{"id":220638,"date":"2026-05-05T13:55:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/220638\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T13:55:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:55:41","slug":"williamsburg-restaurant-antidote-blends-sichuan-flavors-with-a-pandemic-born-mission-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/220638\/","title":{"rendered":"Williamsburg restaurant Antidote blends Sichuan flavors with a pandemic-born mission \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

When New York City felt the unrelenting strain of the pandemic, a Williamsburg comfort-food spot opened its doors in hopes that community members could forget the grief \u2014 even if only for a meal.\n<\/p>\n

Antidote<\/a> is a restaurant specializing in Sichuan cuisine. Sichuan, located in southwestern China, is known for its bold flavors, often incorporating aromatics such as chili bean paste, ginger and garlic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe created Antidote during COVID, when people lost their family members, when there was a lot of sadness, and even us losing our jobs,\u201d said Antidote co-founder Jane Rotari.\n<\/p>\n

But Sichuan cuisine is nothing new to the food scene in NYC. According to Eater<\/a>, the number of Sichuan restaurants across the boroughs doubled between 2012 and 2018.<\/p>\n

What sets Antidote apart is its focus on creating a strong ambience through a modern dining experience. While many Sichuan restaurants in the city share a similar visual identity, Antidote opted against traditional design aesthetics, choosing instead an industrial look.<\/p>\n

And as the seasons change, so does the menu.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to add more refreshing items during summer, and more comfort food during winter months,\u201d Rotari said.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"Antidote offers a modern take on Sichuan cuisine in Williamsburg.Photo courtesy of Jane Rotari \"\"Some of Antidote\u2019s cocktails.Photo provided by Jane Rotari<\/p>\n

Dishes like dongo pork, eight-hour braised pork belly, and fatty beef golden sour soup, made with a 12-hour bone broth, are standouts that shouldn\u2019t be missed when stepping into the space.\n<\/p>\n

To maintain an authentic and diverse clientele, the restaurant says its chefs have refined generational recipes.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe food, the consistency, the team, the service, and I\u2019ll finish off with cucumber salad. I think that\u2019s what\u2019s still keeping us unique,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The restaurant also caters to a wide range of customers, from those ordering delivery at home to those hosting weddings or office parties.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe promote large parties and private events, so parties of all different sizes will be able to come and enjoy the food and the atmosphere,\u201d Rotari said.\n<\/p>\n

The space holds particular significance for Rotari, who invested her life savings into the eatery.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this fails, I don\u2019t know where we would be,\u201d she said.
\n\"\"Founders Rudi Jan, Nick Hwuang, Renk Dong and Jane Rotari.Photo courtesy of Jane Rotari\n<\/p>\n

But the business has succeeded. In the short years since opening, the team has launched a second location in Gramercy called By Antidote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What makes these two locations different is not the culinary experience, but the unique adapted identity each restaurant has created for the distinct neighborhood. The Gramercy location is a more intimate speakeasy vibe compared to the Williamsburg location.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If given the opportunity, Rotari said she would expand the business with co-founders Nick Hwuang and Rudi Jan.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believed that creating good food, good drinks, good ambience and good service for a split second would make you forget about all the sadness,\u201d Rotari said.<\/p>\n

Antidote is located at 66 S. 2nd St. in Williamsburg and is open seven days a week from 12:15 p.m. to 10 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When New York City felt the unrelenting strain of the pandemic, a Williamsburg comfort-food spot opened its doors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[86926,98,100,99,288,1070,8894,9,24,12,370,63,86927,86928,1424],"class_list":["post-220638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-antidote","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-business","tag-food","tag-food-and-drink","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-nyc","tag-sichuan","tag-sichuan-cuisine","tag-williamsburg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}