The Good Fork

The Good Fork
Van Brunt Street Red Hook

I feel like I've died and on to kimchi heaven. I feel like this is food that was designed for me. I am so happy I could cry.

The room was full of young hipsters, a marked difference from 360 across the street, which always seems to be filled with old people. When we walked in, there was a big camera-phone-happy crowd celebrating a birthday. Couples were nuzzling in banquettes. A table of wide food loving men eating slowly. A handful of diners at the bar. I felt right at home.

If my mother ever made me a plate of skirt steak with kimchi fried rice with a fried egg on top, I might have been nicer to her.

It's hard to categorize food like this, since it borrows from Korean, New American, French influences. Please don't even think about saying fusion. And it's seasonal!

The Wings gave serious heat. This is beyond spicy, it's a furnace. The Bitter Greens were paired with a potato pancake that even my Kraut approved, paired with ricotta and some caramelied onions. Some roasted beets too. We ate braised Berkshire pig atop Kimchi and polenta. I think there were some ramps in there too. And of course the steak. The apple tart was lovely, made me wish I ordered the Flourless Chocolate cake too. I was so inspired by this meal, that I did what I do when I want to contemplate the meal I'd just had: order an after-dinner drink, a sweet Azzurri Sauvignon Blanc. Sweet and slightly chilled.

This is exciting, flavorful, affordable, delicious food. Ben and Sohui are my heroes.