People always ask me to name my favorite
Brooklyn restaurant, but I can never narrow my answer down to
just one. I have my pets, of course, but they change often. I’m
not fickle, just lucky. Each week, I find something to love in
a new cafe, a little hole-in-the-wall, or an established restaurant
that keeps cranking out great chow.
So, for those who have asked, I’ve chosen 10 places from those
that were reviewed for GO Brooklyn in 2004. My criteria for their
selection: All the chefs in this roundup served a meal, or just
a single dish, so enjoyable I can recall the flavor as I write.
Here are 10 that fed me well in 2004:
There’s no "scene" at Banana
Leaf. Its nondescript interior is one part Chinatown, one
part Bay Ridge, with tables full of families eating what appears
to be one of everything on chef Peter How’s extensive menu. I’ve
dined there several times this year, and on each visit, I’m wowed
by at least one dish, if not the entire meal.
I adore the simple "nasi lemak," a thin platter with
little tastings of rich chicken curry; tiny, dried anchovies
fried with onions and lime that are as chewy as an old shoe and
so deeply flavored they make me gasp; a bright cucumber salad;
and a disc of sticky rice cooked in coconut milk that had the
consistency of a steamed pudding.
How’s black mussels sit in coconut curry broth layered with briny,
spicy and nutty nuances. He grills skate, slathers it with a
savory spice of ginger and chili, and then tops it with bits
of okra and eggplant. It’s gorgeous in every respect.
And his light, silky, delicately nutty sesame creme brulee is
the best in town.
There are French cafes on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, but none
have the joie de vivre of Belleville.
There, chef Joe Elorriaga’s duck confit (cooked and stored in
its own fat) concentrates the essence of the rich meat down to
a decadent jam. His tiny mussels are served in a Pernod-scented
broth. They are delectable, but a pert cone of salty, crisp frites
almost upstages them.
At Belleville, there’s a fabulous dessert that’s a must-have
after a rich meal: grapefruit sections. Sound like a compromise?
Not quite. Caramel hardens over the fruit to a glass-like, brittle
coating – the contrast of tart, soft fruit and its sweet robe
of candy is exhilarating.
I took a chance on Chance,
the Chinese-French fusion cafe on Smith Street, and was glad
I did. The man in the kitchen, Kfir Ben-Ari, has a subtle take
on the pairing – his dishes are Chinese with a whiff of French;
or French with a delicate Asian note – no silly combinations.
I’d return in a second for Ben-Ari’s seared foie gras. The richness
of the liver is cut by a Zinfandel sauce laced with Chinese five-spice
powder. Ditto for his dense, bitter chocolate ice cream with
notes of cinnamon, cloves and black pepper and the custardy vanilla
with a tart hit of lemongrass.
If I weren’t wild about the food at the new Les
Babouches in Bay Ridge, I’d still love the place for its
aroma. Pull up a chair and you sit beneath a fragrant cloud of
grilling meat, cinnamon, olives, lemon – it’s enough to make
me weep with pleasure. The food is just as enticing as the scent.
Roasted eggplant salad is smoky and perfumed with garlic; the
fillings for the "briwats" (triangles of phyllo dough)
are clean and fresh; and what the slow cooking under a clay dome
does for chicken and lamb in those tagines is simply magic.
Zeo, the chef at Miso,
a Japanese cafe in DUMBO that specializes in the cuisine of the
Shikoku area, set a dish in front of me I’ll never forget. He
sears one side of sliced, sushi-grade tuna on a hot black stone.
The centers of each piece remain ruby red while the edges are
almost charred. The flavor evokes the sirloin of my dreams; the
aroma like a blazing fire of cedar logs.
There’s no cooking at Sample,
a Smith street cafe that offers small plates of canned, Ziploc-ed,
or frozen food sourced globally. I just love the idea and the
little meals I’ve enjoyed there. A few favorites – grilled red
peppers filled with codfish puree; tender baby squid splashed
with mellow, 16-year-old sherry vinegar; fried Turkish eggplant
brightened with lemon; chewy squid in a firecracker-hot wasabi
sauce; fabulous cheese and port, sake and an eclectic wine list
to match everything on the menu.
Before I visited St.
Michel in Bay Ridge, I thought it was the kind of staid restaurant
to which one takes an older business acquaintance or parent.
I was right – and wrong. The dishes are classic French with few
surprises. But Joe Carvo, the restaurant’s chef, executes each
dish to perfection. A warm onion tart filled with tangy farmer
cheese and topped with bits of salty bacon and smoked salmon
was as luscious as it sounds. A shell steak rubbed with sea salt
sated my red meat craving for months, and the light, brandy-tinged
peppercorn sauce held its own against the beef.
