Brod Kitchen Review – A Nordic Taste in NYC

By Jennifer Shanteau

To say that the Viking Party aka opening of Brod Kitchen on W. 4^th Street right across from NYU’s Stern Business School Wednesday night was a success is definitely an understatement.  The place was packed….and with cool people.  Not everyone was in their 20’s, but everyone seemed fun, stylish and in the know. Brod Kitchen was without doubt, the place to be, and after sampling their fine fare, I can see why. I was so glad my name was on the list at this casual, Nordic inspired eatery headed by culinary team Monette de Botton and Hugo Uys, which utilizes sustainable, seasonal ingredients.  What a fun time!

Much like their food, the atmosphere is clean, modern and simple, with warm beautiful, long wooden tables and large glass windows to let in the sunshine.  I can certainly picture myself having breakfast or lunch here, or coming here to write while sampling some of their fairtrade certified organic tea or coffee.  The prices are reasonable. With the quality of product they have coming out of the kitchen, I’m not sure how they manage to keep them that way, but since this is their second location in Manhattan, (the first at 1201 Second Ave.), they must’ve found a loophole somewhere.  Or perhaps, a fairy godmother?

One of the dishes that was my favorite, and really stood out was the Smorrebrod that they are known for, which consisted of homemade rye bread topped with various combinations of fresh ingredients and served open-faced.  I’m not a bread person, but this was something I’ve never seen served anywhere.  I’m going to go out on a limb and claim it was healthy, too.  It’s just the kind of bread my holistic health teacher told me to seek out, but tasted way better than any of the healthy bread I’ve ever tried.  It had an amazing texture.  It was almost nutty. By incorporating it into Smorrebrod, or open-faced sandwiches, you got just the right “bread to stuff” ratio.  Anyone who has ever eaten a sandwich with me knows how insane I am about having just the right proportions in a sandwich….not too much bread, condiments spread out evenly, every bite is just as good as the last, etc.  This Smorrebrod made me very happy.  I wonder if they would sell me a loaf?  Mental note…..check into that.

Each of the Smorrebrod I was able to get my greedy hands on was good.  First, I had the Chicken, which was shredded and seasoned with a curry mango sauce that was so creamy and wonderful, and beautifully topped with red horseradish.  Then I tried the Roast Beef with horseradish (my favorite condiment), and crunchy pickles, and last, the Smoked Salmon.  You can’t very well have a Nordic inspired restaurant without offering smoked salmon! I feel that after a meal of any of these options, I would be satisfied because the food was very tasty, and feel great because it was relatively clean, healthy and not too heavy.  It’s a hard combination to come by.  Too often I’m either in a food coma from eating too decadently, or unsatisfied with the lack of flavor in my healthy meal.  This Smorrebrod made me smile.

Speaking of decadent, if you’re in that mood, Brod Kitchen can accommodate you on that note, as well.  Two of their burgers are now on my all-time top five burgers list.  The Brod Burger was so well seasoned and tender, the juice from the burger mimicked the drool running down my chin.

My surprise love of the evening was the Fish Burger.  It’s difficult to find fish burgers of any kind that aren’t so breaded and seasoned that you can no longer taste the fish itself.  I’ve never had a fish burger that tasted this good!  Any of you out there that are scrunching up your nose right now at the thought of it, don’t.  Just go try it, and I bet anything, you’ll be big fans, too.

I was also pleased with their Sausage Rolls.  It didn’t look quite as appealing as it tasted, so when I took my first bite, I was pleasantly surprised.  The casing on the sausage had that perfect crispness, and the roll was uber buttery.

So by now, you know the food here is tasty, but they aslo pay attention to presentation.  Whenever presentation is taken into consideration, it just kicks the food up a notch for me.  I feel somehow, more cared for.  Check out this Scrambled Egg and these Fries.

Desserts to me are the fashion models of food….gorgeous, but full of empty calories. Sorry, models, well, you aren’t reading this anyway.  So…not my thing, but my dining companion’s eyes were beaming with excitement viewing these delectable goodies.

I love pistachio, and she just died over this Pistachio Cream Puff.  Looks pretty amazing, right?

This Chocolate Mousse was pretty fabulous, too.  It had a very intense deep dark chocolate flavor that even I could appreciate.  On the rare day that I do want something sweet, it always something intense like this.  I like my sweets like my drinks, strong and to the point.

All in all, I have to say, I very much enjoyed tasting all of the food at Brod Kitchen, and would recommend it to friends.  If you go and happen to see some blonde chic trying to buy a loaf of bread, come and say “hi”, that’s me.

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