Bash Compactor: ’Burg Gets Easy
As HBOs Nawlens drama Treme wrapped, I was left with a sense of emptiness that came from watching Kim Dickens Janette prepare delicious-looking Creole dishes. But even after hours of Yelping for a Cajun place in Brooklyn, it became clear that New York didnt have what I wanted.
Cut to last Thursday at Williamsburg dive bar The Charleston. The backroom was filled with couples. The beards and babes sat with their High Lifes, shouting to each other over Jonathan Toubins DJ set of garage rock, all with a look of anticipation, staring at the long, newspaper-covered table in the middle of room. Every few minutes a dude with short, dark hair wearing a sleeveless T-shirt came in, held up a few fingers and mouthed, Five minutes.
He was Josh Martin, guitarist and singer for the Brooklyn punk trio Ex Humans and one of the guys behind the opening of Williamsburgs new Cajun restaurant, Honeychiles, which we were celebrating the opening of. [The bar] wanted to get out of the free pizza thing, said Martin. We were going to open one of those trucks, but this seemed better.
Ex Humans drummer Jesse Martinez spent most of the night busting his ass in the kitchen. Id book a million tours before Id open another restaurant, he said. But I love it.
Jameson Proctor is the third and most-experienced member of the all- Southern, all-musician trio behind Honeychiles. After working for Tom Colicchio, Proctor quit restaurants to play in the country revival band The Weight. It wasnt until Martin presented him with the idea for Honeychiles that he decided to return. Cajun food in a true dive barit just feels right.
The three guys get along famously, all talking with twangs about their love of Cajun food. Theres few cuisines that are held more holy by the actual natives than Cajun food, Proctor said. If Im walking down Bedford, I have the choice between a $12 plate of sushi or a po boy with smoked cheddar and green onion hush puppies for $8, Im coming here.
The room was filling up with the hip and hungry, including J.R. from Jail Bait and Andy Animal from Stalkers. They all waited around the table until Martin walked in clutching the handles of a steaming pot. The crowds rejoiced as he lifted it above the table and turned it over, sending hundreds of boiled crawfish, as well as some corn and potatoes, onto the newspaper.
That was when the celebration became something special. The twosomes started blending together, cracking shells, digging for meat, washing it down with beer. Despite the heat and the smell of fish in the air, there was something sexy about all the slurping. People will probably be getting laid, I thought. This is one of the best food experiences Ive ever had, said one girl, sucking the head out of her crawfish. This is what eating should be!