2019 Restaurant Wish List

A little space to notate the new restaurants I hope to visit this year and a few that I feel deserve a second look.

New to me in 2019? Hopefully:

1. Adda - seems everyone's raving/gushing about the lamb and food's fieriness.
2. Bamonte - One of my favorite 2018 experiences was taking the kids to Queen. Such honest food and such a welcoming environment. I'm hoping/expecting the same here.
3. Berber Street Food - both read reviews reminded me that I'm ignorant about so much of northwestern Africa. Beyond bistella and djoloff rice, there's a lot more for me to learn.
4. Casa Enrique - More new-to-me Mexican dishes please. 
5. Frenchette - Does anyone not like this place? And the wine list is only natural?
6. Le Coq Rico - A $140 baeckoffe? Sign me up!
7. Loring Place - I'm a sucker for a grandma pie and two decades ago I worked for the chef here.
8. Lowerline - I get too little of the gumbo, jambalaya, red beans dishes. 
9. M. Wells Steakhouse - So many years, every year I'm going to go and well, I don't go! I need a 9pm flight from LGA to incent me to eat here at 6:30!
10. Mu Ramen - my ramen intake has waned as I make more and more ramen at home. 
11. Okonomi - Also so many years of saying I'll go and not going. They even serve weekday breakfast!
12. Randazzo's - see #2
13. Tama - Filipino food gets too little of a place in our home rotation. I need to experience more to make sure
14. Zyara - Sandwiches of all sorts can be great but something vegan and Arabic? Sign me up!

Places to visit again

1. Chez Ma Tante - we had a lovely meal here in the summer of 2018 that included two wines I wish I recalled; because they were delicious.
2. Faun - a random 2019 partial family outing led us here where we experienced really delayed service and incomprehensibly good pork
3. J.G. Melon - it's been 20 years!
4. LIC Market - after two 2018 visits, this may be my favorite new restaurant in New York. I've even started replicating their dishes at home.
5. Ugly Baby - the food was delicious on a record-cold December 2017 night when I went with a self-purported foodie who then turned a nose up at offal and non-primal cuts. The cold and company made concentrating on the food difficult.

Annicka

What a funny story! We were set to see Diane Krall at the Capitol Theater in Portchester on a cold, drizzly February evening. I inquired about dinner with two frients (clients that turned to friends) residing in some proximity to the theater. One paused significantly and then recommended a place 15 miles west and out of the way. The other scoffed at the idea we would leave Brooklyn to eat in Westchester. He recommended finding something delicious in Queens en route. Well, that concept got me thinking about places I desire visiting near the BQE. Selecting dinner options via highway proximity feels foreign and returns to days' of great old journals like The Michelin Guide and The Green Book. So we selected Annicka and it was delightful.

From the setting to the service to the food, all facets were nearly perfect. The image shows our dishes. I won’t detail all of them, just the charred cauliflower. It was such a revelation. The florets were charred just shy of burnt and then sprinkled with a seasoning that was salty and lemony. Those florets then sat in a lovely beet and cauliflower stem sauce. This sauce was closer to pesto texture than a puree. Annicka is worth going to, no matter your current location. As delightful a meal as we’ve had in some time. Maybe not quite as impressive as Semilla yet in that direction. Long live Annicka!

The Pines

I was fortunate to get out for a meal and drinks at The Pines late last month with a highly knowledgeable technician of the capital markets. Besides picking his brain for 3 hours on how markets really work and what will occur in the upcoming years, we enjoyed a very creative meal with attentive service in an oddly casual (if uncomfortable) setting.

We started with thoughtful cocktails. I had a "Legends of the Fall" which combines rye with Prosecco and apple cider to give the whole drink a bourbon barrel-aged sour beer taste. I don't think that beer style exists (yet) so ... congrats! The technician had a few of "The Pines" which is a resiny Manhattan. 

For food, we enjoyed the ricotta, bread and chive oil immensely. It's a really simple idea and one I could easily lay out at home. And I will starting this weekend! Even if I don't bake the bread and serve a Bien Cuit (and upgrade from Runner and Stone in my eyes), this will be devoured by the monsters. The chive oil was perfectly piquant and a nice foil to the ricotta.

