Brooklyn's Best Bistro or TikTok's Tacky Trend? A Review of Sailor
The new(ish) restaurant in Fort Greene was made popular for its cheesy toast and long walk-in waitlist. Is it really worth the hype?
I love FoodTok. Of course I do, I’m a food writer and a food lover, and I always want to know what the newest places in the industry are, and what food they’re making. Sailor came across my desk a few months ago, mostly because many people were posting about one specific dish—an avocado toast of sorts, but the green spread might not have been avocado, and it was smothered in mounds of parmesan cheese before being served. I love anything with cheese, so I told my girlfriend—we have to go.
When we finally decided to take the going seriously, I realized I had to make a reservation two weeks in advance. Dinner reservations become available at 11 a.m. two weeks before your desired date, which is insane, because who knows they want to go out to dinner two weeks before they actually go? It’s an anxious person’s nightmare. But (sometimes) more than I’m an anxious person, I’m a foodie, and I just had to test the hype out for myself.
So, I made a reservation. And I waited two weeks until it rolled around. And now we’re here, and you’re all caught up.
If you’re looking for the long story short, because you don’t want to finish reading this post—which means you actually hate my guts—then I’ll say this: Sailor is a restaurant worth going back to.
But that doesn’t come with zero caveats.
We got there and realized why a reservation is so difficult to obtain—the place is small, with only about seven reservable tables. We sat in a nice area, right by a door that doubled as a window, with enough space that it didn’t feel like we were breathing down anyone else’s neck. And the atmosphere was lovely.
As expected from the name, the whole place was decked out in ship-like decor, from navy blue paint to white curtains, and even a bathroom with the letters “WC” painted on foggy glass. The letters WC mean “water closet,” which is what they called it when a closet or cupboard was made into a toilet room on boats and such. You’re welcome for the boat history lesson.
Our reservation was at 7:15, so the sun was starting to set just as we were seated. With our seat by the window, the natural light shone beautifully against the array of wine bottles lined up on the wall behind the tiny bar across from us, and our food looked even prettier thanks to a little vitamin D.
First Course
Who doesn’t love an appetizer? Sailor’s menu changes month to month, so the green cheesy toast wasn’t available, and the menu doesn’t actually label any of the dishes as appetizers, entrées, or desserts, but with a little recall back to fifth-grade English class, you too can use context clues to figure it out. We ordered the skordalia with oregano and flatbread, which was a delicious potato-based puree with almond milk, olive oil, and herbs, served with a fluffy circular flatbread that I could’ve eaten seventeen pieces of.
The skordalia was smooth in texture and in flavor, making it a nice dish to wet our palates with as we waited for the rest of our food. The ratio of dip to flatbread, though, is not great, as we finished the bread and still had probably half of the skordalia left. Thankfully, our waiter offered to bring us more bread—and you never say no to more bread. The new bread was different: four pieces of square, toasted bread that was charred just enough to enhance the herbs and salt in the skordalia’s flavor profile. I loved that bread.
The skordalia gets a 5 out of 5 all around. It was tasty, with both kinds of really yummy bread, and it was the one dish we kept going back to throughout the meal.
First Course, Part II
The other appetizer we got was the caesar salad, because I’m a big believer that you can’t go anywhere popular without trying their caesar salad. Let me say this—and this will be controversial, but I will die on this hill—one of the top three (possibly top two, maybe top one) caesar salads I have ever had at a restaurant was at a Red Lobster 5+ years ago, and I’ve never forgotten it. Did saying that just ruin my credibility? Probably, but try it, and you’ll see.
Sometimes keeping the simple things simple is all you have to do. A caesar salad is good with romaine lettuce, a heavy amount of caesar dressing (and I mean heavy—I want my lettuce to be drenched), a ton of parmesan cheese, and croutons. That’s all you need, but the trick is striking the right balance, which I think Sailor struggled with.
The salad wasn’t bad, maybe a 3.5 out of 5, but I probably wouldn’t order it again, unless I was really wanting something refreshing to start out my meal that day. But I could live without it. The cheese you see on top is just about all the cheese you’re going to get here, which for me just isn’t enough. Plus, the more hidden pieces of lettuce were a bit dry; really, I think if they’d just take a sec to mix the salad a little bit more, the cheese and dressing may evenly distribute enough for the salad to be top tier. But Sailor’s version of “top tier” is adding anchovies to their caesar salad, and while the fishiness and saltiness of the anchovies wasn’t a poor taste, it was just okay, which led to this being a mediocre salad at best.
Second Course
For dinner, I ordered the half roasted chicken with parmesan roasted potatoes. The dish is served in what the waiter called a “beautiful roasting tray” as he made space on the table for our dinner plates. The chicken was moist on the inside and juicy, which I attribute to the dried herb butter brushed over its skin. It was a bit difficult to eat, I will say, because cutting into it with a fork and knife wasn’t effective, and Sailor doesn’t feel like the kind of place where you eat with your fingers. I just struggled in silence.
Let me tell you one thing about this dish—the potatoes were insanely good. The outside was incredibly crispy and yet somehow the inside was still so smooth and fluffy and how??? I could’ve eaten a whole beautiful roasting tray’s worth of those potatoes. I’d go back just for those. And the spinach sneaking in under my chicken was really nicely done, too: flavorful, creamy, and just the right amount of salt. I think Sailor is good for these few things so far—salting their dishes, small plates, and side dishes. Check, check, and check.
Second Course, Part II
My girlfriend ordered the roasted cod with chickpea ragout, and if you don’t know what ragout means, I will educate you based on the knowledge I gained from Google thirty seconds ago. It’s a highly seasoned meat dish with stewed vegetables. Pretty simple, but not to a fault.
