This Chef Found the Perfect Steak at the Biggest Little Steakhouse in Brooklyn

Every bite carries the punch of five boxers, at Colonia Verde in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Love at First Sight

I remember the first day that I saw it. They hadn’t opened yet, but already, it was beautiful. A moss green exterior that was sleek, but still casual, like the cool kid at a party whose clothes were just ruffled enough. Colonia Verde, a small, Argentinian restaurant opened in Ft. Greene after I’d been living there for three years and, even though I already had an established assortment of places I loved to eat, I was still excited. They offered brunch on Sundays and Sundays only, but were open for dinner every night. Even from outside, even before they were open, I could see from afar the freckle on it’s beautiful face that I immediately would fall in love with – a wide-open, coal fired grill.

You may think it is easy to get a good steak in New York, but it’s harder than it seems

Especially if you at one time aspired to own your own steakhouse and have worked in enough of them to have one or two good ones ruined for you (::cough cough:: St. Anselm). There are the classics like Peter Luger and Homestead, classic remnants of a different time, where the waiters wear ties, the creamed spinach is made with real cream and the most inexpensive steak is roughly $45. There are a variety of non-steakhouses, small neighborhood Italian or French or American style restaurants where you can get a decent skirt steak in the $28 range, but, truth be told, it’s not really the same. And then there is the small hipster trendy steakhouse, like St. Anselm, which will offer the ever-affordable hangar steak, but where you will wait an hour for a table only to get a beanie wearing server scowling at you like you are keeping them from whatever far more interesting thing they could be doing.

But then there is Colonia, really in a category of it’s own

There are three different seating arrangements I have utilized for different occasions. 1) When I come alone, or with a friend, I sit at the bar, warmly greeted by a familiar bartender to whatever seasonal, creative cocktail they are offering this month. I have had margaritas made with squash and cinnamon and other truly creative innovations in the realm of drinking. 2) When my parents come a visit, I sit in the dining room, dimly lit and enhanced by candlelight at night, where I can sit surrounded by my neighbors as they gently whisper or loudly guffaw to each other. 3) And on the many occasions where I have brought a date, I liked to sit outside in the garden, at one of the many old wooden tables, surrounded by lush greenery that pours out of different sizes and variety of pot. No matter who I bring, they are always wowed, impressed by every course as it comes.

The menu changes frequently but easily, my favorite appetizer is the Eggplant Fundido, a sneaky, small plate, hidden on the bar snacks menu, planks of eggplant are deep fried, set over a small puddle of a manchego cheese sauce and then drizzled with the best papaya syrup I promise you you will ever taste. I once asked the chef what was in the manchego sauce, probably the tastiest cheese sauce I’ve ever had, and was foolishly shocked to learn it was a simple three ingredient sauce, made with manchego cheese, milk and salt. Other standouts for beginning the meal include the Pulpo Al Pastor, a grilled octopus, set between a variety of whatever is seasonal that time of year. It is epic. As is the sides, which change frequently with the seasons, presenting the best of what the state has to offer, in a unique, deeply South American way, from carrots with aji Amarillo to a paprika potatoes. Possibly my favorite homage to the classic steakhouse sides style is the mac and cheese made with guajillo and aji Amarillo, a guilty pleasure that will reinvent how you eat your mac and cheese.

If you happen to go and want to eat anything other than steak, they also happen to serve one of the best pasta dishes I have ever had, the roasted poplano pepper pasta. The dish is a clever, Argentinean twist of a spaghetti Bolognese, except the sauce is poblano instead of tomato based. It is hot, but not spicy, every bite tasting like a pepper that was just pulled from campfire and resting on a thick, perfect piece of fettucine, a pasta up for the tasks of carrying all the flavor this dish has to offer. Be warned – I’ve watched people consume this dish far beyond the point of hunger, licking the plate even when they are stuffed.

A perfect black and blue

But of course, rarely do I get to consume this dish, which screams of creativity and color, because I am there for the steak. There are four cuts of steak – the Chef’s steak, an epic bone in rib eye whose size changes depending on the day, a Newport steak, a skirt steak, and my personal favorite, the hangar steak. It comes on a wooden butchers board with a hot housemade salsa, which tastes sort of like a spicy romesco sauce. Now, I am not an easy person to please via steak. I tend to like my steak as rare as possible, not just blue, but black and blue. Many restaurants these days actually refuse to serve me a blue steak, which means rarer than rare, claiming the meat is too thin or they could never possibly get their pan hot enough or something like that. But the restaurants who will make a steak black and blue, when the outside is perfectly charred and the inside is a cold raw, is even rarer (pun intended). The Chefs at Colonia welcome this challenge, although it hardly seems like a challenge to them, as no one has ever even raised an eyebrow when I place this order. As a long time meat cook and passionate steak lover, I can honestly say I have never had a more perfect black and blue steak, with the soft, red, cool meat, perfectly and evenly encased in a dark, crispy, charred exterior. It doesn’t really need a dip in the hot tomatoey salsa it comes with, but it is worth it as, if Colonia is nothing else, it is truly brings the development of sauces that carry heat to a whole other artistic level.

A photo posted by Colonia Verde (@coloniaverde) on Apr 6, 2016 at 7:49am PDT

I have not eaten at every single steak house in New York, or even Brooklyn, but I have eaten at most. And, if you happen to feel like venturing into the sweet but small neighborhood of Ft. Greene, perhaps coming out of a show at the BAM, or visiting your favorite PRATT student, or on your way home to a deeper south part of Brooklyn, I strongly recommend stopping by the best little unknown steakhouse in all of Brooklyn, where the exterior will remind you of soft moss, where every bite carries the punch of five boxers and where you might see me, sitting in the corner, licking the bottom of a skillet for the last remnants I can find of manchego cheese.

Where I find my perfect steak

Colonia Verde
219 Dekalb Ave
b/t Adelphi St & Clermont Ave
Fort Greene