We shared four different vegetable dishes. The highlight was a brilliantly executed romesco to accompany the ubiquitous shishito peppers. Our waitress was taken aback with our reluctance to order the peppers. She persisted and I'm happy she did so. The other veg were nice if not transformational.

 What was? Well the venison! It may have been the single-most complicated dish I've had in 2017 as I chatted with the sole cook (chef?) before leaving. It was marinated, cooked sous vide, grilled, marinated again and something else. I'll remind myself to order the meat dishes next time I go.

Onto comfort. This was a Tuesday night and noise wasn't an issue. The tables, chairs and placement were. These were folding chairs surrounding a table that did not seem up to the task of holding our food and Croatian wine.

[18 months ago, this is what Pete Wells had to write.]

2017 Restaurants on My List

So I'll try a different tactic this year and list 20-ish restaurants with hopes to try 50%. Any 50%.

1. Dirt Candy
2. Eastwind Snack Shop
3. Emmy Squared
4. Freek's Mill
5. Le Coq Rico
6. Le Cou Cou
7. Lilia
8. Loring Place
9. Madam Zhu's Kitchen
10. MaLa Project
11. M. Wells Steakhouse
12. Okonomi
13. Paowalla
14. The Pines
15. SriPraPhai
16. Sushi Katsuei
17. Superiority Burger
18. Take Root
19. Wildair

So that's 11 in Brooklyn, 7 in Manhattan, and 2 in Queens.

Semilla

We were able to visit Semilla last month for a rare long dinner out. There's a fun duality to Semilla. The food is simultaneously simple and complex. The wine list is short and thorough. The service is not obtrusive but extremely knowledgeable. And though there's no menu, by the next morning you receive a lovely e-mail with the list of dishes we enjoyed. And we enjoyed all of them; some more than others no doubt. Each dish brought either a surprise ingredient, technique or both. For instance, the Carolina rice (a homestead favorite) was cooked in dashi and served in an earthenware bowl reminiscent of Japan. But the rice was 100% South Carolina! The bread recalled my best-ever attempts at Jim Lahey's no-knead bread. We ate multiple servings. The roasted leeks had the most pleasant aroma of tobacco (even for a non-smoker) and a perfect dice of scallops. It was the dish that won me over and something I'll try to replicate at home (without the tobacco leaf).

The only two dishes we didn't enjoy tremendously were the butternut squash and the fig leaf custard. The first was like something from the Moosewood cookbook. Nice. Well-made. But a little healthy-tasting. The custard was dull-flavored and texture-wise a bit of a tweener; not quite creme brulee, but not the texture of zabaglione.

Semilla is a special occasion restaurant. Plain and simple (see footnote). And if the occasion is enjoying many well-conceived dishes that spur your mind, then it's perhaps the top spot in New York.

I want to highlight the setting. The design is a u-shaped bar where any of the staff can walk up to any of the dining patrons. The lighting is subtle and bright enough to enjoy the visual appeal of each dish. If I ever opened a restaurant, this feels like a blueprint I'd look to.

Footnote: You can't simply walk in for a bite. You can't walk in for a meal. We saw a few people walk in from the street only to be turned away since they hadn't reserved. 

Olmsted

Two Fridays ago, wifey & I had an early dinner at Olmsted. I expected to dislike Olmsted. Restaurants with this amount of buzz, that required 22-days advance notice to get a reservation usually feel like a letdown (Cosme - I'm looking at you.) And yet there at the end, we were finished and completely blown away by the quality and conceit of each and every dish. Olmsted – in our one experience – is a winner.

We sat in front of the tiny kitchen quickly befriending the cooks (Jenny and Kyle) as we watched them work on dish after dish. There’s no need for me to go into long detail (mostly because this blog is primarily for myself) as each dish was excellent and it looks like the menu turns over frequently enough that the same dish won’t be found a month or two later. Out of all the dishes we ate, we both thought the ballotine component of the duck entrée to be most delicious. I have memories of ballotines from the 90s being really lackluster chicken thigh meat filled with a unappealing goo (nee Pate). The whole thing just a vacuous attempt at fancy food. This was something wholly different; more like a perfectly executed duck forcemeat, sliced like pancetta.

We enjoyed a bottle of Slovenian white with our meal and left having spent just shy of $200. For what’s prepared, I would not call that expensive, but it’s definitely not a monthly indulgence.

