Last night, I ate a hotdog on my patio.
My husband grilled it on a tiny hibachi, and I served it with
coleslaw purchased from the supermarket and a green salad. No
offense to any of the chefs who fed me so well this winter, but
it was one of the best meals I’ve had all year.
I usually feel that way about anything I consume once the weather
warms up. I don’t care what it is – a dirty water dog, a slice
of pizza, a Dixie cup of cardboardy chocolate ice cream. And
I don’t care where I eat it – my porch, on the sidewalk in a
cloud of gasoline fumes, or on a blanket in Prospect Park. Whatever
I eat outside tastes great.
Of course, I don’t expect everyone to embrace dining al fresco
with the same lack of discrimination. So I’ve found restaurants
that offer sophisticated cuisine in outdoor spaces that shield
you from the usual sidewalk dining mishaps: ankle-gnawing schnauzers,
the aroma of wafting garbage and that damn car alarm that won’t
stop beeping.
Jolie, a French
bistro in Boerum Hill, is an elegant oasis of serenity off busy
Atlantic Avenue. It may be one of the most feminine restaurants
too, with flattering lighting, paintings of dancing girls and
French doors that open onto a bi-level terrace ringed with flowers
and herbs. Under one of the 50 umbrella-topped tables, you can
enjoy chef Michel Pombet’s classic French cuisine while sipping
an "adult slushie." Two to try are the Tracey (green
apple sorbet and Calvados apple brandy) and the Ida (Ricard Pastis
and coconut sorbet with a sprinkling of raw sugar).
From now through the final match on July 9, the World Cup is
being shown on a big outdoor, awning-covered screen. French film
buffs will want to stop in around 8 pm for "Cinetastic Sunday,"
to watch classic French films shown al fresco.
Another eatery where traditional French cuisine is served in
casual surroundings is Le
Gamin in Prospect Heights. During the warmer months, the
waitstaff at this funky little place opens the back door onto
a small garden with umbrella-covered tables that seat 26. No
one rushes locals, who linger over crepes, excellent omelets
and an exemplary "salade nicoise."
In the evening, the wood-fenced outdoor space is surprisingly
quiet for a spot on noisy Vanderbilt Avenue, and, judging from
the handholding couples, romantic, too.
Housed in a three-story brownstone in DUMBO is Five
Front, a bistro with one of the prettiest outdoor dining
spots in the borough. The eatery, located beneath the Brooklyn
Bridge, is also one of the finest places to dine on new American
cuisine. I shared a meal at the bar with a friend recently and
flipped for chef Paul Vicino’s airy goat cheese gnocchi (tiny
potato dumplings), topped with a sprinkle of roasted beets and
a drizzle of melted butter.
Striped umbrellas shade the 40 seats in the restaurant’s lush
bamboo garden where a small bar is canopied by the leaves of
a birch tree. The feeling of stumbling onto a secret gem keeps
diners returning to this secluded spot.
I’m still thinking about my fabulous dinner in April at Nouvelle
in Bay Ridge. Andy Yang, the chef at this Asian-French fusion
eatery, wooed me with caviar-topped tuna, dazzled me with his
lobster roll, and had me begging for mercy by the time the rib
eye with truffle sauce landed on the table.
I’d still return for more if he was serving food out of a truck,
but slumming won’t be necessary. There’s a lovely shaded deck
in the back of the restaurant that seats 20. I plan on sitting
beneath one of the yellow umbrella-covered tables there soon
– just me, an ice-cold litchi martini and a plate of whatever
"Andysan" dreams up that evening.
I had another Bay Ridge blowout earlier in the year at Amelia’s
Ristorante, an Italian restaurant where chef Ken Deiner mans
the kitchen and the dining room with equal zeal. He’s just enlarged
his eight-table restaurant to include a garden area with seating
for 65. The best thing about the new outdoor space – and, Deiner
says, unique to the Bay Ridge neighborhood – is a six-seat raw
bar where patrons can pull up a stool and watch as clams and
oysters are shucked and plated.
If raw fish isn’t your thing, there are steamers as well as seafood
kebabs available at the bar and candlelit tables. Now until early
September is the time to stop in for macadamia-crusted soft shell
crabs with a drizzle of light lemon cream.
It’s just a short flight down from Convivium
Osteria’s rustic dining room to its garden. The 26-seat,
pergola-covered area makes a breezy setting for chef Carlo Pulixi’s
hearty Spanish, Portuguese and Italian fare. Standouts to try
are the whole braised artichokes and the crusty rib eye steak-for-two.
