Buttermilk Channel Wednesdays

October 24

I just had a nice chat with Ryan Angulo, chef of the soon-to-open Brooklyn restaurant Buttermilk Channel, named after the strait between Red Hook and Governors Island. The restaurant is supposed to open in the first week of November. “It could be the second week, I really hope it’s not,” Ryan said. It's going to have an American bistro menu, with snacks and charcuterie as well as appetizers and entrées, and also a special for each day of the week. On Wednesdays, that special will be bluefish, of all things, grilled and served with a cranberry bean and linguiça stew, reflecting Ryan’s Rhode Island roots, as it is “kind of a take on Portuguese kale soup,” he said. (when I have a moment, I’ll also tell you about what I did in Rhode Island last week, stay tuned...).
Bluefish is extremely inexpensive these days — as low as $2.95 a pound wholesale, and Ryan says if it’s very fresh it doesn’t have that intense fishy flavor for which bluefish is known.
That brought us to the topic of gamy foods, which I usually really like. Ryan reflected on his time at Picholine, where they served grouse and where one couple, regulars, would come in and order grouse extremely rare, stick their napkins in their collars and go at those birds like, well, people who really like grouse.
Ryan also cooked at davidburke&donatella. Most recently, he was chef de cuisine at Stanton Social.
Buttermilk Channel’s owner, Doug Crowell, is a BR Guest veteran, having managed Blue Fin and Blue Water Grill.