Café Colette | Williamsburg

In what used to be my favorite Vietnamese restaurant, Silent H, is a new space from the same chef, Café Colette, and I may be saying this prematurely, but it may be my new neighborhood go-to. I really love how they've outfitted the interiors - it's light and airy and dreamy and the food and drinks certainly match. And guess what? You know that little coffee roaster on the west coast that everyone is salivating over? Stumptown? That's available, too.

Café Colette has only been open for a couple of weeks, and they officially opened for dinner on Monday night. Since it's located conveniently across the street (and catty-corner from Hotel Delmano, my favorite cocktail bar), we decided to check it out.

My favorite summer cocktails usually include something like lemon and lime or mint or lavender or cucumbers, but the Spanish Rosé Sangria is incredibly flavorful and refreshing.

We shared the fritto misto, a lightly battered mix of haricot verts, carrots, shrimp, and lemons. Perfect. The lemon was my favorite part!

For my main course, I had the chilled sesame noodles with seared ahi tuna. It came with a fresh ginger dressing. I think this may an ideal summer dish. It's filling, but not too heavy. And everything is so fresh that you leave feeling really good.

The menu is guilty of being a little schizophrenic, as it's been charged by some early critics (steak frites to fish tacos to chicken paillard to lobster roll), but I think having all the right flavors and beautiful presentation outweighs the possible identity crisis. I think of this as being more "something-for-everyone" than being schizophrenic, but hey. Different strokes.

Café Colette

79 Berry Street

Williamsburg, Brooklyn