Field Guide

Field Guide's cheffy seasonal menu yields more misses than hits - Review - New York - The Infatuation

"Field Guide, near Domino Park in Williamsburg, can’t get out of its own way. It’s got all the bones of a great, seasonal restaurant (Eleven Madison Park alum, giant still life of produce over the bar), but in general the food is overtouched—to the point where it’s mostly not very pleasurable to eat. Why serve a difficult-to-execute trout roulade with shaved raw mushrooms, smoked roe and and beurre blanc—all jangling incoherently—when a piece of gorgeously grilled fish would do the job? Things start out well, with the complimentary bread course, which comes with citrus-spiked “meadow butter.” And there are some good bites along the way—like a pork and pistachio terrine with enjoyably sharp bursts of house-made mustard. The service is kind and welcoming, there’s an extensive wine list, and the kookily named cocktails (Nothing Grows In Comfort, I Like To Be An Optimist) are solid. But unless you’re feeling exceptionally indulgent towards bold pairings (tomato and apple, chicken breast and sourdough) that have a roughly 66% success rate, there are other places in the area to eat some plussed-up seasonal vegetables. Food Rundown Bread & Butter The first instance of citrus on the menu, and the best. The cornmeal and sourdough rolls come out hot, and the butter is spreadable—nay, dunkable—and full of orange zest. photo credit: Will Hartman Pork & Pistachio Terrine This is worth an order. The terrine is well-constructed and rich, served with two different types of mustard, and gorgeous ripe figs. photo credit: Will Hartman Tomato And Apple Light, crisp, and refreshing, this dish of thinly sliced tomatoes and apple is unusual but effective. The experiment is simple, and it works. Save some bread to swipe up the grated tomato layered underneath the slices. photo credit: Will Hartman Butternut Squash Rillettes For this dish though, the whole is less than the sum of its parts. There’s perfectly poached butternut squash, excellently steamed clams, crunchy bacon, and salty smoked gouda. But together, they're incoherent and overly salty. A butternut squash and clam chowder might have been more satisfying. photo credit: Will Hartman Gulf Pink Shrimp This dish feels like suddenly coming across a Lana Del Rey song on a Death Grips album. Consisting of a few nicely poached shrimp, with segments of grapefruit, chiffonaded mint, puffed buckwheat, and blanketed in a rooibos gelée, it feels out of sync with the rest of the farm-centric menu—though it’s a fine dish if you just want some shrimp. photo credit: Oliver Jevremov Pork Loin A big hunk of barbecued pork loin that suffers from size. Your first bite will be juicy. Your second bite, less so. And so on. You don’t need to order this, though the corn purée is excellent. photo credit: Will Hartman Trout If a restaurant claims Upstate New York roots—as Field Guide does—the trout dish needs to be gangbusters. This is an overly-cheffy roulade of trout, rolled in cabbage leaves and topped with shaved porcini mushrooms. The smoked trout roe doesn’t add anything, and neither does the Hefeweizen beurre blanc. Skip. photo credit: Will Hartman Roast Chicken In this single chicken breast ($34), the bird is cooked nicely, but there is an inexplicable layer of sourdough “stuffing” between the skin and the meat. It’s underseasoned, soggy, and has the texture of wet sand. photo credit: Will Hartman" - Will Hartman