Brooklyn's Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill Serves A Hearty Brunch

Oh, DUMBO. I can see you from my window, and if I could walk on water, I would be so much more inclined to observe life on the other side.

Actually, that's not entirely true. I can walk over water via the Brooklyn Bridge, and I just don't want to.

However, I have been hearing such good things about Sugarcane that I put my snobbery in my back pocket and took the A train one whole stop into Brooklyn, shlepped up about 5 billion hundred sets of stairs to get to street level (what is with that, High Street Station?) and walked in a loopy maze staring down at my iPhone through streets that didn't even have traffic signals just to get there. #NativeNewYorkerComplaints

Was it worth it? It was, and here are 7 reasons why.  

1. Local fluke ceviche with aji amarillo, sweet potato, crispy maiz cancha.

2. Nagasaki hamachi with yuzu soy, serrano onion relish.

3. Hokkaido scallop with compressed apple, black truffle, lime, jalapeño.

4. Kombu marinated fluke, red grapes, charred onions, sesame seeds.

5. Truffled toad in the hole sunny side up egg, melted robiola, black truffle, truffle oil.

6. Duck and waffle: crispy leg confit, duck egg, mustard maple.

And, here's the thing about Number 7, the wagyu beef roll with shrimp tempura, avocado, shibazuke, chimichurri soy. People see this on the menu and think, that is WAY too much for one roll, dearest.

I thought the same thing. But it came highly recommended, and fortunately it did not arrive in the form of a colossal food monster for the sake of being one. Somehow the flavors all worked together really well, and the roll was rather petite as far as massive speciality rolls come.

Located in the historic, LEED-certified Empire Stores building, a Civil War era landmarked cargo warehouse, nestled between the iconic Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, the design of Sugarcane raw bar grill carries the essence of the Miami flagship.

The restaurant boasts a 9,000-square-foot interior, a 2,000-square-foot outdoor patio, and an 18-seat bar, so we were especially flattered when, towards the end of our meal, a jazz trio set up right next to our table just to play us out over our dessert of vanilla beignets . It was very New Orleans, right there in DUMBO, and it felt equally as long of a trip back home.

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