There is no dining room. There is no front-of-house ceremony. There are no white tablecloths, no tuxedoed captains, no wine trolleys gliding between tables. There is, instead, a stainless steel counter — the same counter that was in this kitchen when it was simply the restaurant attached to a Brooklyn grocery store — and on the other side of that counter, Chef César Ramirez is doing something extraordinary.
Now relocated to Hell's Kitchen at 431 W 37th Street, Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare retains the austere, counter-only format that made it famous. Guests sit on three sides of the open kitchen; there is no distinction between where the food is made and where it is eaten. The lack of theatrical staging is itself theatrical. The absence of distraction forces total focus on what arrives in front of you.
And what arrives is some of the most technically accomplished cooking in New York. Ramirez is a chef's chef — celebrated by the people who cook at Michelin-starred tables across the city. His French-Japanese tasting menu draws on the classical French canon but applies Japanese precision and restraint, particularly in the use of the finest Japanese seafood, aged cheeses, and black truffle. The omakase format means the menu shifts constantly. What you eat on a Tuesday in April will bear no resemblance to what you eat on a Friday in October, except in quality.
Reservations require a $200 deposit through Resy. This is not a discouragement — it is a filtering mechanism. The people at the counter have chosen to be there, which creates a shared energy that is rare in New York dining.