The Grocery? You may be forgiven for asking. The restaurant is a modest 30-seat, one-room storefront on Smith Street between Union and Sackett Streets in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, and does not even serve liquor.
Perhaps no one was more surprised by the news than the owners of the Grocery themselves.
"I don't think we're doing earth-shattering food," said Charles Kiely, who owns the restaurant with his partner, Sharon Pachter, when he was told of the Grocery's position. "We're just a really good neighborhood restaurant."
In light of this news, William Grimes revisits The Grocery which he originally awarded one star shortly after its opening in 2000. Le Bernadin, Daniel, Jean Georges and Bouley are all four star restaurants.
Grimes' original review of The Grocery: Service is glacial at this cramped storefront with a lovely garden in back, but the food is worth the wait. The market-driven lineup of beguilingly simple but impressive dishes includes manila clams in a garlic-herb broth and cumin-dusted tuna with cumin-yogurt sauce. The steamed puddings are epic.
And Grimes' conclusion after his recent visit:
For what it is, the Grocery is about as good as it can be. So in one sense, the Zagat voters are correct. The Grocery deserves a nearly perfect score. But perfection at one culinary level does not compare with perfection at a higher level. Olympic diving might offer the best analogy. A perfect reverse somersault with one turn cannot earn as high a score as a perfect reverse somersault with two and a half turns. By the same token, the perfect three-minute pop song cannot grip the imagination and hold it the way a three-minute polonaise by Chopin can. Subtlety, finesse and refinement deserve a higher score. Art trumps craft. The best bistro in New York should not be considered the equal of a Daniel or a Le Bernardin.
In this sense, either the Zagat voters are wrong or the scoring system incorporates an absurdity. Mr. Kiely and Ms. Pachter would probably be the first to point it out. The Brooklyn Cyclones could win all 76 of their games, but they would still be a minor league team. A great one, but still minor league.
The Grocery
288 Smith St. (Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens)
Between Union and Sackett Sts.
Other reviews: Citysearch, Digital City, NYMetro