There’s a gifted twosome heading up Fifth Avenue’s newcomer,
the Stone Park
Cafe. Two Josh’s – Grinker in the kitchen, and Foster in
the front of the house – bring an upscale New American menu to
the street. Grinker, formerly of Brooklyn’s River Cafe, offers
simple yet lusty dishes that are deeply satisfying. One example
is the crisp sea scallop and tiny Manila clam combo in a rich
seafood stock tinged with saffron.
Ah, Yolele. Pierre
Thiam is the chef at this Senegalese restaurant and god – or
should I say goddess (Thiam has a sculpture of the goddess Mami
Wata hanging on the wall as the cafe’s mascot) – can the man
cook! His "pepesoup" with silky slices of tilapia is
bright, hot, sharp and creamy. The lamb he uses for the "Couscous
Royale" is full of flavor and soft enough to eat with a
spoon, and his mango-and-apple tart balances the cinnamon flavor
of the mango with the brightness of the apple on a crust as thin
as paper.
Another small plate cafe I love is Zipi
Zape in Williamsburg – as much for chef Diego Gonzalez’s
fabulous tapas, as the singsong greetings of owners Ayse Telgeren
and sister Asu Whiteman. I tried tiny quail eggs there six months
ago and the image of the pretty ovals next to green peppers is
as vivid as the taste. Monkfish liver atop country bread freshened
with diced cucumber; and creamy batons of bechamel embedded with
nuggets of salty Serrano ham makes me want to lick my fingers.
Gone but not forgotten: David Wurth, who left his post as chef
at still-operating Chestnut on Smith Street, served house-made
pickles and something I don’t see enough of, calf’s liver with
bacon and onions; and the defunct Cafe Del Mar’s chef, Tony Raggiri,
served a banana tart with caramel, the memory of which still
keeps me up at night.
Thanks to all the chefs who make my job such a delight. I’ll
be visiting again soon.
Banana Leaf Cafe (6814 Fourth Ave. at
68th Street in Bay Ridge) accepts Discover, MasterCard and Visa.
Entrees: $7.95-$21.95. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner
daily. For information, call (718) 238-5531 or (718) 238-5532.
Belleville (330 Fifth St. at Fifth Avenue in Park Slope) accepts
American Express. Entrees: $10.50-$16.50. The restaurant serves
dinner daily. Brunch is served Saturdays and Sundays 10:30 am
to 5:30 pm. For reservations, call (718) 832-9777.
Chance (223 Smith St. at Butler Street in Boerum Hill) accepts
American Express, MasterCard and Visa. Entrees: $12-$20. The
restaurant serves dinner daily. A dim sum brunch is served Saturdays
and Sundays from 10 am until closing. For reservations, call
(718) 242-1515.
Les Babouches (7803 Third Ave. at 78th Street in Bay Ridge) accepts
American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa. Entrees: $13-$17.
The restaurant serves lunch and dinner Tuesdays through Sundays.
For information, call (718) 833-1700.
Miso (38 Main St. at Water Street in DUMBO) accepts American
Express, MasterCard and Visa. Entrees: $8-$38 (sushi entrée
for two). The restaurant serves lunch Monday through Saturday
and dinner Monday through Sunday. For information, call (718)
858-8388 or (718) 858-8623.
Sample (152 Smith St. at Bergen Street in Boerum Hill) accepts
MasterCard and Visa. Small plates: $4-$6. Dinner is served daily.
For information, call (718) 643-6622.
St. Michel (7518 Third Ave. at 75th Street in Bay Ridge) accepts
American Express, Diners Club, Discover, MasterCard and Visa.
Entrees: $15-$28. The restaurant serves dinner Tuesdays-Sundays.
Closed Mondays. For reservations, call (718) 748-4411.
Stone Park Cafe (324 Fifth Ave. at Third Street in Park Slope)
accepts American Express, MasterCard and Visa. Entrees: $12-$24.
The restaurant serves dinner Tuesdays through Sundays. Brunch
is served from 10:30 am to 3 pm on Sundays. Closed Mondays. For
reservations, call (718) 369-0082.
Yolele (1108 Fulton St. at Classon Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant)
accepts American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa. Entrees:
$10.50-$13.50. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner daily.
For reservations, call (718) 622-0101.
Zipi Zape (152 Metropolitan Ave. at Berry Street in Williamsburg)
accepts MasterCard and Visa. Tapas: $1-$14. The restaurant serves
dinner Tuesday-Sunday. Closed Mondays. For information, call
(718) 599-3027.
