• Prime Meats

  465 Court St., at Luquer St., Carroll Gardens; 718-254-0327

  Old-fashioned haute cuisine may be in irreversible decline, but, to the relief of fressers everywhere, old-fashioned French peasant dishes are not. The lowly pig’s trotter has never been more chic, and the most effete of effete French chefs, Daniel Boulud, now serves an excellent rendition of Lyonnaise tripe at his new restaurant. But the best of these ancient gut-busting specialties just might be the classic Alsatian dish choucroute garni, served for $14 a plate at the excellent retro chophouse in Carroll Gardens, Prime Meats. The two Frankies (Castronovo and Falcinelli) construct this A. J. Liebling favorite along classical lines (it’s spelled “Sürkrüt Garnie” on their menu) using house-brined sauerkraut, blocks of pink, softly braised beef tongue and pork belly, and plump links of bratwurst and knockwurst, which hiss and pop in a pleasingly authentic way when you prick them with your fork.

From the 2010 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine