I’m old enough to recall a time when it was fashionable among New York restaurants to play hard to find with the dining public. In 2017 AppleEats ran a two-part feature chronicling this trend. highlighting restaurants accessible only through secret passages or that lacked signage out front.
We have now come precisely 180 degrees from those days judging by the heart-on-its-sleeve example set by Wenwen, which describes itself on its website as “a restaurant that aims to bring the comfort and flavor of a Taiwanese household to Greenpoint.”
Many of the dishes at Wenwen (named after co-owner Eric Sze’s mom, Wenchi, and wife, Wenhui) are playfully named, though there is nothing frivolous about the cooking. Witness the “whole BDSM fried chicken,” an entire bird that’s brined, marinated in soy milk, boned out, and twice fried for extra crispness. The dish, designed to be shared, arrives in the company of a roasted chive slaw. Wenwen, 1025 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn, 646-901-5644.
See also…
- The DL on New York’s ‘Invisible’ Restaurants—Part 1
- The DL on New York’s ‘Invisible’ Restaurants—Part 2
