carniceria’s beef is grass-fed, and the cuts have a juicy richness.
While the steak is good, however, the real draw at Carniceria is the assortment of Nuevo Latino starters and appetizers. The empanadas ($8)—one stuffed with buttery Swiss chard, the other with delicate ground beef—are delicious and could constitute a meal on their own. Also good are the camarones ($12), which win additional points for presentation. Cooked to perfection and lightly glazed, the shrimp perch atop an avocado salad resting in a pastry shell bowl with a crisp onion lining. For something a little lighter, try the conchitos ($9), a ceviche dish composed of bay scallops, salsa verde, avocado and pico de gallo. And for those who can’t get enough meat, make sure to sample the costillas ($12), a savory pile of short ribs with an apricot glaze and a grilled onion salad.
Like the food, the drinks at Carniceria are also pan-Latin. The beers cross borders from Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia, the Dominican Republic to Argentina. The selection of affordable wines is also broad, with Spanish, Chilean and California bottles priced from $21 to $65. And if you’re in the mood for a cocktail, you’re in luck: All of the bar’s concoctions are made with fresh fruit juice. Try the watermelon mojito or a cactus pear daiquiri.
As I settled into my chair after a gluttonous meal, I had a flashback to a summer I spent studying Spanish in Ecuador: lazy afternoons in sidewalk cafes recuperating from morning classes and salsa lessons. The food at Carniceria is good, but sometimes a restaurant’s other attributes render the food almost irrelevant. Such is the case with Rivero’s new venture. In what must have been a Hail Mary pass following Porchetta’s sudden demise, he’s managed to distill the Latin American ethos in this little corner of Brooklyn.
Carniceria
241 Smith St., Brooklyn 718-237-9100