Although my girlfriend said she would probably order my chicken dish next time over her cod dish (ambitious of her to presume she’s getting a second date, huh?), she did finish the whole plate, so that’s gotta say something about the flavor quality. I tasted her dish, and the chickpeas were decent. They were a bit mushy for my taste, but if you don’t have a texture problem, you should enjoy the vegetable stew. The cod was really light and airy with a perfected crispy skin that was quite impressive—and again, well seasoned, as is a trend at this place.
The cod dish as a whole was probably a 4 out of 5, and the chicken dish was maybe a 3.9 (4 seems too generous, but those potatoes deserve an out-of-this-world rating), so let’s call the entrées an even 4 out of 5 and be on our way, shall we? The best part is always dessert.
Third Course
Let me start by saying, I’ve been seeing this dialogue from this guy on social media—he works with The Basement Yard podcast, and if you don’t know them, get to know them because they’re the only straight men funny enough to have a podcast—and he said dessert is an unnecessary part of a meal. He actually said he’d rather have two entrées and nix dessert entirely. What do I say to that? Jail.
We ordered two desserts, because I’m just a girl who needs a sweet treat after every meal, and although my girlfriend is more on the side of throwing dessert as a concept away, she indulges in me while I indulge in my sweets. And by that I mean, she orders a different dessert so the waiter doesn’t know they’re secretly both going to be eaten by me.
I’m kidding, kinda. I ordered the almond tart with crème fraîche and rhubarb, and what can I say about this other than: it was a bit too much of just about everything. The crème fraîche was too savory to be on a dessert plate, and I say that as a crème fraîche lover—I mix it into scrambled eggs all the time, thanks to my man Gordon Ramsay. The rhubarb added a nice fruity component to this otherwise nutty tart, as if it was raspberry or strawberry flavored, but there was far too much rhubarb. Given the fact that it’s sour in nature, and the rhubarb sits right on top of the tart, even if you manage to scoop it off to the side, the sour juices have already seeped in and tainted your dessert.
The tart itself was good—it was a level of nutty that didn’t borderline savory too closely and gave a comforting warmth that I love in a dessert, but it did need a bit more of a sweet counterpart to really make it a standout. The rhubarb and crème fraîche just didn’t do it for me. My girlfriend loved it, though, and we ended up switching desserts, so this is probably a good choice if you can do without an overly sweet sweet treat.
Third Course, Part II
The true star of this date night is… me, actually, for this insanely good picture I took of the second true star of the date night—the profiteroles. I have nothing to say (that’s a lie, I have so much to say, but I’m being hyperbolic) except that these were delicious. And gorgeous. And I needed seven more of them to go.
If you don’t know, profiteroles are little pastry balls usually filled with some sort of cream, but in this case, they were sliced open, each side was slathered in sticky salted caramel that made me feel instantly like I was getting cavities in the best possible way, and a hefty scoop of vanilla ice cream was stuffed in the middle. More salted caramel seemed to be drizzled over the top for dramatic flare, and doesn’t that just work for these things? They look almost as good as they tasted.
The profiteroles were everything you want a dessert to be, besides the fact that they weren’t chocolate. I love a chocolate dessert more than anything, but if I can’t get one, I’d choose to get this profiterole dish every time. The pastry got ever so slightly soggy on the inside because of the vanilla ice cream (which means I have to dock it a half point), but the outer edges remained crispy and tacky with the salted caramel—and let me say, salted caramel was a game changer here. Regular caramel would’ve done the job, but salted caramel counters the sweetness in the vanilla ice cream and adds a tang, a kick, one final knock-your-socks-off moment before you pay your bill.
They were simply delicious and yet not simple at all—it’s a complicated pastry with a complex flavor profile that I wanted so much more of. The only complaint I have is that I could’ve done with one more profiterole on my plate, but that’s just me being greedy.
Ratings
Overall Food: 4/5
(This is a rounded-up average of all my ratings above, including desserts: profiteroles at a 4.5 and the almond tart at a 3. The actual average was 3.983333… so do with that what you will. The general verdict is—maybe TikTok overhyped this place ever so slightly, but it is worth visiting, and I will be returning.)
Drinks: 4/5
(I drank a lovely Syrah that was slightly dry and not too sweet. My girlfriend had a sparkling rosé with bubbles that paired beautifully with the lightness of her cod dish.)
Ambience: 4.5/5
(It’s beautiful inside, and it feels really fancy to eat there. I did feel slightly out of place taking these pictures, almost like I was being judged for my (visible but subtle) excitement about being there—but that was probably just in my head.)
Dining Date
I’m really excited for this portion of the review, because I’ve been dying to show the world this perfect picture of my beautiful girlfriend. As with all my best dinners, she was my dining date, and I loved being excited to try new food with her.
Things of Note
I haven’t blogged in a while, so let me fill you in on what’s been going on.
I tried The Lions in NYC twice—once drunk, once sober, and it was incredible both times. Recommend the burger and the fried mozzarella.
I had a really good parmesan-crusted chicken at Cooper’s Hawk in Florida, so do recommend heading there if you’ve got a location nearby.
The best nachos I’ve ever had in my life are from Phebe’s on Bowery in NYC. It’s a huge portion, so try them with friends—and get an espresso martini while you’re there, it’s the law.
Boulton & Watt has been a go-to date night spot for us recently. Good espresso martinis, nachos, burgers, and fish and chips, and also killer music playing 24/7. Someone tell them to send me their Spotify playlist.
I’m on Beli! Find me @briannayvelisse. I’ll be trying to update it more frequently.
I reviewed White Claw’s newest product on Tasting Table, so check that out! More alcohol-based content coming soon.