Melt - in your mouth?

Melt does not look typically Park Slope. It's very stylized, both on the plate and in the interior. Bare walls are semi-cozy feeling, some a dark chocolate brown, others ivory. Warm lighting, spare-looking tables and chairs. Furniture and lack of decor shows the dichotomy of both straight edge and curvy lines. This would make sense if you saw it.

The inside of Melt inspired a conversation among Alix, Colin and I about design and architecture - we observed that despite living in one of the boldest, fastest moving cities in the world, New York does not go leaps and bounds ahead in architecture. Where are the crazy, sleekly curvaceous buildings we all think of as futuristic? Even super laid back Seattle has a space needle. Mystery unsolved.

So the food...I am never quite sure about "New American" food - it usually looks good but falls short and feels sadly overpriced. However, the lightly fried goat cheese ravioli that we shared on a salad of arugula, almonds and stewed yellow tomatoes was top-notch appetizer. A sensation surprisingly peppery mingled with the goat cheese. My salmon main plate was artfully arranged AND delicious - a compact stack of fish, under teepee-ed asparagus and sprigs of thyme standing like a flag on new land, all resting on a soft plop of whipped potatoes and ginger infused spinach. Modern architecture and design?

The co-owner told us the various meanings of Melt after we mused over coffee and inquired - a melting of flavors, the American melting pot of cultures and also the "sensation of melting". I had a hard time with that one, but Colin had an example: like when you come in from the freezing outdoors and your ears and fingers are painfully cold but the heat of your home and your chocolate drink warms and tingles you. That's "melt".

Melt
440 Bergen St (between 5th and 6th Aves)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
New York
718-230-5925