All Brooklyn news
Neighborhood Map
Bay Ridge
  • Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights
Brooklyn Heights
  • Downtown, DUMBO
Carroll Gardens
  • Cobble Hill, Red Hook, Boerum Hill
Fort Greene
  • Clinton Hill, Crown Heights
North Brooklyn
  • Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick
Park Slope
  • Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace, Greenwood Heights
GO Brooklyn
Dining Guide
Where to GO
Events calendar
Classifieds
The Brooklyn Wire
Not Just Nets
Police Blotter
Perspective
Parenting
Politics
Transit
Podcasts
Brooklyn Cyclones
Special sections
About The Paper
Mobile site
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feeds

POWER TO THE PIE

By Tina Barry
The Brooklyn Paper
The Brooklyn Papers / Tom Callan

Tools

Print this story
Facebook this
Tweet this
Digg this
Del.icio.us
Albano Ballerini, one of the pioneers of Vanderbilt Avenue’s new culinary renaissance, has opened a second outpost, Amorina Cucina Rustica, across the avenue from his first idiosyncratic cafe, Aliseo Osteria del Borgo.

The new place, done up in "Ballerini eclectic" (as described by the owner), is a boutique-style pie place and more.

Ballerini, who opened his venture in March, says "our fantastic pies are Roman style - thin crust with five different toppings daily." Slices of the fantastic pie, created by pizza chef Ruth Kaplan (pictured at left), an Aliseo patron and enthusiastic home cook, might include artichokes and mozzarella; sundried tomatoes, pesto and salami; or mushrooms, sweet tomatoes and sausage.

Every other week, Kaplan introduces a new "Will to live" pie like the "Pizza alla Norma" - eggplant, ricotta salata, cherry tomatoes and fresh basil or the "Carbonara" with bacon, parmesan and a raw egg topping.

Eat your pie (slices and family-sized at lunch; individual-sized only at dinner) or indulge in an entree of eggplant parmesan, baked ziti, lasagna or rigatoni with olives and rosemary in the funky dining room that bears Ballerini’s style stamp - vintage wallpaper, tables covered in checkered cloths and enough chandeliers to open a small showroom. (Ballerini says there are 12 different styles of chandeliers dating from the ’50s to the ’70s.) He’s even hung yellowing receipts on the walls from his family’s cafe in the Marche region of Italy that date back to the ’40s.

Amorina Cucina Rustica (624 Vanderbilt Ave. at Prospect Place in Prospect Heights) accepts cash only. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday. Closed Mondays. Entrees: $10-$13. For more information, call (718) 230-3030.

©2005 Community Newspaper Group

→Play’s the Thing: Welcome home to ‘Oisk’ & da ‘bums

Reader Feedback

Enter your comment below

By submitting this comment, you agree to the following terms:

You agree that you, and not BrooklynPaper.com or its affiliates, are fully responsible for the content that you post. You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening or sexually-oriented material or any material that may violate applicable law; doing so may lead to the removal of your post and to your being permanently banned from posting to the site. You grant to BrooklynPaper.com the royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such content in whole or in part world-wide and to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or later developed.

First name
Last name
Your neighborhood
Email address
Daytime phone

Your letter must be signed and include all of the information requested above. (Only your name and neighborhood are published with the letter.) Letters should be as brief as possible; while they may discuss any topic of interest to our readers, priority will be given to letters that relate to stories covered by The Brooklyn Paper.

Letters will be edited at the sole discretion of the editor, may be published in whole or part in any media, and upon publication become the property of The Brooklyn Paper. The earlier in the week you send your letter, the better.

Wedding Guide
Tomasos Restaurant

Links