Faro

Faro Restaurant Review:

Just off the Jefferson L train stop, on a quiet and otherwise industrial street, lies a cavernous dining room replete with skylights and just enough steel and concrete to remind you that, yes, you're in Brooklyn. While the competent wine list, which reads like something of a greatest hits, will please many (Malbec from Argentina, a Portuguese vinho verde), the cocktails are standouts. Nuanced and inventive, the Cameron's Kick blends Jameson, lemon and orgeat. The sparseness of the room asks you to pay attention to the food, however, and you should. Grains are locally sourced and hand-milled to make the house bread (worth the money and served with tangy cultured butter) and pastas. A kitchen centerpiece, the gigantic oven produces tender fire-roasted beets. Among the pastas, try the bucatini over a translucent broth with chicken confit, and the ricotta gnocchi in a braised beef ragù. Duck liver mousse is for spreading over rye toast with sweet onion jam, and dry-aged duck breast is served with rutabaga rösti, apple and crème fraîche. Desserts change nightly, but if you're lucky they'll have panna cotta with cornbread crumbles, or olive oil chocolate cake.