Celestine Awards

Celestine Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant: At Celestine, it’s all about the sweeping view of Manhattan from the restaurant’s enviable perch on the Dumbo waterfront, just under the Manhattan Bridge. Inside, there’s a lovely modern farmhouse vibe, and the floor-to-ceiling windows show off the glittering skyline across the East River. In warm weather, outside tables are great for people watching (and more of the vistas).

Likes: The view; neighborhood feel; coffee-cardamom-chocolate cookies; cocktails.
Dislikes: Can get very busy and crowded.

Food & Drinks: The menu features flavors from Northern Africa, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Start with crispy/chewy flatbread flavored with za'atar, plus taramasalata or garlicky baba ghanouj with grains of paradise for dipping. Short rib manti (a tender dumpling) with turnip, fenugreek, garlic yogurt and mustard greens strikes a balance between rich and bright. Celestine makes good use of its wood-burning oven to roast a chicken with saffron basmati rice, a well-executed simple dish. Others are more inventive: braised-rabbit kugel, a riff on the Jewish classic pudding, is sliced and pan-seared before serving. Joe Campanale’s wine list highlights small Mediterranean producers, and Kevin Baird (from Grand Army Bar) oversees a bar program that showcases classic cocktails infused with various spices, like the “Man of Wool,” Scotch blended with walnut nocino, date molasses and orange bitters. For dessert, we suggest the coffee-cardamom-chocolate cookies.