Forget Rooftop Gardens: This Brooklyn Restaurant Has Its Own In-House Beehive

The hotel also produces honey jars for sale in the pantry.

By Daniel Avery
Newsweek
9/5/19

Excerpt:

Foodies demand farm-to-table ingredients, and one Brooklyn eatery has locavores buzzing with excitement: Two beehives on the roof of the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge are home to some 2,000 bees, and their “Rooftop Honey” is used in unique dishes and cocktails at the Great Room, the hotel’s in-house restaurant.

Dominick DiNapoli, senior sous chef at the Great Room, worked with Brooklyn beekeeper Andrew Cote to obtain the hotel’s hives in 2017. Since then, they’ve harvested gallons of honey for use in the restaurant—in everything from honey Sriracha sauce for house wings to white honey peach sangria.

Pure honey, like the kind used in the Great Room, has numerous health benefits—it’s known to contain antioxidants and lower bad cholesterol, triglycerides and inflammation. There’s also research suggesting honey can lower blood pressure and risk factors for heart disease.

Currently, the Great Room is offering Orange Rooftop Honey Cake, with a caramelized honey orange topping, as well as Rooftop Honey-Glazed Chicken on a Brick, and a Rooftop Honey Crisp Salad. There are also several honey-themed cocktails—including a classic Brown Derby and a Bee’s Knees, made with Beefeater gin, lemon juice and honey syrup right from the hive.

Read the complete article here.