Peaches

How can I say enough good things about this restaurant?

Peaches, a restaurant deep into the (former?) jungle that is Bed-Stuy, is just the sort of restaurant that an emerging neighborhood needs. I'm extraordinarily pleased that I got to eat there in its infancy and I hope to see how it develops.

Allow me to set the scene:
Yesterday, while I was setting up the restaurant, the bartender, Greg, gets a call on his cell. It's his special lady, who had just been at a supermarket in Bed-Stuy, in front of which someone pulled a handgun and fired 4 shots. Apparently everyone and their mom hit the deck both indoors and outside. No one called the police; in the middle of the day.

Blocks away (actually quite a few blocks, Bed-Stuy is a large neighborhood by NYC standards), Craig and Ben are serving up some ridiculously reasonably priced grub to what appears to be the adoration of the neighborhood. I knew of their work from the Smoke Joint, a BBQ spot close to the very fine restaurant at which I toil. I like their work and I like their investment in Brooklyn and Bed-Stuy.
Both were formerly cooks at some very choice restaurants in Manhattan, but when they went for ownership they went for Brooklyn and they went for BBQ. Both seem a step back from pretentious and a step back from expensive: an ideal combination for mere mortals like myself.

Part of why I wanted to try this restaurant was motivated by my own greed for a bargain. For now it is still BYOB. This makes such a difference; it's just insane. I brought a bottle of vinho verde and a bottle of gruner veltliner. Both were delicious, both were reasonably priced for their quality, $8 and $18 respectively. I could easily have been whacked between $60 and $90 (if not much more) for the same wines on a Manhattan list.

What we ate:
Apps:
Watermelon salad, arugula, shallots, lemon ginger dressing
Fried green tomatoes with remoulade
Asparagus salad with buttermilk dressing

Entrees:
Blackened Tilapia with summer squash and tomato
Andouille and Crawfish Gumbo

Dessert:
Peach Cobbler
Brownie a la mode

Every dish was extremely delicious. I could have small criticisms, but with a final bill of $50, how could anyone complain?

If you live anywhere even vaguely nearby, go there (preferably in the next 8 weeks, pre-liquor license,) eat well, tip well, and stumble home.