Le Garage

On the eve of a new school year and willing to try out our children’s patience for a semi-formal meal, I took the family to Le Garage in Bushwick. Le Garage is a glorious place in late summer. It’s a former garage that’s been designed to be open, airy, and carefree. We didn’t feel crowded or confined on a bustling Friday evening. And in true bistro fashion, the owner, Rachel, came and sat with us for some time. Her ethereal movements and sincere interest pair perfectly with the place. 

We ordered like hungry soldiers (all meats) and each entrée was very good. Our biggest issue was the service. Nobody was rude. No real scandals; it was simply a meal that they paced poorly. Our entrees took a long time to arrive, with our chicken clearly completed before our lamb and steak (the chicken was warm; the others screaming hot). My kids are pretty patient and willing to talk about the paint color (yellow), the sidewalk seating (5 tables or so), and the cutlery (sharp steak knife) for a long time. But they needed some pencils and paper to help with the wait. Two other tables (both two-tops) sat and ordered after us, but received entrees before us. Our waitress (seemingly the only one) appeared uninterested and overwhelmed.

Overall, Le Garage is a nice restaurant if you’re in the neighborhood. Unlike, BK Jani, it’s not worth travelling for.

BK Jani

The entire family went for a drive through the confusing streets of Bushwick and returned well-fed and enlivened by tremendously high-quality food. This is unmatched meat grilling in New York City. Everything is marinated in yogurt redolent of ginger, garlic and classic Mughal spices.

The no nonsense space (picnic tables) makes for a casual wait. And wait you will. Unlike Babu ji, everything goes from raw to cooked after ordering. The afternoon we went, there were 5 menu items. We ordered four (lamb two ways, beef two ways) dishes and all were fantastic. No clear favorite; all were great. The seekh kebab was the spiciest while the burger was the least.

If any detractor exists, it’s the limeade. At $6, this is a waste of money that you could put towards more meat. Anyone with three limes and the capability to make simple syrup could replicate the limeade. But the meats, copying BK Jani’s quality would be highly unlikely .

Dover - a whole new world of chicken

Genuinely, I can't remember the last time we ordered chicken in any form besides eggs. The chicken entrée is usually the safest, most bland option. And I make spectacular roast chicken twenty-five times each year. Why do I need to order chicken?

Everything is changed because of Dover. Dover has a (nice) senior center cafeteria décor to go along with our favorite (thus far) meal of 2014. Located on a visible corner of Court Street, the staff is friendly, attentive and accessible. Now, nearly a month later, I still think everything we ate was outstanding. But the whole chicken for two stole the show. Dover serves it in two preparations and without stealing the excitement, I'll just say, if you go, order it.

Two things to consider:

1. Dover is pretty French. You receive lovely gougere at the onset. There's amuse bouche. The bread is served piece-by-piece by backstaff using two spoons elegantly.
2. This is an expensive outing (see attached)

Anyhow, I'm not going to provide a blow-by-blow. At a $100pp (tax and drink inclusive), it's not a bad value for the quality and originality.

Dinner for 4

2014 Restaurants

Three months late but the list exists! The 12 restaurants I'd like to try this year.

1. Han Dynasty
2. Hanjan
3. La Vara
4. Maison Premiere
5. Mission Cantina
6. Mission Chinese (if they reopen this year)
7. Pok Pok
8. Purple Yam (holdover from last year)
9. RedFarm
10. SriPraPhai (holdover from last year)
11. Uncle Boons
12. Xi'An Famous Foods (seems like they're everywhere now - even on the radio)

Hibino - The best in a long time...

Earlier this month, we made it to Henry Public and Hibino for a cocktail plus dinner. The evening was tremendous.

At Henry Public we ordered two drinks that were both delicious and interesting. I ordered the Kings County Sour. It's shaken with an egg white and so has a viscous, lovely texture. I thought the whiskey was there and added flavor but didn't take over the drink. S.O.S ordered the Oddfellow. That drink combines rum, lime, grapefruit and some homemade syrups to make something that is full of citrus and an appropriate amount of sweetness.

