Today we’re exploring Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood to try out Torst, one of NYC’s best beer bars, and judge the pierogies at Polish restaurant newcomer, Pierozek.
What’s beer-ter than dipping into a warm bar on a chilly winter afternoon to sample an impressive beer menu?? Probably sitting down to a beautiful meal with a beer buzz to feast on a buttery plate of savory pierogies. Let’s get to it!
Torst
Food + Drink
With a rotating food and beer list, it’s difficult to recommend something since chances are, it won’t be there by the time you are. Even though there are 21 taps, the beer rotation can happen quickly when it’s busy; a few taps might turn over to the next beer while you’re there.
FQ TIP: If Torst is busy and you’re eyeing a specific beer – order it ASAP. Hell, order two beers at once if you know you want to try both. The beer rotation can be quick and you don’t want to miss out while “saving the best for last.”
The beers are ordered by size, with 5oz, 8oz and 14oz options. A handful of beers don’t follow this sizing rule and it’s usually because they’re more alcoholic or produced in a small batch.
For food, Torst offers about 12-15 different plates and each is meticulously and creatively put together. Think more complex Michelin-style flavors and plating rather than sports-bar-style generic wings and soggy fries.
In 2015 Torst even offered beer ON TAP from the legendary Cantillon Brewery in Brussels, Belgium – an offering pretty much unheard of in the USA. It sold out almost immediately after they posted it on their Facebook page. But the point is, they know a thing or 10 about good beer.
I’m also a big fan of their custom stemware, which can be purchased for $15/glass from a bartender.
Our Torst Drink Order
- Paramour by Commonwealth Brewing – Sour IPA brewed with raspberries and vanilla – $10/8oz [Untappd Score: 4.1]
- Access Granted by Fonta Flora Brewery – Dry-hopped Blond Lager fermented with Brettanomyces – $10/8oz [Untappd Score: 3.8]
- Stick Figures 4.5 by Mumford Brewing – Imperial Stout aged in Superstition Meadery barrels with vanilla and coconut – $14/8oz [Untappd Score: 4.5]
- Coolship Lager Americana by OEC Brewing – Lager hopped with American Noble hops from the Pacific Northwest – $9/16oz can [Untapped Score: 3.9]
- Lagered Farmhouse Beer by Jester King – $29/75cl bottle [Untapped Score: 3.8]
- Bière De Coupage by Jester King – a blended farmhouse ale from their SPON (spontaneously-fermented) series. $46/75cl bottle [Untappd Score: 4.1]
- Das Wunderkind! by Jester King– young beer blended with old, sour beer aged in oak barrels. Dry, highly attenuated, unspiced, tart, floral, and funky. $33/75cl bottle [Untapped Score – 3.9]
Setting at Torst
Their Scandinavian-style setting with soft lighting is casual yet elevated. A mix of different wood hues and patterns are used throughout the tables and walls along with an expansive white marble bar. Basically, it just needs a fireplace and throw pills to go full hygge.
One fun thing to point out to your friends when you’re there are the wooden bar tap handles that scale in perfect harmony from light to dark wood, loosely coinciding with Torst’s light to dark beer options.
The bartenders (beertenders?) have an incredible ability to simultaneously recite facts about each beer, pour beer at New-York-Minute speeds all while still nodding their heads to the beat of the whatever song is playing.
It looks like they genuinely enjoy themselves which made my experience more enjoyable too.
Torst
615 Manhattan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11222
Pierozek
Pierozek might translate to “little pierogi” but it should translate to big flavor. I’ve been to many traditional Polish restaurants in NYC but few that are so dedicated to mastering the pierogi.
Since a visit to Poland in 2010, I’ve often looked for an authentic pierogi spot in the US. I’ve craved that delicate dough, a thin envelope to carry a flavorful filling from plate to mouth. So many places focus on the filling, then wrap it in a thick after-thought of dough, slab it with some butter and pass it off as “what their bobcia use to make.” Lies. I know your Polish grandma didn’t make dough like that – but so many foodies crave authenticity in their food, so they’ll believe anything.
But when I heard that a “team of up to ten women from Poland” were the ones creating these heavenly pierogies I knew I had to visit and judge for myself. Elle McLogan of CBS New York wrote of the women, “in the kitchen each day, they chat in Polish as they roll and fill the pierogi dough, using techniques learned from parents and grandparents back home.”
As soon as I walked into the restaurant and noticed tables filled with pierogies bearing an almost translucent dough, I knew instantly Pierozek is the real deal.
Food + Drink
Sure, many authentic Polish spots offer borsht, a traditional garlicky beet soup. But not many places I’ve been to serve it in a sipping cup. And one of the things I remember deeply from my rather emotional trip to Poland, was the comfort I found in sipping borscht from a warm mug. But this wasn’t a simple mug – this was old world Polish pottery. Something I’m sure my Polish grandmother grew up eating off of – something I wish I had inherited.
The borscht at Pierozek had a deep herbal flavor with a forward garlic and onion taste, a necessary balance to the hearty beet broth. The flavors melded so beautifully, it’s as if the process was never rushed, and instead came together slowly, all day.
We ordered one plate of Pierogi Ruske (potato and cheese filling) and one plate with pierogies stuffed with a mushroom and sauerkraut filling. Both are quite customary, but for a good reason. Each plate came draped with softened, buttery onions.
We had to add some homemade raspberry vodka to the mix, a nod to one of our dearest Russian friends whose father always made fresh raspberry vodka after harvesting the ripe fruit each summer.
Setting at Pierozek
Pierozek is understated-Brooklyn meets casual Krakow. Wood and marble come together throughout the restaurant in clean lines. Their tables are set with small earthy green bouquets and as the evening sets in they add simple tea light candles to each table, making a cozy but romantic vibe.
Pierozek
592 Manhattan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11222