DuMont

432 Union Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

5.0

map & more

Neighborhood
Brooklyn
Williamsburg

Cuisine
American

Nearby
Music Hall of Williamsburg

(718) 486-7717‎

Official Website

By Andrew Steinthal
January 13, 2010

Our Billyburg peeps have been all up in our ear about this one for a while, so it saddens me to report that our experiences here have been less than stellar. I don’t know, maybe the food at DuMont tastes better in skinny jeans and dirty chucks. It’s definitely a dope hang, especially in the summer, when hipsters flock to the patio and treehouse section like it’s an American Apparel trunk sale. But aside from an excellent burger and the fan favorite mac-n-cheese, the dopeness ends there. The food coming out of DuMont’s kitchen definitely doesn’t meet expectations, especially with those prices. When entrees run $18-25, especially in Brooklyn, we expect culinary excellence, not sloppy plates of mediocrity. There also seems to be something just a little off with each dish. Like, why they gotta go kill the skate with a gallon of olives? Is it really necessary to cure a piece of cod in salt and then add a salt crust too? Questionable behavior.

If you’re looking to check “get dirty with a band dude” off your hookup list, this is your spot. If a quality meal in Williamsburg is what you’re after, skip DuMont and spend the extra couple bucks at Dressler. DuMont is like that indie band Pitchfork gets everyone to freak out over, but in reality only has a couple good songs.

Food Rundown:

Smoked BBQ Spare Ribs
A lot like what you would find on the Chinese menus that are relentlessly stuffed under your apartment door. Slimy, soggy and completely forgettable.

Duck Gnocchi
The dish felt like it was conceptualized and plated by a third grader. Shredded duck that is way too rich and tastes a bit too ‘ducky’ in the middle, with gnocchi’s spread around it like a crudite.

DuMont Burger
This is a good burger. Good enough to warrant a return trip to the ‘Burg for round two at the spinoff, DuMont Burger. Not good enough to keep up with our favorite Manhattan spots like Shake Shack, Corner Bistro, Minetta Tavern & Royale. Served on a toasted brioche with your choice of cheese, lettuce, tomato and house made pickles, the biggest problems you’ll run into are finishing it and paying for it; if you want cheese and bacon, that’s going to run you $15.50. Not cheap. Especially for Brooklyn.

Dumac & Cheese
Ok, they do two things very well. The aforementioned burger and this cheddar, gruyere, parmesan and bacon pasta. Damn, this is good.

Roasted Half Chicken
We’ve been spoiled silly lately when it comes to chicken, so an off night was in the cards. On paper, this sounded great, but this dish fell flat, drowning in a ridiculous amount of garlic mash. Oh yeah, and this bird was served with a nice touch. Feathers. Yum.

Grilled Hanger Steak
The presentation gets an A, well done DuMont. The sliced steak sits high in the air atop a stack of boulanger potatoes and spinach. Unfortunately, the meat tastes cheap and the end parts were quite dry and overcooked. If this was $15, I wouldn’t be complaining, but this isn’t worth $24.

Cod
The cod was a nice piece of fish, just way oversalted. Potentially cured in salt and salted again on the crust. The potato hash it came with was good, but brussels sprouts non-existent. Also, accompaniments had bacon in them, which amplified the whole salt factor.

Sauteed Skate
Pretty sure this is one of their signature dishes, which is curious. I love skate – it’s a go-to mild fish, but all I could taste were the kalamata olives. They took over the whole dish, and in return three quarters of this plate went to waste.