PrintRoast Beef Sandwich from Defonte's of Brooklyn, Now Open in Gramercy
The longtime (since 1922 longtime) Brooklyn sandwich shop Defonte's opened today in Gramercy. Back in 1992 (when only food dinosaurs roamed Brooklyn), Ed checked out the Red Hook original at the behest of the New York Times' Florence Fabricant.
Since it was the first day at the Gramercy location, I didn't expect everything to be perfect. Indeed, there were some communication problems among sandwich-carvers—nobody seemed to know what rare or medium-rare was—but the operation looks well-managed, and with a little meat bloodiness enlightenment, I'm sure the staff will be up to speed soon enough. [More Defonte's, after the jump.]
I ordered the roast beef sandwich (turns out the beef is medium-rare, unless you get saddled with an end cut). The sandwich comes on a choice of seeded or plain Italian bread, topped with fresh mozzarella, fried eggplant, and au jus.
The beef was nicely seasoned and flavorful. Thinly cut, it was tender enough and was complemented nicely by the creamy cheese and slightly crunchy eggplant. The generous spoonful of jus moistened the inside of the bread nicely, but the outer crust remained crunchy. It was a balanced sandwich, but at $9.75, I would expect a bit more beef (it had trouble asserting itself over the cheese and thin eggplant slivers). Criticism aside, Defonte's is a welcome addition to the area. The Gramercy neighborhood doesn't have many nonchain sub shops.
Defonte's
261 Third Avenue, New York NY 10010 (at 21st Street; map)
212-614-1500
defontesofbrooklyn.com
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7 Comments:
so would you say this place or Baoguette if I happen to find myself in the hood?
foodinmouth at 8:32PM on 02/23/09
Good question, foodinmouth. I think as a serious eater you have to try them both.
Ed Levine at 7:29AM on 02/24/09
@ foodinmouth Ed's right, I think both are worthy but also quite different - Classic Italian-American versus banh mi.
Nick Solares at 9:17AM on 02/24/09
@ foodinmouth @ Nick @ Ed: If you are looking for value, then I think Baoguette would win hands down. The $5 price for the classic bahn mi is an amazing deal.
burgerluver at 12:35PM on 02/24/09
I just had the hot roast beef from Defonte's - well, half of it. Maybe they were making up for yesterday, but I got close to a pound of meat on mine. The eggplant was a little soggy and added more grease than flavor. Certainly everything was high-quality, but the sandwich needed some sort of spicy or acidic counterpoint. I guess I'm not as into giant fatty sandwiches as I thought.
butterface at 2:22PM on 02/24/09
@butterface That's good to know, I should go back and demand the rest of my sandwich.
Nick Solares at 7:25PM on 02/24/09
I had a potato and egg sammy this morning. Very big and filling, but expensive in my view ($8.69 inc. tax). It was excellent; however I got there and 7:30 and they said they didn't open til 8 ! They accommodated me nonetheless, but 8 o'clock open for a deli ?
tonemonster at 1:42PM on 02/25/09