CleverRoot

6 8 | t h e c l e v e r r o o t DECONSTRUCTING DISHES BROOKLYN RESTAURANT FAUN IS A FIRST-TIME culinary project for a pair of architects, Carla Swickerath and David Stockwell, which explains the carefully curated modernist look of the place, with its exceptional tree-shaded outdoor patio, a perfect space on which to luxuriate on a warm Prospect Heights evening. It also explains their choice of Chef Brian Leth, whose dishes are—if not actually architectural—at least carefully and even elegantly designed. This isn't the sort of molecular cooking that's too pretty to eat, but it's worth pausing a moment to appreciate the thoughtful arrangement of the ingredients on the New American/Italian plates. Leth grew up in New Jersey and worked on a ranch in Wyoming before putting in his time at such New York culinary icons as Prune, Blue Hill, Vinegar Hill House and Wine Disciples Enoteca. He then landed at Faun, where the house rule is no gratuities allowed, and the mixology menu should have you jumping to your smart- phone to figure out the meaning of the Cappelletti in the Badalisc (it's like Campari, but not as bitter), and the Amaro Meletti in the Known Unknown (it's an anise and saffron liqueur). A little easier to parse is the food menu, though an heirloom radicchio called tardive may have you puzzled, and it helps to know that piadina is a type of flatbread from Emilia-Romagna. But otherwise, the menu is focused, sharp and based on the kitchen's commitment to "buying only from ecologically responsible farmers, ranchers and fishers whenever possible." And to doing some really wonderful things with bone marrow. For those of us who love marrow, the bone marrow cappelletti brodo is a dish from heaven. Inspired by Chinese soup dumplings, bone marrow cappelletti brodo is "a dish from marrow heaven." The Magic of Marrow CHEF BRIAN LETH SERVES UP THE UNEXPECTED AT FAUN IN BROOKLYN by Merrill Shindler PHO TO C O UR TES Y OF FAUN R E S TAU RANT

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