East Village ceviche bar Desnuda just opened their second outpost in Williamsburg with an expanded menu of fish offerings and a dedicated list of inventive cocktails from Chaim Dauermann. Unlike the smaller restaurant in Manhattan, the new Brooklyn location offers a dining space outfitted with cozy booth nooks and another separate bar area focused on the cocktails. Both spaces evoke a maritime vibe, with beautiful green and copper wall adornments, old seafarers maps of Patagonia and hand-carved mermaid statues on the bar front. There are also some stools at the food bar, where you can watch the ceviches come together and observe the creative cooking techniques employed by Executive Chef Dominic Martinez.
Desnuda's signature gravity bong-smoked oysters made the voyage across the East River, as well as a selection of raw and baked oysters, which are available for an extra reasonable $1 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily and all day on Sundays and Mondays. The expanded ceviche menu includes a refreshing and spicy Ceviche de Mango ($18), which marinates tender chunks of mango and salmon in a piquant mixture of aji amarillo puree, peppers and red onion. The extra decadent Ceviche de Langosta ($27) sees Maine lobster marinated in coconut milk with lime and oranges juices and some heat from ginger and jalapeno.
Since the team behind The Bourgeois Pig and Death & Co. are behind Desnuda, it comes as no surprise that an artistic approach to cocktails and beverages is also employed here. Less common spirits like piscos, mescals and cachaças are found throughout the menu, as are the house-made cordials and liqueurs and a selection of dried peppers from Nobska Farms. Try the Prufrock & A Hard Place ($11), which combines Alto del Carmen Reserva Pisco, Rothman & Winter Peach Liqueur and Cesar Florido Moscatel Especial with lemon juice and incendiary Devil's Tongue chiles.
221 South First Street at Roebling, Williamsburg; 718-387-0563; Open 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily.
