German

Adam Erace goes with the mixed meats and wurst platter at Brü Craft & Wurst for $48, and enjoys almost all the kitchen has to offer.

Like I nearly did under the onslaught of food. Gose in hand (tepid, with a sputtering fizz), the Drury Street breeze fanning me like a boxer’s cornerman, I prepared for the arrival of the hulking $48 mixed-meats-&-wursts platter, which [chef Matt] Buehler describes as “basically the whole menu.” The carnivore carnival sees a dam of pointy, crispy, skin-on fries, the juicy, edgy, whey-fermented kraut (whose secret accelerator I’m stealing for home) and potato-apple latkes constructed for a slew of proteins. There were sausages both housemade (fresh pork greened with marjoram and chive, liverwurst) and from seminal Fox Chase butcher Reiker’s (veal-and-pork weisswurst, a smoky Hungarian-style link), plus pork meatballs, falling-apart braised bacon blocks, curls of pink Westphalian ham and a slab of melting braised pork rib whose tangy glaze was inspired by, according to Buehler, Chinese sweet-and-sour sauce. Not hardcore like Brauhaus, indeed.

But don’t let Buehler’s self-deprecation fool you. This veteran of Striped Bass, Oceanaire, Kraftwork and Bar Ferdinand has sunk more care and energy into this menu that he probably needs to. Those French fries? Brü would be within its rights to use frozen. They don’t, and they’re some of the best in town. The lightly funky liverwurst, poached like a terrine, sliced and seared until dark and crunchy, brought to mind a more finessed scrapple, veined with ground bacon and pork liver.

Brü, Brö [City Paper]
Brü Craft & Wurst [Official Site]