You can feel like you’re in a Brooklyn grandmother’s cute home while dining out at Gertrude’s, the Prospect Heights Jewish bistro where there’s a colorful vegetable mural, mismatched floral plateware, bathrooms with sketches of famous New Yorkers (hi, Keith Hernandez), and mirrored shelves with duck objects. Restaurant meme master and chef Eli Sussman churns out good, easygoing New York comfort foods with higher-end touches, and the restaurant, from co-owners and couple Nate Adler and Rachel Jackson, doesn’t take itself too seriously — on a recent visit, the team was playing one of the Austin Powers soundtracks.
For a low-key dinner before a concert or a game at the Barclays Center, which is within walking distance — or just a great neighborhood meal.
The prix fixe “Best of Gertrude’s” menu is a great deal at $65. It comes with shareable starters like the seasonally changing spaetzle, a choice of entrees (alas, that burger isn’t included, but the seasonal fish is great and huge— my iteration was a whole trout covered with halved tomatoes and cherries), and that cake.