DRESSLERED UP, SOMEWHERE TO GO

Dressler, 149 Broadway, Brooklyn, (718)384-6343, M-Thu, 6pm-11pm; F-Sat, 6pm-midnight; Sun, 5pm-11pm.

Besides investigating the new buildings going up on the waterfront or using those long-planned Peter Luger reservations I haven't had many reasons to venture South of the Williamsburg Bridge until recently.

The metal grate which seemed to hang over the front of the restaurant and the lack of signage made it easy to look past 149 Broadway. With Luger's and Marlow's, a block away in either direction some cigar-puffing outside suggested the location.

At 6:30 p.m., behind the open front window and the cast-iron store-front a crisp, yet comfortable and largely empty restaurant was getting prepped for the evening. Old-school subway tiling lined the floor, wood panels adorned beige walls and grills ensconced the liquor bottles behind the zinc(?) bar.

While there wasn't yet a cocktail menu there was a separate bar menu featuring BBQ ribs, onion rings, duck confit rillettes and a hamburger. It wasn't long after I sat down at the bar and ordered the rillettes ($8.00) before they arrived with a stack of slightly toasted bread and a small salad of greens tossed with small, sweet-pickled red onions and halved cornichon pickles. The pate was tasty but it was the toasting-style of the still-warm bread, lightly and heavily buttered but not slathered that made me pause with pleasure. It replicated my toasting method from childhood, spreading the butter on before toasting and only leaving the bread in long enough to melt it into all crevices. It made the bread soft and salty inside yet slightly crispy on top and along the edges.

It's rare that I'm nostalgic about, not to mention surprised by toast but there I was mulling it over at our table and placing our order, until the arrival of soft (but not warm) rolls and our appetizer, Crispy Artichoke & White Bean Salad (with baby arugula, parmeggiano reggiano & artichoke vinaigrette, $9.00). Bite-size bunched artichoke leaves were tasty and not overseasoned; in fact they were flavored with dime-sized flecks of parmeggiano reggiano.

Next, the entrees, Roasted Chicken gremolata, with escarole, fiddle head ferns, ramps, asparagus & wild mushrooms ($18.00) and Halibut with sugar snap peas, wax beans, haricots vert, fresh cranberry beans & fava beans ($24.00). The chicken was browned and very crisp on the outside, the bone on the leg frenched about 2 inches. Inside it was moist and tender, perfect, the chicken I'd been looking for since Sweetwater's came off it's menu. The escarole and fiddle head ferns provided a light but welcome bitterness. My companion suggested the dish could have used more mushrooms but neither of us could figure out if I hadn't eaten most of them before passing her the dish because in a few seconds there wasn't anything left. The halibut had that same very-crisped outside and moist inside and a rich butter sauce that made good use of the soft rolls.

All 20 tables were filled with maturing hipsters and young professionals as we ordered coffee ($1.95) and dessert. The Lemon Meringue Tart with ambrosia ($7.00) was a bit buttery and really only an appetizer to our second dessert, the Peanut Butter & Chocolate Parfait, peanut brittle & meringue ($7.00). The peanut butter parfait was at the bottom of the glass, a buried treasure beneath the chocolate and meringue, topped and interspersed in the dessert in good proportion were what seemed to be crunchy chocolate-covered peanut brittle balls the size of Dip N Dots. It was as if Friendly's Reeses Pieces Sunday had grown up.

As much as it may dismay some Williamsburgers and Greenpointites, the neighborhood is changing. The buildings are going up and so far, at least the culinary repercussions haven't demonstrated that this is a bad thing. A lot of important niches have been filled over the past two years: muffins from the New York Muffins, brick-oven pizza at Fornino, Irish pubfare at Spikehill and fresh bagels at Bagelsmith. Before Dressler, Sweetwater Cafe was the only restaurant in Williamsburg which served white-tablecloth bistro-fare without the white tablecloths. Now, there's good reason to head South of the Bridge.

TOTAL SPENT: $128 (including 3 drinks)

20 WORDS OR LESS? If you haven't been to Luger's by all means go, otherwise, Sweetwater will survive if you visit Dressler.