New Park Slope Restaurant Serving 'Farm Pizza,' Plus Much More, on 5th Avenue

Pictured: Jake Novick-Finder, left, and Craig Hutchinson. Photo by John V. Santore

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Craig Hutchinson took a quick break from his prep work on Wednesday to offer what he called a "controversial" opinion on the restaurant business.

Jake Novick-Finder, 26, the head chef and co-founder of Gristmill, had been detailing the new restaurant's commitment to farm-fresh, locally-sourced food, and Hutchinson, his sous-chef, wanted to weigh in.

"I think chefs are lazy," he said. "Providing your customer base with some food on the plate isn't enough."

Photo by John V. Santore

Gristmill, which opened Wednesday at 289 5th Ave. in Park Slope, is currently working with 45 farms, of which 36 are in New York state, Novick-Finder explained.

"It's a challenge, but it's nowhere as bad as people say it is," he said.

In fact, Novick-Finder continued, finding great local ingredients is the part of the job he likes the most.

He grew up in Park Slope, but moved to Rhinebeck, NY when he was a child, where his mother owns a farm.

Novick-Finder spent years as a pastry chef, and worked with Hutchinson in Boston, before deciding to open his own place. He said that at first, he thought about an ice cream shop, but decided, "that's going to get boring really quickly."

So instead, he settled on a farm-fresh restaurant that would allow him to work with local farmers, an approach he said he cares about both as a chef, and as someone concerned with environmental sustainability.

Shrimp and cornbread. Photo courtesy of Gristmill.

Many of Gristmill's offerings are of the small-plate variety, intended for sharing. An exception is the whole red heritage bird that can be pre-ordered and which serves four.

The restaurant's salads bring together produce from "five or six farms on one plate," Novick-Finder said.

Beets and "soil." Photo courtesy of Gristmill.

The fresh flour for Gristmill's pizza, cooked in a wood-fired oven, is milled at four farms, and topped with a variety of delicacies (Novick-Finder calls it "farm pizza").

And for dessert, the restaurant's ice cream and sorbet can be enjoyed in-house, or ordered by the pint to take home.

Pizza. Photo courtesy of Gristmill.

"It's the simple things that excite me," Novick-Finder said. He and Hutchinson stressed that their focus is on finding the best local ingredients and figuring out how to get the most out of them. (An example: the house vinaigrette is made from herb stems.)

The menu will change constantly as products come and go — "Farmers dictate our menu, not us," Hutchinson said, presenting it as a positive.

"You can get really attached to a dish" served year-round, he said, which limits creativity. "All you have to do is think."

Gristmill is open from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and from 5:30 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.