Strange Delight
You won't hear jazz or zydeco playing from the speakers here, and there's not a Carnival mask or beaded necklace in sight. But somehow Strange Delight manages to channel the spirit of New Orleans like no other NYC restaurant.There's a laid-back conviviality to the service, with the kind of warmth you get in Cre ...
You won't hear jazz or zydeco playing from the speakers here, and there's not a Carnival mask or beaded necklace in sight. But somehow Strange Delight manages to channel the spirit of New Orleans like no other NYC restaurant.
There's a laid-back conviviality to the service, with the kind of warmth you get in Crescent City. Though the white-on-white, subway-tiles-and-marble interior is all New York, the cramped confines recall NOLA's many hole-in-the-wall haunts as well. But foremost is the menu, a love letter to the seafood dishes of New Orleans, with a special focus on oysters.
Those bivalves come raw with mignonette sauce; fried; barbecued; and embedded in an oyster loaf that's then crammed into a sandwich with pickles and iceberg lettuce, between the softest of milk bread slices. The huge sandwiches are a meal in themselves, so don't believe the waiter if you're advised to order two to three dishes per person.
The finest oyster usage may well be the charbroiled version, cooked in an inferno-like pizza oven left by the previous tenant. The intense heat quickly caramelizes the outside of the oyster but leaves the sweet interior juicy. Based on preparations devised by the New Orleans restaurant Felix's and served with parmesan, garlic butter, and bread crumbs, Strange Delight's take is the best broiled oyster I've ever had.
Also tops on the menu: tender blackened swordfish belly, a broccolini salad with nutritional yeast dressing, and a shrimp-and-crab remoulade. If you want to feel like you're splashing out but without spending too much, the seafood tower (raw oysters, shrimp cocktail, shrimp remoulade, smoked fish dip with fried saltines, and crudo) is just $35, not bad for this sort of thing.
The restaurant is located relatively close to two massive venues—the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Barclays Center—so be sure to get advance reservations, especially on game days or when big concerts and other performances are on the schedule. One warning: If you don't like seafood, eat elsewhere. Fish and shellfish are showcased in almost every dish on the menu, and no other kinds of meat are served here. It's all surf, no turf.
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