Restaurant Review: DuMont, Finally

For some reason, we’d never been to DuMont before. Maybe it’s because we’re creatures of habit and, when heading out in Williamsburg, tend to go back to our old stomping grounds at Diner, no slouch in the experience of fine cuisine. Last Thursday, though, we motivated to visit the Union Avenue “New American” restaurant which, along with its younger siblings DuMont Burger and Dressler, has been winning accolades since launching almost five years ago. the vibe was good when we walked in and managed to snag what looked like the last available table at 8pm. Mrs. B started with a trout salad that she pronounced a winner on the first bite – perfectly crisp frisee topped with excellent trout and dressed just enough with a horseradish dressing; meanwhile, we dove into the best spare ribs we’ve had in a long time, regretting only that we hadn’t started with a beer instead getting straight into red wine. Given the whole we-just-bought-and-renovated-a-brownstone thing, we naturally opted for a less expensive bottle, so we can’t complain too much that it was a bit bland. (But we have had better at the same price.) For the main course, we split the signature DuMont burger, opting to top it with Gruyere and bacon. The only slip-up of the night, the burger arrived still half-alive, a far cry from the medium rare we had requested. The beef was pretty quality stuff so we still inhaled it, enjoying every bite. With the decent but not particularly memorable apple pastry to cap it off, we settled up, coming in at an even $100 with tip. Not a cheap night out but pretty reasonable considering how pleasurable the experience.