AUTHOR BIO: Dana Somerstein’s passport is stamped with perfect pizza slices, delicate dumplings, and buttery baked goods. When she’s not chasing her next reservation, she practices real estate and banking law as a partner in Fort Lauderdale.
Some desserts are worth saving room for. The banana date pudding at Le Crocodile is worth rearranging the entire meal around.
It arrives as a cake island surrounded by thick caramel, the kind that tastes like freshly melted Werther’s Originals. The cake itself is dense and warm, with just enough savoriness to balance the sweet caramel sauce. It is the kind of dish that makes you reconsider the concept of “saving room,” or as my husband said, “It made my toes tingle.”
The dessert appetizer arrived just before the sommelier, who came over and immediately asked, as if to scold us, “Did you really just start with dessert?”
Then, without missing a beat, she said, “I have finally found my people.”
A good omen for dinner at Le Crocodile.
In Williamsburg’s Wythe Hotel, Le Crocodile possesses the old-school glamour you want from a hotel restaurant but still feels relaxed and distinctly Brooklyn. The room is covered in dark wooden accents, including a large wooden bar that looks like it is made of rich mahogany and could contain many leather-bound books. There are mosaic tile floors and tall windows to keep the light coming in and balance the warm and intimate feeling. It has all the upscale feel but none of the pretension.
Steak frites
The neighborhood brasserie comes from the team behind Chez Ma Tante, with chef-partners Jake Leiber and Aidan O’Neal at the helm, and the food reflects that same balance: thoughtful but not fussy. The team is using French technique, but the dishes arrive without being so precious that you forget they are meant to be eaten.
Which brings me to the food. The squash, eggplant, and romesco dish was one of those vegetable dishes that makes you wonder why vegetables don’t always get this kind of attention. Think ratatouille, but deconstructed—the dish, not the cartoon rat. The squash and eggplant retain their individual personalities, while the romesco pulls everything together with a beautiful balance of acidity and oil. Rich, bright, and deeply satisfying, without feeling heavy.
Next, we had my favorite Waldorf salad. It may sound simple, but it’s lettuce-free, with crisp apples, celery, chopped candied walnuts, parsley, and Bayley Hazen blue cheese is a refreshing flavor-bomb delight. It’s the perfect summer addition to the menu and a great way to break up the meal before our entrée of bistro steak frites.
Waldorf salad
Just when we thought we were done, having already started with dessert, the sommelier sent over a scoop of sorbet and the vanilla bean ice cream with cookies and flambéed bananas. This ice cream is a complete dessert in a way that ice cream alone is so often not. And it was the right full-circle ending to our meal.
Squash, eggplant, and romesco
Banana date pudding
The wine program is equally worth paying attention to. It was one of the most reasonably priced wine lists that I have seen in New York, and it included some producers that I have only ever seen in Europe. It’s an approachable way to discover a new favorite wine rather than simply presenting a parade of bottles you’ve already heard of. We hear the restaurant may soon be starting quarterly wine dinners—sign us up!
Next time, perhaps we’ll start with dinner.
No promises.
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