[What You Should Order At…] The Vanderbilt

When Saul Bolton (of Smith-Street-now-Brooklyn-Museum-Saul fame) opened The Vanderbilt on Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights in 2009, the place was jam-packed with people from Park Slope venturing across Flatubsh Ave. for the kind of food and atmosphere you generally couldn't find over in the old neighborhood at the time. The menu was, and still is, chock full of options for sharing and snacking or having a full entree if that's what you're in the mood for. Four years and three months later, the place is still going strong, and I have to believe that's due in large part to one particular, mouth-wateringly amazing dish on the menu: The Brussels sprouts.

You cannot go to The Vanderbilt without ordering these babies. I've converted avowed sprouts-haters into sprouts-lovers with these sprouts. I once went with a friend and ordered the sprouts and some other dishes, went across the street to Ample Hills for dessert, and then went back to the bar at The Vanderbilt and ordered more sprouts. 

Food52 has a pretty good approximation of the recipe, although, I learned from a waitress on my last visit that they are missing one very key ingredient: fish sauce. 

Have you had the Brussels sprouts at The Vanderbilt?