Climbing ivy, lush plantings and roses in bloom add to the feeling
of enchantment diners have come to expect from this Park Slope
old timer.
The ideal place for a break from the relentless hipness of Williamsburg
can be found in the dramatic courtyard at My
Moon, a Turkish-Mediterranean eatery. In the warmer months,
owner Bener Bilgin opens the doors of the vast, 246-seat eatery
onto a stunning, two-level bricked outdoor area with seating
for an additional 90 persons. Planted trees help shade diners
on the upper tier of the wooden deck; on the lower step, wooden
tables and benches are surrounded by sheer, saffron-colored drapes
that blow about each little space, giving the enclosed diners
a breezy outdoor party room of their own.
While you’re there, sip a "Pomelitan" (Absolut citron
vodka and pomegranate juice) and graze on small plates of chef
Manny Marin’s meze. The grilled sardines, seafood filled grape
leaves and "morcilla piquillos," Spanish red peppers
stuffed with rice and sausage in green sauce, are recommended.
Walk through the small dining room of Ici,
a casual bistro in Fort Greene, to a small, appealing garden
surrounded by a white picket fence. Settle at one of the 27 seats
or perch on the old-fashioned metal glider, and sample Texas-born
chef Julie Farias’s French fare by way of the Panhandle. Her
chicken liver schnitzel with shallot confit, and skate with wilted
dandelion greens, lemon and brown butter are must-haves regardless
of the temperature.
I couldn’t write a story about outdoor dining and not include
Alma in Red Hook. The three-level establishment sports a year-round,
tented roof garden with a view of the Manhattan skyline so glamorous
and vast as to seem like a stage set. The eatery’s pan-regional
Mexican fare receives kudos from food critics, as well as a loyal
following who chow down on seared rare tuna with roasted mango
and corn salsa and sip passion fruit and guava mojitos. Anyone
who dines there agrees that the delicious fare tastes even better
eaten so close to the stars.
Alma (187 Columbia St. at Degraw Street
in Red Hook) accepts American Express, MasterCard and Visa. Entrees:
$12-$18. Dinner is served daily. Brunch is available on weekends,
from 10 am to 2:30 pm. For reservations, call (718) 643-5400.
Amelia’s Ristorante (8305 Third Ave. between 83rd and 84th streets
in Bay Ridge) accepts American Express, MasterCard and Visa.
Dinner is available from Tuesday through Sunday; lunch is served
Tuesday through Saturday, from 11 am to 3 pm. Closed Mondays.
For reservations, call (718) 680-4650.
Convivium Osteria (68 Fifth Ave. between Bergen Street and St.
Marks Place in Park Slope) accepts American Express. Entrees:
$13-$25; steak-for-two is $35. The restaurant serves lunch on
weekends, from noon to 3 pm, and dinner daily. For reservations,
call (718) 857-1833.
Five Front (5 Front St. at Old Fulton Street in DUMBO) accepts
American Express, Diners Club, Discover, MasterCard and Visa.
Entrees: $15-$19. The restaurant serves dinner Wednesday through
Monday, and brunch on weekends, from 11 am to 4 pm. Closed Tuesdays.
For reservations, call (718) 625-5559.
Ici (246 DeKalb Ave. between Clermont and Vanderbilt Avenues
in Fort Greene) accepts American Express, Discover, MasterCard
and Visa. Entrees: $14-$23. Dinner is served daily. Brunch is
available on weekends, from 8 am to 4 pm. For reservations, call
(718) 789-2778.
Jolie Restaurant (320 Atlantic Ave. between Hoyt and Smith streets
in Boerum Hill) accepts American Express. Entrees: $16-$20. The
restaurant serves lunch Tuesday through Sunday and dinner daily.
Brunch is served, from 11 am to 4 pm, on weekends. For reservations,
call (718) 488-0777.
Le Gamin (556 Vanderbilt Ave. between Dean and Bergen streets
in Prospect Heights) accepts American Express, MasterCard and
Visa. Entrees: $9-$14. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch
and dinner from 8 am to 10 pm daily. For information, call (718)
789-5171.
My Moon (184 N. 10th Street between Bedford and Driggs avenues
in Williamsburg) accepts American Express, MasterCard and Visa.
Entrees: $14-$18. The restaurant serves dinner daily. For reservations,
call (718) 599-7007.
Nouvelle (8716 Third Ave. between 87th and 88th streets in Bay
Ridge) accepts American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa.
Entrees: $12-$15. "Omikase" is $50 for five courses.
The restaurant serves lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday.
Closed Mondays. For reservations, call (718) 238-8250.
