Creative cocktails and a smashed meatball parm star at Bar Madonna in Williamsburg 

By Scott Lynch

Bar Madonna, a viby new cocktail spot and restaurant that opened a couple of weeks ago in Williamsburg, took some twists and turns on its way to transforming the old Taqueria Diana Cantina space on Metropolitan Avenue.

Food- and drinks-wise, the team at Bar Madonna, which include Eric Madonna, Ray Rando, beverage director Rob Crowe and chef Rob Zwirz, joined forces for this venture after working together in various iterations at places like Carbone, the Modern, Lupa, Bar Americano and Marc Forgione’s One Fifth. Given the emphasis on booze here, and the playful, “Italian-American inspired” food menu, these are solid credentials.

But Bar Madonna has other strands in its creative DNA as well. Eric Madonna (naming the place after him was kind of an inside joke) is also a record producer, and he spent a big chunk of his 20s touring the world as a warm-up DJ for rapper and Brooklyn native Kota the Friend. He told Brooklyn Magazine that he plans on making music a big part of the party here.

And the look of the place literally comes from a painting by streetwear and couture fashion designer KidSuper, another buddy of Madonna’s who happens to operate a massive warehouse, studio and retail outlet around the corner on Roebling Street. Also: the share plates are designed with KidSuper originals, portraits commissioned by the team of their loved ones.

Ray Rando’s grandparents, by KidSuper (Photo by Scott Lynch)

As far as the food goes, chef Zwirz came up with a menu that, as Madonna puts it, “is filled with flavors or sauces you’re already familiar with — little bits and pieces of our lived life as Italian-Americans — but presented in an interesting, slightly elevated way.”

The most obvious manifestation of this is Bar Madonna’s smashed meatball parm, an instant Instagram favorite that basically takes all the ingredients of the classic hero and cooks them up smashburger style. The parmigiano crisp, adding a cracker-like crunch to the sandwich, is a particularly inspired twist to the proceedings.

Smashed meatball parm, $19 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

Maybe my favorite thing during a recent feast, though, was the plate of plump Calabrese hot wings, which bring a smoky, almost fruity heat to the bar-food staple. The pickled Calabrian hot sauce is nicely tempered by the buttermilk vinaigrette, and the pile of grilled bird arrives with an absolutely necessary wet-nap.

Calabrese hot wings, $18 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

Oxtail is stuffed into a trio of crackling croquettes and plopped into a vibrant puddle of blood orange marmaletta. Other snacky options include oysters with a giardiniera mignonette, a grilled romaine salad with wild boar bacon, and a salumi platter with fried bread.

Oxtail croquettes, $18 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

For something more substantial, there’s a 14-ounce strip steak with garlic fries and a terrific, entree-sized serving of prawns and polenta, the head-on shrimps stacked atop a large mound of creamy grains, everything soaked with a generous pour of ‘nduja sauce.

Prawns and polenta, $37 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

House cocktails run about $16 (the Brooklyn special contains coffee bourbon, Fernet Branca, “bubbles,” and a cherry), you can get multiple bottles of wine for about 50 bucks each, and Other Half IPAs will set you back $13. The space encourages settling in to enjoy multiple refills, broken into several different sections to create coziness, with a soaring two-story ceiling above the bar in back providing a more epic feel.

So far, the crowds have been showing up in force. “This past weekend was nuts,” Madonna says. “We’re hosting friends, hosting people we haven’t seen in years, and it’s also crazy to see the place filled with people I don’t even know. That is definitely a surreal thing for me. But I’m super stoked. I’m proud. I’m excited to see where we can take this.”

Bar Madonna is located at 367 Metropolitan Avenue, near Havemeyer Street, and is currently open on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday from 5 p.m. to midnight, and on Thursday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Closed Monday.