In the past year, more restaurants opened
than I could possibly visit, and those in which I dined are raising
the bar on what constitutes a great meal – at a tab that puts
less evolved Manhattan places to shame.
But ask me to pick my favorite of the bunch for 2005, and the
answer will be "No way." The choices are too varied,
and anyway, I go from "love" to "just friends"
with restaurants faster than Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney.
I’ve tried to narrow my choices down to 10 that I visited this
year, cheating a bit by adding a list of honorable mentions. There are other eateries in this borough that
I admire – and visit all the time – but for this story, I included
only those I reviewed in 2005 for GO Brooklyn.
So, whether they took the falafel out of Middle Eastern cooking
or used it in an innovative way, dished out flawless renditions
of American classics, or put the perfect back into pizza, each
of the restaurants in this year’s roundup fed me something –
or lots of things – that made me happy.
Anyone who thinks Jewish mothers only inspire guilt hasn’t eaten
at Miriam. Owner
Refeal Hasid pays tribute to mom by naming his restaurant after
her and using many of her recipes in the kitchen.
The man executing Miriam’s dishes and plenty of his own, is Ido
Ben Shmuel, who dazzled my mother (see a pattern here?) and me
this summer. We started with a ceviche of sweet grouper, "cooked"
in lemon and lime juices. The fish sat in a small puddle of ripe
tomato puree, brightened with cilantro and parsley, and Shmuel
topped the little pile with slivers of pickled garlic and batons
of lightly cooked beets. The first bite was shockingly vivid,
then herbaceous. Slowly, hot and smoky notes crept in.
It was divine.
Ceviches are off the menu until the summer, but Shmuel is serving
spicy, pan-seared sea scallops that won’t disappoint you. Neither
will the figs filled with goat cheese in a red wine sauce that
left my mother speechless. (If you knew her, you’d understand
the significance.)
Mom stayed home when I visited Olea,
a Fort Greene restaurant that opened in October. Good thing,
too, because she would have gobbled up all of my fried mussels.
I had never sampled a fried mussel, but since my dinner there,
I don’t want them any other way.
They’re just one of the delicious surprises from Olea’s chef
Gary Moran. He skips around the warmer countries and comes up
with intriguing combinations: those mussels are coupled with
squid rings, lemon slices and fresh sage leaves that he drops
into the batter and sizzles them up, too.
He takes artichoke hearts, fried in a falafel batter, and serves
them with a smoky Turkish eggplant salad that made me want to
ask, "Please sir, may I have some more?"
The food is so wildly delicious and the portions so enormous,
that if you ask for "more" at Amelia’s
Ristorante in Bay Ridge, then you’re a glutton. Chef Ken
Deiner whirls around the eight-seat place he opened in August.
He stops at each table to entertain with amusing restaurant lore
before racing back to his one-man kitchen. Everything I tasted
at Amelia’s was superb: a strip steak that would put Manhattan’s
meat emporiums to shame; crusty diver sea scallops on a bed of
decadently rich polenta enhanced with herbs and cream; and an
extraordinary red snapper encased in a pistachio nut crust served
with couscous that absorbed a heady lobster broth.
Oh, man, was that great.
So was just about everything I tried at Applewood,
a restaurant in Park Slope whose chef, David Shea, is dedicated
to the slow food movement. Shea likes bacon – and so do I – so
his mix of wild mushrooms studded with salty lardons over creamy
polenta won my heart. So did Shea’s braised pork belly with its
brittle crust and lush interior.
Chef Pierre Thiam of Le
Dakar in Clinton Hill makes my list again this year. (His
Bed-Stuy restaurant Yolele was included in 2004.) If he opens
a restaurant the year after, and the year after that, Thiam will
be included in those roundups, too. Why? Because I was so overwhelmed
with his cooking the last time I was there that I was surprised
I didn’t start speaking in tongues.
Thiam, who opened his Senegalese restaurant, Le Dakar, in September
2004, can take something as simple as tomato soup and turn it
into a multi-layered masterpiece of flavor. His "Thiebou
Djenn," an African fish stew with bluefish and okra made
me dizzy, while his "Paris Dakar," a thin tart of apple
and mango layers, sits on the most brittle, buttery crust that’s
as thin as glass.
If you haven’t visited Le Dakar, then go. Right now.
Once journalists and the public got past, "Isn’t that the
guy from ’The Restaurant?,’" Rocco DiSpirito’s crash-and-burn
reality show, they realized that the real story at ici
is the food. "The guy," Laurent Saillard, who opened
ici in 2004, installed chef Julie Farias in the kitchen. Working
with Saillard’s recipes, as well as her own, Farias turns out
simple, playful, market-driven dishes that rarely disappoint.
Sitting in the Fort Greene eatery’s leafy garden this summer,
I was served an "oyster brulee." The single oyster
(an "amuse bouche" or little mouth amusement) was dabbed
with a bit of lemon-laced anchovy butter sprinkled with crisp
breadcrumbs then browned in the broiler, hence the "brulee."
It was one bite of everything I love: salt, citrus, cream and
crunch.
If you’ve had it up to your molars with bistro fare, then head
to El Huipil in
Red Hook for real Mexican – not Tex-Mex – cooking. I’m always
touched by small family operations, so this tiny place in Red
Hook really got to me. Mother Heleodora "Lolita" Vivar
and her son Jesus Serrano are in the kitchen turning out authentic
dishes from their home state of Guerrero; Jesus’s wife Megan
works the floor.
Everything that goes into their cooking – from the roasted peppers,
to the hundreds of spices crushed in a mortar and pestle – is
prepared in their little kitchen.
