Alan Richman’s  Top 10 New York Restaurants has named Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare its #1 pick for 2012. I don’t disagree. We tried this place before it was huge, before the NYT feature, before they raised the prices over $200, and while it was still BYOB (score!). Even then the experience was otherworldly, and I have said that it’s more bang for the buck than Per Se, although you definitely pay for a lot more than just the food at Per Se.

Photos are not allowed at Brooklyn Fare,  so I used one of mine. God knows that meal has inspired many of our own creations, like the one above (uni-stuffed rigatoni and seaweed).

At Brooklyn Fare the focus is just the food, the art of its preparation, in a U-shaped table with seventeen other people. Of course getting a seat is impossible, it’s the only 3-Michelin-Star place in Brooklyn and has gotten a tremendous amount of press in the past year (GQ’s proclamation certainly doesn’t help). But if you think of the sixteen tasting plates BEFORE the four courses, all but one are made with seafood of incredible quality, and that the select few who have managed to  actually get in quickly run out of adjectives or expressions of pleasure other than words composed only of letter Ms, this place is something you need to try before you die. And then you will. Promise.

Have you had dinner here? Let us know what you think!