Brooklyn and The Butcher — Restaurant in New Albany

Um, well, let's see, the service was good and the background music selection was nice. The food, not so much.

I arrived at 8:15pm for my 8:30 reservation. The hostess escorted me to my table the was in the back corner of the dining room were I could observe a mostly empty restaurant 🤔. I ordered an appetizer oysters on the half shell (Rockefeller was not an option), a New York strip, twice baked potato and a vodka (Kettle One) with cranberry.

The background music waa really good.

15 minutes into my visit, I received my appetizer 4 oysters on the half shell. The oysters were, well, oysters. The horseradish cocktail sauce was good and provided a much needed kick for the oysters.

Ahhh, here comes my vodka and cranberry. Takes a sip, 👀 at glass, take another sip, put glass down. scratches head and say to myself "Did they substitute Kettle One with a bottom shelf liquor"? No, they wouldn't do that, would they? Takes another sip from paper straw (which is the worse way to drink a cocktail due to the taste of the paper straw). Sits drink down and push it away, still wondering if they made a switch. Kettle One never tasted so bad.

10 minutes go by, 5 minutes go by then another 5 minutes go by. Yep 20 minutes later, I asked my waitress if she could check on that New York strip. It must have been forgotten about due to the restaurant being so empty.

Almost 23 minutes later, here comes that New York strip and twice baked potato. The steak was a nice size cut with about 1 1/4 inch thickness (nice). The potato was, well a potato with lots of cheese. In fact it was a half of a potato. Not sure what happened to the other half of my potato. It must have left since the meal was taking to long to get ready.

The steak was well prepared however, it had a strange taste to it. It taste like the smell of meat when it starts to go bad. That's how it tasted. It was Edible but it had a strange taste. I struggled through eating half of my steak but I finished off my twice baked cheesy half of a baked potato.

Check please!

In the end, the Ambience in a praticlly empty restaurant was nice and the background music helped me tolerate the long wait. The oysters and cocktail sauce was good, my drink was (I leave this one alone) questionable. The steak was just ok. The food did not WOW me, it was just ok. But the...

After eating at their sister restaurant (Exchange Pub+Kitchen) twice this weekend, we couldn't wait to try Brooklyn and The Butcher. It turned out that our opportunity to do so was for Sunday brunch today (6/26/2022). We made reservations for 10:00 (their opening time) and found ourselves the center of attention for a half hour until the next party arrived. Louisville, what's wrong with you? This place is terrific, and you're sleeping it away!

We met Hannah, the General Manager, at the desk, and then were cheerfully handed off to Bryson, who took wonderful care of us until we left.

My spouse had The Butcher's Plate, which came with a nice assortment of eggs, sausage, bacon, toast, and fingerling potatoes. I ordered off the side menu, and got two slices of beautiful brioche French Toast, the Kentucky sausage, and two eggs over easy. Bryson kept the coffee and water coming, checked in on us regularly, and made us very happy indeed. He mentioned that there was a jazz vocalist and keyboard player on the patio (see attached photo), so once we finished our leisurely breakfast, we wandered out there to enjoy Carly Johnson and her associate making their way through jazz and bossanova while we sat and admired.

As is also the case with our servers at Exchange Pub+Kitchen, the attentiveness and anticipation displayed by Bryson was exemplary. Great sense of humor, very helpful with menu items, conveyed a bit of the history of the building, all in all a great experience.

To boot, surprisingly for such a terrific breakfast experience, our bill came to a fairly modest sum, appreciably less than we would have paid for a mediocre breakfast at The Galt House, where we attended a conference.

New Albany, Brooklyn and the Butcher, and Exchange Pub+Kitchen are only 12 minutes away from the Louisville Riverfront by car. Folks, appreciate the treasures you have just across the river!

Carly Johnson, vocalist, and her fellow keyboard artist, playing jazz and bossanova on the patio Sunday...

So when I came the music was awful, and very loud and we almost left. However we really wanted to try the food... We almost did leave. But against our better judgement asked them if the could change the music to something a little more low key. The food was excellent... Expensive 2 people, $250.00 with the tip but we knew going in that it was expensive..... That's their deal as long as people are willing to pay it. The atmosphere was nice once we got through the music scenario, which they did change to something more palatable. As someone who was on their cheat day from keto, I was excited when they offered bread from the oven. .... However neither of us were impressed with it.... I couldn't.put my finger on it..... Then... I realized it had the consistency of pizza dough that had been proofed and baked into rolls.... It was tough.... That aside all of the food was excellent... We had steak au poiuve and a ribeye, the sides of charred broccoli and roasted brussel sprouts were amazing.... Perfect. However.. the au poiuve came with a serving of charred broccoli, it did not have the wonderful lemon based sauce on it that the side did.... So just ask for it.... It's worth it. ... I had a nice glass of Argentine Pino Noir but do not know the name it was brought out in a small portavino, and poured into my glass already at the table... Which I thought was odd. . And for dessert the panna cotta ( delicious but a little more firm than I have had before) We also had the vanilla Crem' Brulee' it was delicious and just what was expected. They did explain the they change the flavors seasonally... I am one that would probably always want the vanilla or say pumpkin or espresso.... Just be sure to ask so you know what you are getting. Overall the place was great and I hope to go back in the warm months to sit in the outdoor...