What’s the vibe?

From the Blue Ribbon family, and sister restaurant to the Soho original, this Brooklyn outpost is located in the super-nice neighbourhood of Park Slope. Here since 2001 it’s got a smart French brasserie feel, but being in a residential, family area it’s all totally relaxed too. It’s a long room with dim moody lighting and a central bank of seating facing both walls – we’d recommend grabbing a table here if you can, as the high-backed booths mean you can get very cosy indeed. Service is very welcoming too, so it all adds up to the vibe of an ideal neighbourhood restaurant.

Blue Ribbon Brooklyn

What to order?

Blue Ribbon isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel here – it’s all about the classics, the kind of things you want to keep coming back for again and again. Having said that, there’s still enough variety to keep things interesting, from the huge selection of fresh oysters and sea food, to BBQ meats and even some rice dishes including a pretty incredible sounding Paella Royale, featuring Whole Lobster, New Orleans Shrimp, Salmon, Chicken, Mussels, Clams, Calamari, Chicken Sausage, Red Peppers & Peas.

That felt like a little too much for just two of us so we kicked off instead with some tempura oysters, each served on a bed of garlic creamed spinach, plus some baked clams which were taken to new heights with the addition of crispy bacon bits and a bone marrow butter. We could have eaten a LOT of those.

As Blue Ribbon are known for their fried chicken (they even have a dedicated fried chicken restaurant) we had to go for the fried chicken sandwich – and we’re very glad we did as it was a beauty. Trying to balance that out with something more healthy, we also got the salmon, served with asparagus, mustard sauce, and mashed potato. There was nothing healthy about the hot fudge sundae we had for dessert, but when delving in to a huge glass of ice cream and rich sauce, then who cares? It took us right back to our childhood and we had absolutely no trouble finishing off the whole thing.

Want more? Check out our Ultimate Guide to New York.

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