Lunch at Hope & Anchor

Happy Earth Day! There's lots of good, fun stuff to do today! Check out the celebration at The Gate (321 Fifth Avenue at 3rd Street, 718-768-4329). There will be raffles and 100% of the profits from the sales of select draught beer will be donated to The Rainforest Alliance. Very cool.

I recently went to Hope & Anchor (347 Van Brunt Street, at the corner of Wolcott St., 718-237-0276) in Red Hook for lunch. It's a corner bar/diner neighborhood place with standard fare (sandwiches, burgers, beer) and surprisingly interesting other dishes (samosas with mango chutney, pierogis and tofu quesadillas). They also have Karaoke every Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights! I've never been, but the photos on their website look like a lot of fun, if you're into Karaoke.

My friend and I got two entrees and split them both, a great option when you can't decide on what to get, one of which was the Red Hook Burger. It comes with cheddar, bacon and sauteed onions and was quite tasty and substantial. You get two strips of bacon but minimal cheese and the onions were nice but the fries were bland and ordinary. They made us think about frozen fries out of a bag. The bun was good though, soft and chewy but not overwhelming.



We also ordered the Crab Cake sandwich which I really liked. It comes with watercress and dill mayo on an Onion Bun. It was moist and tender, and made from real lump meat. The bun was a bit greasy, like a croissant, but it was totally enjoyable and finger-licking good.



I like this place for a laid-back meal when you're wanting something easy and tasty with not a lot of frill.