Brooklyn’s burgeoning dining scene continues
to gobble up real estate. Here’s the latest about three newcomers:
Park Slope’s Paradou, Williamsburg’s Chickenbone and Aliseo in
Prospect Heights.
Across the river
Set a date for June 27, when Paradou – named after a French village
– opens on Seventh Avenue between 14th and 15th streets.
If you need references, ask any of the customers who patronize
their restaurant of the same name in the meatpacking district
in Manhattan. They love chef Robert Ubhaus’ charcuterie plates
as well as his lusty pates and artisanal cheeses. He’s cooking
in the Slope, too.
Ubhaus has wooed them with terrines of roasted tomato, basil
and goat cheese and salads of grilled quail and lentils. His
grilled sandwiches and crepes are crowd pleasers. Try the duck
confit entree with seared foie gras, potatoes lyonnaise and spinach.
Have it with a glass of wine as Paradou is known for their French
wines.
And Joel Durand – who uses ingredients like rose petals, and
rosemary and violets from Provence – makes their knockout chocolate
truffle for dessert.
You want casual? The one large room is white and airy. The tables
are topped with wine boxes as is the bar (just wine for now,
later they’ll have a full liquor license), and the ceiling is
tented, Moroccan style, with golden fabric.
The Manhattan restaurant has been called a little bit of Provencal
paradise due in large part to its lush, outdoor garden. The Park
Slope version will be similar, and can seat 30 or 40.
Paradou (426A Seventh Ave. between 14th and 15th streets in
Park Slope) accepts Visa, MasterCard and Discover. Entrees: $10-$20.
Dinner is served Tuesday through Sunday. Brunch and lunch is
served Saturdays and Sundays, noon-4 pm. The restaurant is closed
Mondays. For reservations, call (718) 499-5557.
A bone to pick
Sourcing local ingredients is nothing new for chefs (does the
name Alice Waters ring a bell?) yet few cooks take their foraging
as seriously as Zakary Pelaccio, the man behind the catchphrase
"Brooklyn global cuisine."
Pelaccio – who has been dishing out multi-ethnic, small-plate
cuisine in Williamsburg since April – gets his ingredients from
small, Brooklyn purveyors.
"Georgie, the 80-year-old woman in the neighborhood,"
says co-owner Zini Lardieri, who, she adds, has been selling
fresh mozzarella for "like 70 years," supplies the
cheese for Pelaccio’s panini, and the "artisanal kielbasa"
that gives his kielbasa bruschetta such bite, hails from Sikorski’s,
a butcher in Greenpoint.
Everything inside Chickenbone, except the enormous, steel-rimmed
windows, is cedar, but don’t let the ski lodge-chic or the hipster
patrons fool you. Pelaccio hails from California’s French Laundry
restaurant and Manhattan’s Daniel.
He’s as serious about food as his mentors, yet has a playful
side: a pumpernickel baguette is topped with slow-roasted salmon,
watercress and wasabi oil, and one evening’s soup du jour features
fresh asparagus topped with a truffle oil poached egg. Wash it
down with "the bone"- a rye cocktail laced with Tabasco
– or lose it to the testosterone-laden bone with beef – the concoction
plus a side of smoked beef with chilies.
It’s a man’s drink, but we like it, too.
Chickenbone Cafe (177 S. Fourth St. between Roebling Street
and Driggs Avenue) accepts Visa and MasterCard. Entrees: $7-$15.
The restaurant serves dinner Tuesdays-Thursdays and Sundays from
6 pm to 1:30 am. Fridays and Saturdays, dinner is served from
6 pm to 2:30 am. The restaurant is closed Mondays. No reservations
accepted. For information, call (718) 302-2663.
Winds of change
It took two years for Albano Ballerini, the chef and owner of
Aliseo Osteria, to complete the renovations to his Prospect Heights
restaurant.
"I did most of the work myself. Me and three contractors,
but I had to fire them regularly," Ballerini said with a
laugh.
Opened in February, Ballerini’s labor of love (named for the
trade wind that buoyed Columbus to America) has a "sort
of shabby chic," he said. He described his 24-seat restaurant
as "totally funky": One off-white, distressed brick
wall faces another covered with vintage wallpaper; a three-seat
counter serves as "the focus of attention"; and "a
gold-tin ceiling holds everything together."
Dishes hail from Marche, a region of Italy along the Adriatic
coast, where Ballerini’s father, "a master gelato maker,"
owns a cafe. The menu changes daily, depending on the freshest
ingredients of the moment.
"We try not to be like the usual cafe," he said. One
evening’s "lasagna" featured crepes made from porcini
mushroom flour, layered and filled with two sauces: a bechamel
cream sauce and a meat sauce.
"And," said Ballerini, "I use truffles a lot."
His selection of 20 to 25 varieties of cheese, some artisanal,
are imported from Italy and are "the best in Brooklyn –
on a par with the big guys in Manhattan," he said. Pair
the cheese with what Ballerini describes as "the largest
selection of wine focusing on the Marche region," and it’s
amore.
Aliseo Osteria (665 Vanderbilt Ave. between Park Place and
Prospect Place) accepts cash only. Entrees: $11.50-$14.50. The
restaurant serves dinner Mondays-Saturdays, and brunch and dinner
on Sundays, from 11 am to 11 pm. For information, call (718)
783-3400.
