Cafe Kestrel

"Cafe Kestrel opened last summer in a Red Hook space that has housed several other food businesses over the years. It’s a lovely little storefront with just a few tables that feel right for a date night. Owner-chef Dennis Spina, years back, was known for Roebling Tea Room, and more recently, the kitchen at Metrograph. Standouts over visits included the fried squash blossoms, the chicken with carrots and capers (sort of a piccata play), as well as an apple sauce sundae. It’s a new restaurant that feels like it's been there forever in the best way possible." - Emma Orlow

"Cafe Kestrel opened last summer in a Red Hook space that has housed several other food businesses over the years. It’s a lovely little storefront with just a few tables that feel right for a date night. Owner-chef Dennis Spina, years back, was known for Roebling Tea Room, and more recently, the kitchen at Metrograph. Standouts over visits included the fried squash blossoms, the chicken with carrots and capers (sort of a piccata play), as well as an apple sauce sundae. It’s a new restaurant that feels like it has been there forever in the best way possible. The menu rotates." - Emma Orlow

"Cafe Kestrel is tiny but redolent with a quiet confidence that feels years in the making, from chef Dennis Spina and Amanda McMillan, a managing director in wine bar restaurant the Four Horsemen, who handles business operations. It’s the rare white-tablecloth restaurant that makes you want to linger beyond dessert. Go here for liver pate, radishes and anchovy butter, honey-drizzled fried haloumi, and that chicken, boneless, skinless breast served thin, seared, and transformed with carrot coins and capers in a warmly spiced date sauce." - Melissa McCart

"Cafe Kestrel is a (barely) 20-seat restaurant with white-tiled floors, white lace curtains, and dainty plates on white tablecloths. It looks like somewhere you could sip tea in a ballgown, hoping excellent manners help prevent spills. In practice, though, this Red Hook restaurant is less prim and proper and more like a place run by a group of friends who woke up one day and decided to cook for everyone they knew. The energy is friendly and DIY, with a sign out front that states the hours "for now,” and a martini simply named the V. Cold Martini. We get the feeling the short, constantly revolving menu reflects whatever the good people of Cafe Kestrel want to eat that day, whether it's beautiful salads, mac and cheese, or Sunday night curry. photo credit: Cafe Kestrel photo credit: Cafe Kestrel photo credit: Cafe Kestrel Typically the simpler, more homemade-tasting dishes are the most satisfying, whereas more experimental dishes vary in their success rate. A scallop terrine, for instance, results in a mostly tasteless slab of hardened gelatin, and a piece swordfish gets lost under a layer of anchoïade. So stick to the foods you might crave when you want home cooking, but you just don’t have it in you to turn your oven on. That said, unless you live in Red Hook, Cafe Kestrel isn't quite special enough to warrant journeying to the land of no trains. When you’re having an excursion in the neighborhood, it should be celebrated accordingly with a thick burger at Red Hook Tavern or a beer with a view of the Statue of Liberty at Strong Rope Brewery. But if you’re already on your way down Van Brunt Street and feel pulled into Cafe Kestrel's glow and the promise of creamy, dreamy mac and cheese, by all means, go. It’s fun to have an unserious night in a precious little room every once in a while. photo credit: Cafe Kestrel photo credit: Cafe Kestrel photo credit: Willa Moore Food Rundown The menu at Cafe Kestrel changes seasonally, and sometimes even daily, but here’s an idea of what to expect. Scallop Terrine One of the fussier items on the menu, and one of the least successful. The scallops suspended in aspic look intriguing, but everything ends up tasting like a faintly savory jello. Garden Salad Cafe Kestrel usually has a few salad options, all of which are reliably good and covered in olive oil. We catch outselves thinking about a garden salad we had in late summer, that involved little gems and blanched green beans, smothered in a peppery crème fraiche-based dressing. Chicken A very nice roast chicken. Crispy, blistery skin, sweet and salty hits from dates and capers, plus a squeeze of lemon juice and little carrot rounds to drag through all the chicken fat. Sunday Night Curry If you had the time to buy squash at the farmers market and wash your rice thoroughly, we know you'd make something like this. You just might not have the time. Mac And Cheese This is the sharpest, richest, sauciest mac and cheese we've had in a while. It's fantastic. Order a side of these shells all for yourself. Fries Perfect. No notes. Order these as well. Dessert They change, but if the saffron rice pudding is available, you are required to order it. It’s got that signature caramelized crust on top, and an almost savory saffron flavor in each bite." - Willa Moore

"Here's an idea for your next Sunday date night. Make a reservation at Cafe Kestrel in Red Hook, walk to the pier and catch the sunset, and then head to this dollhouse of a restaurant on Van Brunt. Your menu—in tiny type—reads “Sunday Night is Curry Night.” When we visited, it was soft hunks of summer squash in a thick, dark red curry on a bed of basmati. Order it, plus other seasonal menu items, like delicately battered squash blossoms dripping in honey, and a pile of green beans and little gems slick with a peppery, crème fraiche-based dressing. For the finale, feed your dining partner a spoonful of saffron-laced rice pudding." - will hartman, willa moore, neha talreja, molly fitzpatrick, bryan kim, gabe bergado