A new restaurant called Bar Annicka is now open in Greenpoint
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We recently have had a lot of closings, so we’re happy to report that Bar Annicka just opened very close to the former home of Bar Matchless. Bar Annicka is a new spot from the same people behind Greenpoint Beer and Ale Co.and North Brooklyn Farms:
“Our approach is making the diner feel like they’re in an inclusive space,” says Emma Jane Gonzalez, a vegan and one of the restaurant’s three chefs. “We wanted this to be a restaurant a lot of people could participate in, and to create a menu of food that people feel good eating. We just want people to be able to eat together, you know?”
Along with Gonzalez, the kitchen is run by Kenneth Monroe and Christian Perkins, a butcher who worked at Marlow & Daughters and Diner. They describe their approach, in marketing terms, as “New Age New American.” Which, no, doesn’t mean it’s guided by crystals and energy fields, but, Gonzalez explains, has “influences from old-school health food … but also incorporates wellness cuisine.”
The result of that “inclusive” approach to cooking (menu here) is a restaurant where you can eat your grains (with little gems, mustard, and garden-goddess dressing) and butcher’s steak (with black garlic), too. Along with entrée-size proteins like housemade sausages with white kimchee, there’s green-chile stew with cultured cashew cream and charred cauliflower with pickled beet pâté. Drinks — the alcoholic ones, anyway — will exclusively be New York–made, as Annicka is opening under Governor Andrew Cuomo’s farm-brewery license.
They have a strict “no assholes” policy, which we can fully get behind:
“Restaurant culture, for whatever reason, can be a really unhealthy place,” Gonzalez says. “Both in encouraging unhealthy habits and also unhealthy dynamics, be it between men and women, between front of house and back of house, and I think we really just weren’t interested in that. It doesn’t feel sustainable.” Bar Annicka, according to Gonzalez and Winters, strives to be a place where staff can feel creative, comfortable, and nurtured.
“We have a pretty strict no-assholes policy, to put it bluntly,” Gonzalez says. “We want this place to be a nice place to work and to come.”
Bar Annicka
544 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11222
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You can check out the menu from their opening night below.
Bar Annicka Opening Menu by Eater NY on Scribd
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