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FOODIE HEAVEN

FOODIE HEAVEN
The Brooklyn Papers / Greg Mango

Ask any Brooklynite to name their favorite
restaurant and you’ll get an earful. We love to discuss our favorite
haunts; who has the best pasta or pizza or even sushi for that
matter. We’re "foodies" and proud of it. And why shouldn’t
we be? After all, we can break bread in the best restaurants.
They’re all right here in our borough.



Take a stroll down Smith Street in Boerum Hill and you’ll see
what I mean. A gastronomic renaissance has turned a once decrepit
strip into Brooklyn’s own Restaurant Row. Authentic French bistros
and Thai restaurants, Argentinean steak houses and creperies
all happily coexist along the block.



Throngs of Brooklynites ready to sample some of the finest cuisine
in the borough turned up at the fifth annual Brooklyn Eats tasting
event held on Oct. 22 in the New York Marriott Brooklyn. To call
this event a feast would be an understatement. With 52 restaurants,
private caterers, wine merchants and designer soda purveyors
participating, it was a full-fledged bacchanal.



The media arrived with notebooks and cameras in hand; men in
suits ate their dainty hors d’oeuvres, and a few woozy partygoers
– who don’t take food with their meals – staked out spots near
the wine tables. People carrying tiny plates of delicious samples
were running in every direction. Husbands and wives were separated
by the masses, only to bump into each other an hour later, one
holding an enormous spare rib, the other with a plateful of ravioli
– and both perfectly happy.



By 7 pm the room was packed and a high-pitched hysteria had set
in.



"So much food so little time," was the battle cry of
Brooklyn’s hungry revelers.



Anything you’ve ever wanted to eat was yours for the asking.
Interested in a little maki roll with a side of potato salad
and a piece of strudel for dessert? How about a nice cup of seafood
bisque or spicy jerk chicken? Wind it up with a good cup of coffee
and a slice of devil’s food cake, cheesecake, or sweet potato
tart and everyone goes home happy.



Hors d’oeuvres anyone? Waiters carried silver trays of delightful
nibbles. The polenta sunrise with tomato salsa and the poached
salmon with dill mayonnaise croustades, both from Serene Cuisine
Personal Chef Service, packed plenty of flavor into each small
bite. Charles Krause, who caters for the Palm House at the Brooklyn
Botanic Garden, served a goat cheese and caramelized onion tart
with a perfectly crisp, buttery crust.



I took a spot on the end of the line to sample Madiba’s ostrich
steak. (No, it doesn’t taste like chicken.) The South African-themed
restaurant’s fabulous, house-made beef sausages called Boerewors,
were smoky and spiced with anise and sage, and could easily become
an addiction.



Fort Greene’s LouLou Restaurant served a tender coriander and
coffee rubbed filet mignon with sauce Denise; the coriander and
coffee flavoring giving it just the right depth and bite. Rose
Water’s duck confit on focaccia with plum chutney was a winner:
the Park Slope eatery’s breads are house-made and their focaccia
is delectable.



If you love short ribs as much as I do, the braised short ribs
with cannellini beans, red wine and fall vegetables from Carroll
Gardens caterer Naturally Delicious won’t disappoint you. The
meat was butter-soft and the sauce had plenty of winy flavor.



The award for most appropriate (and delicious) meat dish goes
to Chef Josh Cohen of Relish. This Williamsburg restaurant’s
roast venison with pumpkin au poivre was the perfect choice for
an autumn event.



Seafood lovers were swooning over Lundy’s lobster bisque "shooters."
Served in long, narrow glasses it was the richest, briniest bisque
imaginable. Running neck-and-neck with the bisque from Sheepshead
Bay was the Smith Street Kitchen’s light, yet richly flavored
seafood chowder. Tavern on Dean’s monkfish Provencal was a treat,
and Minnow Restaurant’s warm smoked codfish with homemade creme
fraiche was delicate, smokey and wonderful. Escovitch fish with
fried plantains from Sally’s West Indian Restaurant in Canarsie
was "really hot, mon!"



Vegetarians, vegans and the like did not leave the event underfed.
Rice, a new restaurant in DUMBO, served eggplant maki rolls,
an amusing take on sushi. Grilled eggplant was rolled around
in Japanese or brown rice and served with a dipping sauce. Edamame
(soybeans) served with sticky Thai black rice, were crunchy and
salty. (No boring tofu at this table!)



For vegetarians in the mood for pasta, Marco Polo Ristorante
of Carroll Gardens treated the crowds to delicate tortellacci
di magro; tender crepe-like wrappers, stuffed with well-seasoned
ricotta and spinach, in a wine infused brown sauce.



How do you go to an event like Brooklyn Eats and not have dessert?
Sweet Melissa’s cakes, festooned with daisies and scrolls of
white icing were gorgeous, and the Court Street cafe’s hazelnut
layer cake with raspberry preserves and creme fraiche frosting
was light and not overly sweet.



Next time I need a sweet fix, I’ll have a slice of Cake Man Raven’s
red velvet cake. True to its name, the texture was velvety and
the sugar content packed a wallop. The best dessert award (and
my favorite dish of the evening) goes to Beso for its Quinoa
bread pudding with Valencia orange sauce. Chef Carlo Zuccarello’s
pudding was dense without being heavy, and the Valencia orange
sauce had a slight tart edge. You can’t get better than that.



There was too much food for one person to sample. Had I tried
everything, I’d still be there, deliriously roaming from station
to station. That thought alone should stop me from lamenting
the culinary treasures I missed. But, it doesn’t.



I’m already berating myself for passing up the jerk chicken breasts
with mango salsa and the rice and peas in coconut milk from the
Brawta Caribbean Cafe. I meant to try Grappa Cafe’s artichoke
ravioli with mascarpone cream sauce but never made it back to
the Court Street restaurant’s station. And how did I miss the
lamb sirloin with potato-vegetable and red wine reduction from
the MidAtlantic Cafe? Was I crazy?



For the next few days I’ll be eating only fruit and salads. After
that I’ll be busy making reservations. LouLou, table for two
next Friday.