just a single story above Lorimer Street is quite possibly, and unexpectedly, the best rooftop bar/restaurant in the whole damn city
by matt Scanlon
For all the borough’s kaleidoscopic diversity—ethnic, vocational, and culinary— we struggle with a maddening sameness when it comes to restaurant and bar venues. There are exceptions, of course…occasional offbeat explorations of vanguard design and attempts to take advantage of open-air spaces whenever possible, but let’s be honest; zoning restrictions and neighborhood traditions pretty much dictate that watering holes are usually railroad layout affairs (bar in front, tables in back), and there’s only so much one can do creatively with that maddening consistency.
Well, there is one thing; blow the entire concept up and start from scratch, which is exactly what chef/owner Ivan Garcia and his partners did in developing one of Williamsburg’s best bar hangouts and Mexican joints, Zona Rosa. Nearly two years after its opening in July of 2013, the concept started with a vintage 1956 Airstream trailer (a castaway from Williamsburg’s 3rd Ward Art collective), around which was built a dining room structure, and above which was fashioned one of the coolest outdoor bars in the city. Not high, mind you, but its atrium design aesthetic offers an unexpectedly commanding view of the neighborhood—a chance to be somehow both near to and far away from the urban scrum.
A native of Mexico City, Garcia learned traditional cooking at the end of his grandmother’s apron, and appreciated both then and thereafter (during years at the Culinary Arts division of Universidad Iberoamericana) that simple was better that Mexican food didn’t need to be a blizzard of side dishes, with chicken and beans as nucleus and rotating particles. One of his influences is the glorious adventure that Mexico City street food provides—a brainspace for Garcia wherein the Airstream seemed a perfectly congruent addition. Dishes like the Filetitos de Pescado (beer battered sea bass fillets) and traditional tamales of cheese, pork, or chicken molé) are appetizers made for walking with, and even larger plates like Enmoladas (corn tortillas filled with organic chicken and topped with chef Garcia’s family molé recipe, with lettuce, sesame seeds, avocado, onion, and crema fresca) and Torta Ahogada (braised Berkshire pork Mexican sandwich, drowned in salsa) can be hand-wielded with ease. Part of Garcia’s travel-meets-culinary scope of experience (he’s done a number of stints in city eateries) is within that last dish, typical of street food in Guadalajara, a city that simply immerses its sandwiches in salsa…to this writer’s ongoing delight.
Both before and after meals, it’s the rooftop bar, though, that is the equivalent of a “Spirit of Ecstasy” hood ornament
on a Rolls Royce. It feels like a private balcony, one where two-dozen friends have been temporarily invited, and with a tender who isn’t at all afraid to wield a machete in the preparation of the Coco Loco (served in a coconut) or the watermelon margarita.
In the tradition of Garcia’s “simplicity is best” worldview, however, the move for this higher-is-better bar denizen is to
climb the flight of stairs, take hold of a Don Julio Reposado (no lime, thank you), and alternate sips with bites of the chef’s Pastel de Tres Leches de Chocolate, a traditional Mexican cake served with tequila and mango salsa. Rey del mundo!
Zona Rosa
571 Lorimer Street / 917.324.7423 / zonarosabrooklyn.com
