Food: ☆☆☆☆

Service: ☆☆☆½

Ambiance: ☆☆☆

Cost: $$$

Must try: roasted portabella-truffle toast, fried egg, Dayboat Scallops , Bacon-Wrapped Blue Cheese-Stuffed Dates

Traif might be serving some of the best food in Williamsburg right now!

 This tiny 40 plus seater eatery dwells on a street overlooking the Williamsburg Bridge which is a little removed from the main action.

 Owned by Chef Jason Marcus (ex Le Bernardin & Eleven Madison) and his girlfriend, Heather Heuser, Traif presents a menu that changes daily and is comprised of mostly small plate fare.

 The food is marvelous! Marcus puts out seasonally inspired – well thought out dishes. Some of the plates were stunning such as the Bacon-Wrapped Blue Cheese-Stuffed Dates and the Sautéed Broccoli Rabe roasted portabella-truffle toast. Other combinations didn’t work as well though they sounded quite stellar such as the Smoked Paprika pasta with blue crab.

The servers at Traif are really affable which is wonderful, as one really needs help navigating through the wonderful menu choices. The best deal at Traif is the Chefs Selection, which is priced at $40 per person.

 The food at Traif is so good that you are going to want to it all. My advice – go with a larger group ‘coz the more people you go with – the more you can sample!

 

Here is some of what we ate:

 

 Amuse Bouche: Bacon broth

 

 

Bacon-Wrapped Blue Cheese-Stuffed Dates

 

 

Spicy big eye tuna, tempura Japanese eggplant

 

 

Local Burrata Cheese

 

 

Sauteed Broccoli Rabe roasted portabella-truffle toast

 

 

Dayboat Scallops

 

 

Smoked Paprika pasta blue crab

 

 

Vanilla Panna Cotta strawberry, kiwi, rhubarb