Next door at Hibino (technically two doors away), we enjoyed our favorite restaurant meal in a very long time. We had the fresh made tofu, which comes in a little pitcher along side a mushroom dashi and grated ginger/scallion. Really worth the trip alone and so good that we ordered a second instead of dessert. We ordered two appetizer specials: a perfectly diced bowl of vegetables in broth (picture) and simmered pork belly. Both were fantastic. S.O.S had to console me after I looked through the diced vegetables and remarked on how my bad my knife skills have become and how I could never dice like this anymore and well, I'm a total failure in life! The excellent Albarino along with her consolation worked.

We ordered a broiled salmon (wanting something warm) and a massive sashimi platter. Both were satisfying, not revolutionary. The salmon was a perfect intersection of rich, charred, and fishy (in a great way).

Overall a highly worthwhile experience. Hibino has great service and fosters a very lovely atmosphere.

5 Best Foods from Brooklyn - 2011

All of us are bombarded with "best of 2011" lists this time of year, but to my knowledge nobody provided this list: FIVE BEST BROOKLYN FOOD ITEMS - 2011.

So here it is in alphabetical order.

1. Ace Jams - Simply fantastic jams made in Prospect Heights. The flavors are memorable of perfect fruit with a little twist. We are very partial to the blueberry shiso. These jams are expensive but still good value - so we enjoy them as a splurge. Ace jams are available only at Brooklyn Larder.
2. Baked - Hardly a surprise here, the brownies are unparalleled. When we are borrowing a car, inevitably we end up here. Brownies!
3. Brooklyn Larder - This is a fantastic store for meats, cheeses and very high-end provisions. Our favorite reason to go there is for gelato and sorbet. I make gallons of ice cream each summer and don't think my quality ever parallels Brooklyn Larder. All the flavors are great and well worth the price.
   
4. Morris Kitchens - Both the ginger and boiled apple cider syrups are just tremendous. From spooning over vanilla ice cream to making a beverage with seltzer and rum, the products are delicious and impossible to make at home. You'll find their products at Brooklyn Flea and fine food stores around town. Pricing is strange as it seems that the best place to buy is directly from Morris Kitchens at Flea (2 for 20 or 1 for 12).
5. SCRATCHbread- If you are near Bedford Ave / Quincy, go into SCRATCHbread where Matt Tilden and team make fantastic breads and sweets? His items are interesting, different, and delicious. Our favorite is the foccacia and seems to be in good supply at Brooklyn Larder and Union Market.

Prime Meats (no. 7 of 12)

We are definitely not getting to all 12 restaurants. But we did visit Prime Meats last week. And overall, it was meh. Though related, Prime Meats is not as tasty as Frankie's. The food is good. The ambiance nice. The service was fine. Nothing wrong with the place, but it's not one of the places we'd decidedly return to.

So what did we have?

We started with oysters from Massachusetts and Rhode Island. They were excellent - fresh, briny, juicy and visually appealing.

SOS followed that with her typical first-time-in-a-restaurant-order of a burger. This $18 burger was fine, almost too fine. The patty was a perfect cylinder that exactly met the bun's edges. The toppings were all sliced uniformly and were seemingly fresh. In the end, the burger had two downfalls. First, she asked for it to be medium rare. After finishing it, there wasn't a drop of "juice" on the plate. It was too medium and not juicy enough. Second, it had no soul. It felt like a picture postcard representation of a burger. Maybe in 2011 Brooklyn, we're too used to some burgers having a strong bacon taste while others have a unique crust and others have a good deal of salt within the meat. This had no character, no soul.

I ordered the choucroute garnie. It's a classic Alsatian dish and the preparation was fantastic. The sauerkraut was equally sour, rich, and cabbage-y. Delicious. And the meats were rich and slightly gamy. We loved it.

We ordered a quartino of the most bland, unappealing wine I can remember. Strangely, it came from the very reputable negociant - Joseph Drouhin. This wine tasted watered-down.

Total, with tax and tip came to $80. Not crazy, not a value. Very meh.

Char No. 4 (6 of 12)

Last Friday, SOS and I enjoyed a fine meal at Char No. 4. By and large, our impression of the restaurant was of a place with consistent and enjoyable food, yet not anything we couldn’t match at home (save the two steaks on the menu). The real draw is the whiskey list and the ability to taste so many. Char No. 4 will pour you 1 ounce of any whiskey they have.

