Plenty to Get On Board With at Central Station, a New Outdoor Drinking Depot

Do you like sitting in the sun while eating good food and drinking delicious things? Well, join the crowd. “We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel,” admits Peter Simon, co-owner of new Bushwick bar/restaurant Central Station, which provides patrons with a venue to engage in the aforementioned activities.

Simon, who’s lived in  Bushwick for six years, found himself craving somewhere to grab a late-night bite while coming home from shifts at Fatty Cue Brooklyn. Here, he hopes to serve the many hospitality workers in the ‘hood facing the same predicament by offering a relatively small menu of New American cuisine until 1:30 a.m.

Small on selection doesn’t mean small on flavor: the plates presided over by chef Joe Vigorito (previously of Lupa, Dell’anima and L’Artusi) come in generous portions. There are hummus toasts (the chunky spread is served with olive-oil crisped hunks of ciabatta), fish sticks (deep-fried bricks of delicately flaking cod on a pool of zingy remoulade) and a sizable burger.

Those behind the bar are equally committed to big flavor without a side of pretension. Joe Tagney, who is recently of the Randolph but prefers to call himself a “bartender” rather than a “mixologist,” makes a piquant, refreshing tequila chaser by mixing pineapple, cilantro, mint and jalapeño.

The blueberry thyme lemonade is an easy-drinking vodka beverage perfect for a sunny afternoon. In Tagney’s hands, a typically heavy Pina Colada is lightened by achieving the necessary coconut flavor with a homemade syrup rather than cream. All are perfect for sipping in Central Station’s huge back courtyard, which is being landscaped to become even more inviting.

Central Station, 84 Central Ave., nr. Jefferson St., Bushwick; 718-483-9884