Vivar’s "mole de pollo," is a moist chicken leg topped
with the headiest mole sauce you’re likely to encounter south
of the border. It’s the color of coal and unfolds slowly in the
mouth: first smoke, then a taste of licorice, and then a hint
of cocoa. It’s one of those dishes that made me want to raise
my fist in the air and shout "Yes!"
Sometimes good things take awhile to happen. That’s the case
with Night and
Day, a Park Slope restaurant and performance space whose
proprietors, Judy Joice and Robin Hirsch, hired and fired two
chefs in the eatery’s infancy before lucking out with Simon Glenn.
Glenn started in November, five months after the place opened,
and the change in the kitchen is, well, as different as night
and day.
On a recent cold evening, I tried Glenn’s "osso buco"
and was wowed. He puts a Greek spin on the Italian classic by
pairing two fall-off-the-bone-tender lamb shanks with baby artichoke
halves and oven-dried tomatoes, then splashes the dish with a
light sauce brightened with lemon juice and fresh oregano. A
sprinkling of sharp feta cheese lent a creamy, nutty note to
the works. It’s a perfect winter dish that instantly transported
me to a sun-drenched Grecian beach.
I never trust a menu that reads like a greatest hits list of
culinary favorites: a pupu platter, chicken wings with bleu cheese,
coconut shrimp, meatloaf. You get the picture.
Normally one would assume that the chef couldn’t possibly maintain
his enthusiasm when cooking an unchanging menu of classics, so
I had my doubts about Samm’s
in Bay Ridge, an eatery that’s been around for seven years.
But after trying chef Segundo Guaman’s lamb chops, I knew I was
wrong. He served seven of them, each tiny and rare. A thin crust
of crisp, slightly mustardy breadcrumbs did for the sweet meat
what a little lip-gloss does for Angelina Jolie’s kisser. Those
lamb chops didn’t need a thing, but I wasn’t complaining when
I tasted his velvety sauce studded with shiitake mushrooms.
Why am I carrying on about lamb chops? When the meat is as good
as this, and a chef knows just how to amp up its flavor, then
lamb chops are rave-worthy.
Why would I put a restaurant that serves mostly pizza on this
list? Because since their arrival in November, Park Slope locals
have reacted to Anthony’s
pies like thirsty desert wanderers handed a jug of cold water.
The man creating all the ruckus is "pizzaiolo" Bart
Agozzino, whose pies are a dream: thin, chewy, delicately crusted,
lightly coated with a fresh tasting, house-made sauce and mozzarella,
and strewn with slivers of fresh basil.
The owners know their pies are great, but they don’t fling around
the patronizing "you’re eating a piece of art" attitude
that I’ve found in other Park Slope restaurants that emphasize
great pizza.
Lina Buglione, the mother of owners Sal and Frank, makes a fabulous
Sunday ragu, too.
So those are my top 10 for 2005 – all deserving of praise for
serving our neighborhoods the kind of fare that keeps us coming
back for more.
Amelia Ristorante (8305 Third Ave. between
83rd and 84th streets in Bay Ridge) accepts American Express,
Discover, MasterCard and Visa. Entrees: $13.95-$37.95. The restaurant
serves dinner Tuesday through Sunday. Closed Mondays. For reservations,
call (718) 680-4650.
Anthony’s (426A Seventh Ave. between 14th and 15th streets in
Park Slope) accepts American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and
Visa. Entrees: $9-$16. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner
daily. Sunday brunch is served from 11 am to 3 pm. For information,
call (718) 369-8315.
Applewood (501 11th St. at Seventh Avenue in Park Slope) accepts
Discover, MasterCard and Visa. Entrees: $19-$25. The restaurant
serves dinner Tuesday through Saturday. Brunch is offered on
Sundays, from 10 am to 3 pm. Closed Mondays. For reservations,
call (718) 768-2044.
El Huipil (116A Sullivan St. between Van Brunt and Conover streets
in Red Hook) accepts cash only. Entrees: $7.25-$8.95. The restaurant
serves breakfast, lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday. Closed
Mondays. For more information, call (718) 855-4548.
ici (246 DeKalb Ave. between Clermont and Vanderbilt avenues
in Fort Greene) accepts American Express, MasterCard and Visa.
Entrees: $12-$22. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and
dinner Tuesday through Sunday and brunch on weekends, from 8
am to 4 pm. Closed Mondays. For reservations, call (718) 789-2778.
Le Dakar Restaurant & Cafe (285 Grand Ave. between Lafayette
Avenue and Clifton Place in Clinton Hill) accepts American Express,
MasterCard and Visa. Entrees: $10-$15. The restaurant serves
lunch and dinner daily. Weekend brunch is available from noon
to 5 pm. For more information, call (718) 398-8900 or visit www.dakarcafe.net.
Miriam (79 Fifth Ave. at Prospect Place in Park Slope) accepts
American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa. Entrees: $13.50-$20.
The restaurant serves dinner daily and weekend brunch from 10
am to 4 pm. For more information, call (718) 622-2250.
Night and Day (230 Fifth Ave. at President Street in Park Slope)
accepts American Express, Diners Club, Discover, MasterCard and
Visa. Entrees: $12-$22. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch
and dinner daily. Weekend brunch is available from 10 am to 4:30
pm. For reservations, call (718) 399-2161.
Olea (171 Lafayette Ave. at Adelphi Street in Fort Greene) accepts
American Express. Entrees: $15-$18.50. The restaurant serves
breakfast and lunch from Monday to Friday. Weekend brunch is
available from 10 am to 4:30 pm; dinner is served daily. For
reservations, call (718) 643-7003.
Samm’s Restaurant and Lounge (8901 Third Ave. at 89th Street
in Bay Ridge) accepts American Express, MasterCard and Visa.
Entrees: $17-$26. The restaurant serves dinner Tuesday through
Sunday. Closed Mondays. For reservations, call (718) 238-0606.