I created a rye whiskey tasting by selecting three ryes that I hadn’t tasted before. And like most things, when you line up three of the “same” items in front of you, you’ll find differences and favorites (more on this later). To go with the whiskey, they made an excellent cocktail – the Noreaster – which is a Dark & Stormy with bourbon in lieu of Gosling’s rum - Mighty tasty.

We ordered 2 snacks, 2 appetizers, and 1 sandwich and felt stuffed. The two dishes most memorable were the snacks. The crispy cheddar curds were hot, crisp, buttery, and aromatic. The spicy peanuts and pickles were perfect as well. To me, both compliment the whiskey drinks really well. Where they bourbon or rye is sweet and served chilled, these were salty and warm.

The bacon arrived on a bed of micro-greens and corn kernels that were nice. And the chicken liver mousse was not interesting, but fine.

Lastly, we had the chopped pork sandwich. Again, it was fine, but the best component came in a tiny ramekin. It was pickled chili peppers in vinegar. They combined with the pork’s richness and fattiness perfectly. It was a delicious combination, yet I can’t say it stood out relative to sandwiches at Wildwood or Blue Smoke.

SOS ordered a rose that was flavorless. It was the only disappointing part of our experience.

Char No. 4 does all the basics well. We won't make a trip back anytime soon. But, if we were on Smith Street with time to kill and a hankering for cheese curds and/or whiskey – we’d be there.

The three whiskies:

1. Jefferson Rye (winner) - slightly tart and sweet with an enjoyable hot finish
   
2. Wild Turkey Russell's Rye - mostly heat, some oak (not too much), notably spicy
   
3. Wild Turkey 101 - all heat, a little molasses, but hard to detect much taste
   

Buttermilk Channel (Brooklyn 5 of 12)

Last month we visited Buttermilk Channel in the very southern end of Carroll Gardens. (Note: it's a significant walk from the F/G Smith Stop) And actually during our early dinner, the crew for Men In Black 3 took over a 6-block section of Court Street.

This restaurant has one of the better "vibes" of any new restaurant I've experienced since Franny's opened. There's energy, happiness, brightness, and multiple great smells. Upon arrival, I think we were the only people there that the owner didn't know. Genuine hugs, hellos and smiles were dole out by the dozen. The restaurant filled up beyond the owners' circle as we were leaving.

I waited for SOS (getting the pattern, here?) at the bar and enjoyed a "mug" of Captain Lawrence Liquid Gold. Nice bartender; he provided me tastes of a few different bitters. That was fun. SOS arrived and wanted a cold diet coke (it was the May's hottest night.)

Onto the food. Everything was tasty, but nothing was worth a special trip. If you live near here or are visiting a friend, this is a great option.

We started with a lovely butter lettuce salad with a green goddess dressing. The dressing was fine. But the lettuce was tremendous. What a strange thing to say, but I can't remember the last time I had lettuce this perfect in texture and flavor.

Additionally, the slow-roasted spareribs were enjoyable, but more forgettable.

For entrees, SOS had the hamburger with cheese (classic choice by her) and I had the lamb salad. The burger was nice - charred exterior, juicy and rare interior, melting grilled onions and slightly-too-salty fries. You could have this same burger at 15 different Brooklyn restaurants.

Now, the lamb salad was different. It included shreds of braised lamb shank and a soft-boiled egg over romaine (nice but not revolutionary like the above). There were small roasted cauliflower florets and a few other ingredients. The gooey egg, soft lamb and cool, crisp romaine were a great combination. It was an excellent composed salad.

Now, would you go out of your way for amazing butter lettuce? If so, then this is the place for you. If not, keep Buttermilk Channel in mind for your next visit to Carroll Gardens.

Dinner for two with snacks, appetizers, and entress was $83 after tax and tip

12 restaurants of 2011

We don't explore Brooklyn enough. So in 2011, we'll be visiting 12 well-known restaurants that I have never visited.

We'll dine at one per month and I'll post impressions here. Aside from Brooklyn Fare, we'll try to keep the bill for two consistently at $100 total (tax, tip, everything).

Here are the 12 restaurants (in no order).

1. Buttermilk Channel
2. Char No. 4
3. Brooklyn Fare
   
4. Roberta’s
5. Good Fork
6. Tanoreen
7. Dressler
8. Applewood
9. Fonda
10. Prime Meats
11. Vinegar Hill House
12. Locandi Vini e Olli