Le Barricou: Restaurant Review

Le Barricou ( 533 Grand Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 718/782-7372)

Cafe Drake recently dined with a lovely set of ladies at East Williamsburg's newest bistro Le Barricou. Once we found the remotely located space we settled into a table and wine and cocktails. Exhausted from a long work week (and Julie having just stepped off a thirty hour flight from China moments before), mercifully the wine was serviceable ($28 for a basic French Sauvignon Blanc) and the Manhattans ($8) large and well-made. Disappointing, doughy bread and routine butter didn't start things off with a bang, and an appetizer of Fried Calamari ($8) was tender but bland as well, rescued from disaster by a nicely spiced mayonnaise and a novel topping of chopped watercress and marinated mung bean sprouts. Similar Asian touches adorn the basic menu of bistro standbys; for example, a Grilled Salmon ($14) was shellacked with a sweet soy glaze, and resting atop knotted Chinese longbeans and tiny shrimp dumplings. Even better was an entree of pan-fried Sea Scallops ($13), each of the three moist bivalves crowned with buttered walnuts and served alongside sweet potato raviolis and grilled scallions. An obscenely rich ginger butter sauce made the entire dish sing. With a few awkward first steps, Le Barricou promises to grow into a neighborhood Cheers, the sort of place you return to again and again, not perhaps for regal decor or an of-the-moment crowd, but for the amazing prices, a handful of surefire menu options and a gracious and skilled staff.

We followed this most satisfying meal with drinks and a live performance from Macaque at Monkeytown. The show was great and the drinks very acceptable (Manhattans and Tom Collins, both $8). Jennifer and Julie wound the evening up with a nightcap at Cafe Drake itself, as you will see in the photos above.