First Bite: Zero Waste Dinner At Saucy [By Nature] On Fulton Street

This past Tuesday, September 1 was the first day of business for new 884 Fulton Street arrival Saucy — short for Brooklyn-based catering/former condiment company Saucy By Nature.

Owned by entrepreneur Przemek Adolf, who founded condiment company in 2011 to emphasize the freshness and flavor of local farm bounties, Saucy is the third stage of Adolf’s business — the second stage was becoming a successful catering company — and natural answer to a problem that all caterers face: what to do with the unused, perfectly good ingredients left over from a party.

All the ingredients are fresh and from local farms, which may soon include Brooklyn Grange over at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and all the baked goods are from local producers such as Baked, Four and Twenty Blackbirds, Colson Patisserie, and Butter & Scotch.

We knew we’d have to see and taste the zero-waste, daily menu change model for ourselves.

First up was deciding between the four dinner options: coffee cacao brisket ($14), baked sockeye salmon with lemon caper butter ($15), summer vegetable lasagna with herbed ricotta ($12), and baked chicken puff pastry pot pies ($12 for two). After much deliberation, we went for the lasagna and pot pies.

The lasagna was fresh from the oven and had a nice contrast of a crunchy cheesy top crush with the al dente pasta, lightly chunky tomato sauce, and vegetables with just enough crunch to clearly be fresh. It’s a large portion, but we recommend taking the option of adding a side ($3 with an entree, $6 a la carte) to round out your meal. You can also add two sides for $5 or three sides for $7.

Our second entree, the chicken pot pie ($6 for one as a side dish, $12 as an entree), has a tender crust that is firm enough to hold the creamy filling of chicken chunks, carrots, potatoes, and celery while flaky enough to give you that pot pie experience. The filling is tellingly fresh, with tender ingredients, and really packed in there, so you don’t go hungry.

As for the sides, which can range from salads to roasted vegetables, all of them can also be made into entrees ($6 sides, $12 entrees). We hope that the Quinoa Salad makes a comeback in future menus because the light tanginess from what tastes like a bit of lemon juice pairs incredibly well with the crunchy, lightly cooked (blanched?) edamame and radish slices.

The Roasted Peach and Burrata Summer Salad is also a dish we would go back for. If you’re eating it fresh, the peaches have a nice chill to it, but if you order it to take out, it’ll have a comforting creaminess to them. The burrata is wonderfully creamy, the drizzle of balsamic dressing doesn’t overwhelm, and overall, the whole thing is surprisingly comforting for a salad.

It’s hard to say no to dessert when they are displayed so tantalizingly at eye level atop the counter space. Blondies, s’mores pie, blueberry pie, waffles, madelines, chocolate chunk cookies. . . Similarly, it is virtually impossible to resist the pistachio cake ($4.50/slice) from Red Hook-based shop Baked. Painted with a thick-but-not-too-thick white frosting topped with a circular dusting of crushed pistachios, the cake screams “eat-me.” When you do, the slice is moist, firm, and dotted with pistachios that have a pleasant crunch-chew (the chew is from the cake surrounding it).

Verdict: Go to Saucy, now, whatever time it is. We love the idea of a daily changing menu, which gives chefs the opportunity to be creative and diners the chance to never get bored with the place. .It’s rare to find a restaurant that you actually want to eat at agin beyond the initial visit and Saucy is one of those restaurants. Perfect for a grab-and-go lunch of sandwiches and a salad, or a sit-down dinner of fresh, hearty, and healthy ingredients, you can’t go wrong.

SAUCY
884 FULTON STREET
http://www.saucybynature.com/
Open daily: 11am-8pm on weekdays and 8am-4pm on weekends
718-789-0177
Catering available
Instagram: @saucybynature (see the menu before walking over!)