Brooklyn Restaurant Ranked Among America's 50 Best: Report

WILLIAMSBURG, NY — Williamsburg's Café Camellia landed on the New York Times' 50 best restaurants in the United States for the year, ranking among the city's best.

The spot opened in April on Graham Avenue between Devoe and Ainslie streets and has already made a significant splash — already winning accolades for its banana pudding tart in August.

And this week, the eatery was one of four in New York City to make the New York Times' top 50 list — ranking alongside Superiority Burger in the East Village, Torrisi in and Lower Manhattan and Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi in Hudson Yards.

Open Monday to Saturday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., the restaurant serves up high end dishes starring fish like a blackened catfish, oysters, prawn and grits, grilled striped bass and oysters.

Beyond sea legs, chef Roger Jacobsen's menu boasts fried baby back ribs, a bone-in Delmonico steak, key lime pie and specialty cocktail menu.

Opening just in time for the summer months, the restaurant boasts a green patio where a compost-fueled garden generates fresh vegetables for the kitchen, according to the restaurant's Instagram account.

Fun videos posted to the restaurant's social media show off the garden's lavender, Japanese maple, fig tree, sunflowers, roses, bell peppers and an heirloom arugula plant brought over from Italy 60 years ago — and the 2,000 worms that keep it running.

"The world is ending, so it's important to compost," said the restaurant's self proclaimed "spirit leader," Peter Banks-Kenny, in a video posted to social media. "We're lucky to be able to grow a garden in Brooklyn and I really relate to these worms who just did not want to leave the bag."

Café Camellia sits in the East Williamsburg site that used to house Garden Grill — a diner that shut down in 2018 after 21-years in business after a conflict with the owners' landlords, Eater New York reported.