Madcap cafe brooklyn5/29/2023 ![]() ![]() Yes, as she says, the fact that it's served on thick slabs of marvelously greasy toast makes it "pretty much a patty melt," but whatever, this is a masterpiece of meat. Fuller gives most of the credit to her butcher, the old-school Paisanos right around the corner (her other secret is "black pepper"), but that downplays her skill at the grill. The Madcap Cafe menu is filled with winners, but the most important thing to know is that the CGBG, or Carroll Gardens Burger, is fantastic, the best such sandwich I've had all year. ![]() I wasn't able to try the Key Lime Pie on either visit, for example, which was the only dessert on offer (or, I guess, sometimes on offer), but the disappointment stings less once you experience how much love Fuller puts into everything she does whip up for you in her tiny kitchen. ![]() One little flaw: The short menu seems to be more a list of what might be available today, rather than a definitive guide, and my excellent server didn't seem to be in on that day's offerings. And make no mistake: Fuller's Madcap is all her own. The woman behind all the wonderful rule-breaking is chef and owner Heather Fuller, whose previous kitchen jobs under David Chang (at Ko) and John Fraser (at Nix) perhaps foreshadowed the "Screw it, I'm just going to make what I want" ethos here. To be honest, in this era of tightly themed menus and meticulously art-directed settings-even at casual, all-day cafes such as this-Madcap feels almost radical in its lack of marketing hooks. Once inside, grab a stool overlooking Court Street, or at the bar where locals tend to linger, or at one of the close-set tables - the corner nook by the window is one of the best seats in the house. Madcap Cafe is a lovely, thrillingly confident little restaurant in the heart of commercial Carroll Gardens, a place that has no concept, no branding, and barely even any signage outside. Our latest edition of Quick Bites brings us to a new little cafe in Carroll Gardens. ![]()
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