When diners think of a delicious dinner
in Park Slope, Tempo, the Mediterranean-inspired
restaurant and wine bar on Fifth Avenue comes to mind. The casually
elegant Tempo is great for an evening meal, but if you’ve craved
the sunny flavors of chef Michael Fiore’s cooking for a quick
midday bite or thought his lusty "duck roll" or "salmon
a la plancha" would impress business associates at an office
lunch of delicious take-out fare, you were out of luck.
Until now.
Tempo Presto, the restaurant’s adjacent takeout annex, celebrated
its grand opening on July 23. The diminutive storefront’s menu
offers some of Fiore’s popular dinner fare and hot and cold sandwiches
like the heated "Presto porchetta," Fiore’s house-made
roast pork with rosemary, hot Italian peppers and wild mustard
greens atop ciabatta, which is a bargain at $6.95.
Add $3 to the price of a sandwich and you’ll receive a side of
marinated chickpea salad, one of several selections, and a cookie
wrapped to go in the Presto lunch box. Pastry chef Lynn Quirgogara
rounds out a meal with her "Brooklyn Bite Meez," a
selection of delicate cookies, cupcakes and lemon bars. Her red
velvet cupcakes are pictured at left.
There’s house-made golden apricot chutney and steak sauce, gelato
and sorbetti (sorbets), too. I’ve tasted the gelatos and sorbets
and they’re as light and silky as any I savored in Rome. Four
sorbets and eight gelatos are available daily in blends like
orange-cardamom, Nutella swirl, and "Chocolate Stix &
Stones" – dark chocolate, candied peanuts and white chocolate-dipped
pretzels that’s more Ben & Jerry’s than anything you’ll find
in Italy.
But when it’s this good, why be a purist?
Tempo Presto (254 Fifth Ave. between Carroll Street and Garfield
Place) accepts cash only. The takeout counter is open Sunday
through Thursday, from 11 am to 9 pm; Friday and Saturday, from
11 am to 10 pm. Sandwiches: $4.95-$7.25; gelato and sorbetti:
$3.50-$5; sides: $3.50; baked goods: $1-$2.25. For information
call (718) 636-8899.
