New Orleans on the Half-Shell at a Brooklyn Restaurant

In New Orleans, BAM! has become the chef Emeril Lagasse’s catchphrase. But in Brooklyn, it is the acronym for the Brooklyn Academy of Music — conveniently down the street from Strange Delight, which brings a taste of New Orleans and is primed to be a perfect spot for dinner before a show.

The new Fort Greene restaurant sails in on May 24 at 63 Lafayette Avenue, near South Elliott Place, by a powerhouse of industry veterans — Anoop Pillarisetti, Ham El-Waylly, and Michael Tuiach, who collectively pull from time at places like Momofuku, Shake Shack, and Empellón. It’s on the same block of other new Fort Greene restaurants — Margot, a wine bar restaurant, and Sukh, a Thai spot dressed like a train car — a neighborhood that has been aching for more dynamic options.

Oysters — sourced from Peeko Oysters in New York’s Little Peconic Bay, instead of the Gulf — are the centerpiece of the menu. “We’re learning how to use them in as many ways we can,” El-Waylly says.

Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY

Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY

Oysters are presented charbroiled two ways (with garlic butter, Parmesan, and breadcrumbs, in the style of New Orleans restaurant Felix’s; or, spicy–caramelized tomato, Steen’s cane syrup, and Calabrian chile); served as oysters Rockefeller (Galatoire’s style), and oysters Bienville (shrimp, Amontillado sherry, oyster mushroom — pun alert!). Oysters also come fried in cornmeal, with potatoes, and a side of remoulade. New York is, after all, historically an oyster town, now swimming with plenty of new seafood bars like Penny. As more roasted oyster interpretations surface, a Brooklyn take on New Orleans seems fitting.

El-Waylly is cooking oysters exclusively in an electric deck oven, inherited from the previous pizzeria tenant: “The broiling is so intense, caramelizing the top, while keeping the oysters juicy,” he says.

Strange Delight isn’t trying to be a replica of New Orleans exported for tourists but credits local institutions like Casamento’s on its menu. “We try and give credit where credit’s due,” says Pillarisetti, who grew up in Louisiana, while making it something their own. True to form, “We didn’t want, like, fancy baguette bread crumbs on our oysters ... the staleness [of the classic ones] is good, you don’t want them to get soggy,” El-Waylly says. Another Big Easy nod comes through in a dash of Peychaud’s bitters in a mignonette.

Seafood towers are sure to fill out the tables. Sandwiches, a staple when Strange Delight previewed as a pop-up, also play on the menu using milk bread stuffed with fried oysters or shrimp. Eventually, they might offer them for takeout.

Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY

Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY

El-Waylly is especially proud of a fried saltine on the menu with Espelette pepper and dill. The chef, a contributor to New York Times Cooking known for his approachable kitchen advice, says the saltine embodies the “high-low” feeling they’re trying to ascertain with Strange Delight: A cheap snacking cracker that takes a bath in an ocean of more expensive frying oil.

“This concept is something I really have not seen in New York but craved often. New Orleans is just a city in America that has a really particularly identifiable cuisine unlike any other,” says El-Waylly, who previously co-owned Hail Mary in Greenpoint, with his wife and fellow chef, Sohla El-Waylly. “That combined with the Strange Delight team, and everyone who wanted to work on this project,” encouraged him to dip back into an ownership role. (Tuiach and Pillarisetti, for their part, are also on the leadership team at Moonburger.)

On the drinks side of Strange Delight, the cocktail expert John DeBary has put together a list evocative of New Orleans classics with a take on the Sazerac and the laborious Ramos Gin Fizz. Miguel de Leon, of Pinch Chinese, has constructed a wine list.

To finish out the night, it’s going to be all about bread pudding, for which El-Waylly uses milk bread, the same one from the sandwiches, here with cinnamon, orange zest, and custard made with Sazerac and rye.

“We want to be a neighborhood spot, that’s energetic,” says Pillarisetti, who has lived in Fort Greene for around a decade. It could be a casual quick meal at the front, where customers come in as a walk-in and watch them shucking oysters — or an elongated, multi-hour affair, for a back-room reservation.

Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY

Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY

Lanna Apisukh/Eater NY

The front and back of Strange Delight. Plus, oysters all the ways.

The Eater Guide to NYC

• $20

Prices taken at time of publishing.

The Eater Guide to New York is the perfect companion to eating and drinking around New York. Find the best restaurants across the city, including hidden gems and icons, regional Chinese, New York-style pizza, the swankiest of sit-down spots, and the drinking dens of Downtown.

• $20 at Amazon
• $20 at Bookshop