What is a neighborhood restaurant? It depends
on the neighborhood. In Park Slope, bistros abound; ditto for
Smith Street in Boerum Hill. In Bay Ridge, locals have flocked
to 101 Restaurant & Bar since its opening, 14 years ago.
Sitting on the corner of 101st Street and Fourth Avenue, the
restaurant looks like a cross between the kind of big, loft-like
cafe you’d find in SoHo, circa 1985, coupled with a sports bar.
Sound like an unfortunate pairing? At 101, the opposites work
in a surprisingly successful way.
On a hot night, the floor-to-ceiling windows slide open offering
pedestrians a view of the crowd at the bar and dining room, and
the diners inside a perfect perch for people-watching. The ceilings
are high, and the tables well spaced. Looking just beyond the
outdoor tables that ring the restaurant, there’s a show-stopping
view of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, its lights twinkling in
the distance.
Beside the dining room, there’s a bar scene that can get loud
as the night progresses. Two huge television screens, perched
on either side of the dining room, remind the crowd that 101
is a casual eatery that isn’t trying too hard to be chic.
The menu, too, aims to please customers who appreciated well-prepared
Italian dishes with just a few trendy touches for variety. So,
on the appetizer list, you’ll find spring rolls with a sweet
chili sauce next to fried calamari for two; and on the entree
roundup, you’ll find traditional favorites like chicken with
sausage and sweet peppers, and a Chilean sea bass with an "Oriental
ginger sauce."
Chef Reyes Acquinos’ menu doesn’t get more adventurous than that.
That’s a good thing, because when he stays in Italy, his flavors
are balanced and lively. Head east though, and trouble lurks.
Our waiter, an affable guy who was happy to share his opinion
on different dishes, suggested we split two pastas. Each, he
assured us, had a lot of flavor. He was right. The twisted rotelle
made a delicious pillow for chunks of melting mozzarella and
slices of hot sausage; we tore slices of warm Italian bread from
the basket on the table to mop up the pasta’s rich sun-dried
tomato cream sauce. We also admired the penne topped with big
sauteed shrimp. The pasta is crisped after cooking in hot olive
oil, so it becomes pleasantly browned and chewy. Slivers of fresh
cilantro and sun-dried tomato add a herbaceous, earthy note,
and a squeeze of fresh lemon gives a tart zing to the ingredients.
I doubt you’ll find a plate of more appealing pork chops than
the one served at 101. Two thick, juicy chops with a thin, crusty
breading are ringed in a balsamic vinegar sauce that sports slices
of hot cherry peppers. The sauce is tart without overpowering
the pork, and the peppers give a jolt of heat. Perfect creamy
mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach complete the dish. It’s an
old-fashioned meat-and-potatoes affair that is comfortingly familiar
but not the least bit dull.
The Chilean sea bass with sauteed escarole and cannelloni beans
wasn’t dull either, but I wouldn’t order it again. Alone, the
trio would have worked just fine. The fish was moist; the escarole
was just bitter enough to enhance the sweetness of the fish;
and the beans were tender. But no one tasted the dish’s cloyingly
sweet "ginger Oriental sauce" before it emerged from
the kitchen. If they had, they’d have realized that it belonged
over ice cream, not the entree.
There’s chocolate ice cream over flourless chocolate cake on
the dessert menu, and a few other crowd-pleasing, but not exciting,
sweets like cheesecake and apple crisp. And, it’s hard to take
a dessert roundup seriously, if it includes chocolate mousse
mixed with chunks of Oreo cookies. The tiramisu though, was exceptionally
light and doused with enough espresso to ensure a sleepless night.
101 Restaurant & Bar may not be the kind of place I think
of as a neighborhood hangout – that honor is reserved for down-at-the-heels
dives that serve burgers.
But, I have to love a place where huge, custom-crafted hogs are
parked just outside the restaurant – next to the valet parking
sign, and blondes dripping in gold jewelry dine beside Hulk Hogan
look-alikes. Especially when the men finish their pasta, climb
atop those bikes and roar away into the night.
101 Restaurant & Bar (Fourth Avenue
at 101st Street in Bay Ridge) accepts American Express, MasterCard
and Visa. Entrees: $18-$36. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner
seven days a week. For reservations call (718) 833-1313.