'Travel Bar' Opens On Court Street

Michael Vacheresse of Travel Bar

In  the past few years,  the Southern end of Court Street has become home to some of Carroll Gardens' best restaurant and boutiques.  Now joining them is Travel Bar, a new drinking and eating spot at 520 Court between Nelson and Huntington Streets, which is bound to become a local favorite.

It opened its doors this past Saturday.

Michael Vacheresse, Travel Bar's owner and head bartender, has created a casual yet elegant space in which to serve his hand selected beers, wines and spirit. He brings more than two decades of fine dining and bartending experience into this new venture, having worked at Bar Masa and Gotham Bar and Grill, to name just a few.

The name of the bar stems from Vacheresse's collection of vintage traveling cases containing bar utensils and gadgets for making mixed drinks on the go.  The name is even more appropriate since the walls  of the bar are adorned with photos taken during Vacheresse's extensive travels through Asia and Europe.

Travel Bar's drink menu include some of Vacheresse's signature cocktails,  including the bar's namesake martini, made of Greenhook Gin and Pamplemousse Rose Liqueur.  The selection also includes carefully chosen dessert wines, amaros and armagnacs.

Travel Bar will soon offer a simple food menu. In addition to à la carte charcuterie and cheese platters, Chef Andrei Volik is currently working on a menu that will feature a pulled pork sandwich on a Caputo sesame seed brioche bun, Farfalel with a truffle  mushroom cream sauce, freshly made french onion  soup, choice of five roasted vegetables as well as a kale citrus salad, and an arugula salad with beats and fennel.  A 'pie of the day' will be offered for desert.

The goal is to start with the best ingredients.  "We are a bar first,  we are not a restaurant," Vacheresse  explains,"but if you are having a cocktail or a glass of wine, and you want some food, you are going to have the best food."

It seems clear when talking to Vacheresse that he is passionate about what he does. "What fine dining is for me is service. When you walk through the door, if you order a glass of wine from me, I am going to give you a taste first to make sure that you like it," he told me during our interview.  

It's that kind of heartfelt service that will make Travel Bar a success here in Carroll Gardens.  If you have not been yet, you definitely want to stop by soon. Chef Volik intends to offer a late night menu  and in the spring, a brunch menu, so there will be even more reasons to check Travel Bar out.

Travel Bar

520 Court Street

Brooklyn, New York 11231 

Open Sunday 3pm to 1 am

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 5pm to 1 am

Thursday to Friday 5pm to 2 pm

Saturday 3pm to 2 am.

You can follow Travel Bar on Facebook here and on Twitter here.

***UPDATE January 2015***

Below please find Travel Bar's new food menu.

Menu

Shakshuka - stewed tomatoes , eggplant, Israeli spices and oven-baked eggs  12
Vegetarian French onion soup       7

Sandwiches
Grilled Cheese with chips  10
Pâté de Campagne with black pepper and pickled red onions on peasant bread  8

Flatbreads
Trio of mushrooms with fontina cheese, herbs and truffle oil  12
Fire roasted peppers with feta cheese  10
Bacon, carmelized onions and spinach  10

Meat & Cheese Plate
Choose any three items for 17, five items for 28 or eight items for 45

Cheese
Salvatore Smokey Ricotta, pasteurized cows’ milk, Red Hook
Duda Gouda, pasteurized sheeps’ milk, Wisconsin
Shelburne Cheddar, aged 2 years, raw cows’ milk, Vermont
Bohemian Blue, pasteurized sheeps’ milk, Wisconsin
Brillat Savarin, triple crème pasteurized cows’ milk, France
Oma, raw cows’ milk, Vermont
Grayson, raw cows’ milk, Virginia

Meat
Olli Toscano fennel pollen salame, Virginia
Daniele dry cured sausage, Rhode Island
La Quercia borsellino smokey salami with caraway, Iowa
La Quercia nduja spicy prosciutto spread, Iowa