[What You Should Order At...] Fort Reno Provisions

WHAT YOU SHOULD ORDER AT... is a recurring column designed in kind for your opinionated asses and our lazy asses. When the mood strikes, we pick one Park Slope resto and recommend our favorite dish. Are we right? Are we wrong? YOU KNOW YOU WANNA WEIGH IN.

Over the last few years, Park Slope has gone from a nabe with zero legit BBQ joints to one with a few respectable spots sprinkled around the Park Slope/Gowanus border...& NO, Pork Slope does not count as a place to get legit BBQ, no matter how many times people refer to it as one. Sorry, LJ. It just isn’t.

Before Fletchers & (soon to be) Dinosaur BBQ, there was Fort Reno Provisions, the place owned by a group including Jacques Gautier of Palo Santo. Since opening back in January of last year, the tiny restaurant on Union just above 4th Ave has gone through a number of menu tweaks & while it hasn't earned the same acclaim as Fletchers & probably isn't worthy of it, it's continued to pump out pretty solid BBQ. For most of this time, they've offered up a dish called the "Hot Mess." While one might hope that a dish with such a name would have clumps of LiLo's, er...Amanda Bynes' hair in it, that's unfortunately not the case.

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Mimosas Are For Pussies (Oh, and Fort Reno Provisions Will Soon Be Offering Brunch)

Let's be honest. Let's be straight. Let's consider calling me a boozehound. Brunch in NYC is pretty much two things:

1. A weekend event where folks stumble out of bed in the early afternoon to gather together after a night of drinking. This is done so that they may consume a late breakfast in an attempt to fend off the previous eve's hangover.

2. A weekend event where folks stumble out of bed in the early afternoon to gather together after a night of drinking. This is done so that they may consume a late breakfast alongside copious brunch beverages in an attempt to delay the effects of the previous eve's hangover.

This coming weekend, you could drag your sorry ass AGAIN to the same stale Park Slope brunch spot you've been going to every weekend for a while now, but I suggest you try something new. Be adventurous, damnit! If you try said new thing, people will think you’re "hip" because you followed the suggestion of a lush who writes for a neighborhood blog with a slightly offensive name.

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Fletcher's: A New BBQ Joint Coming to Gowanus

MMM, BBQ.

Fort Reno Provisions and Dinosaur BBQ, I hope you're ready for some competish, because another BBQ joint is planning to open in Gowanus this summer. Fletcher's will be located at 433 3rd Ave (between 6th/7th streets) and, according to owner Bill Fletcher, "will serve traditional counter-service barbecue plus grilled foods and chilis for both meat-eaters and non-meat eaters alike."

Bill's been planning thsi joint for the past two years. The man's crazy about barbecue, and even with a few other eateries popping up nearby, thinks that there can never be enough of them. He's currently in the midst of applying for a full liquor license through Community Board 6 so that we all may properly wash tasty bbq down our gullets. Thing is, in order to get this liquor license, Bill needs to show that members of the community support this new establishment. Bill's been pounding the pavement to gain some new fans, but he's also put a petition up online that you can sign. 

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FiPS Preview: Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

The Future Home of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

According to esteemed barbecue archaeologists, our ancient ancestors believed that the tastiest part of the T-Rex is the ribs. Just ask Fred Flintstone. Measuring a few meters long, T-Rex ribs are the Holy Grail of barbecue. Pterodactyl wings are also supposedly tasty, as are brontosaurus burgers & many other dinosaur-based barbecue dishes. Don't bother trying velociraptor meat though. It's like a cross between lizard & pigeon.

These days, thanks to the Endangered Species Act & such impediments, dinosaur meat is sort of hard to get your hands on. Our research into amber/DNA revival of these tasty creatures has thus far been unsuccessful. As such, if we want to live like our hairy ancestors, who TOTALLY lived alongside the dinosaur, the closest thing we've got is the New York-based Dinosaur Bar-B-Que restaurants. Unfortunately for Park Slope residents, at the moment, the closest of the four locales is in West Harlem. That shit's at least an hour subway ride away.

Luckily, in a little less than a year, Dinosaur will be opening a new locale in an industrial space at 604 Union St, just across 4th Ave into Gowanus. With this announcement, last month's opening of Fort Reno Provisions & the general media buzz about Park Slope BBQ in the air, I traveled up to Harlem to chat with John Stage, the founder of the mini-chain of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que joints.

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Park Slope's About To Get All BBQ-Y

Image via www.barbequelovers.comPark Slope is about to get its barbecue ON.

The owners of Palo Santo, one of my favorite off-the-beaten-path brunch spots, are opening a new joint next week called Fort Reno Provisions, which will be located at 669 Union (at 4th Avenue). According to NY Eater, they'll sell whole hog pulled pork, brisket, ribs, and other specialties by the pound. All meat will come from Heritage Foods. 

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