Israeli Breakfast (two eggs any style, w/ labneh cheese, home fries, Israeli salad & pita)
by Celia Cheng
February 28th, 2008
MIRIAM
79 5th Ave
(St Marks & Warren St)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
718-622-2250
Do you sometimes forget to give credit to those consistently solid neighborhood restaurants and just take them for granted? I think that’s what I’ve done with Miriam. After reviewing Gazala Place, I was reminded of a recent brunch at Miriam, and so while I’m on a roll, let’s talk about another restaurant that serves great Israeli fare.
Miriam is about four times the size of Gazala Place, but even so, its popularity exceeds the number of seats available. On weekends, crowds amass outside, eagerly awaiting their turn to enjoy the scrumptious brunch.
With plenty of windows and light yellow and green walls, Miriam has a bright and cheery atmosphere. In contrast to Gazala’s more demure homemade feel, Miriam is modern and hip. It’s not just the Park Slope location, but the philosophy behind the food emphasizes the cross pollination of modern Jewish culture and cuisine rather than strict adherence to heritage and tradition.
At brunch, I most enjoy sitting at the bar and sipping fresh squeezed orange juice while I wait for my Israeli breakfast. It includes two eggs (my order: sunny side up, extra crispy), labneh cheese, home fries, Israeli salad and pita.
The eggs arrived perfectly cooked as I specified, with the yolks runny, but the edges burnt to a crisp. The labneh cheese has the consistency and taste of yogurt; drizzled with olive oil, it’s irresistible with the piping hot pita. Miriam’s pitas come from Pita Express, but these thick, meaty but fluffy pitas are so good I assumed they were homemade. The Israeli salad of tomato, cucumber and onions was finely diced and provided my serving of vegetables for the day. And no brunch would be complete without home fries. These are cooked soft with juicy onions. I also asked for Miriam’s tahini sauce, which I call “the green sauce,” on the side. Green with a fragrant scent of fresh herbs, it’s tahini blended with cilantro and parsley. I add it to everything on my plate.
The original Miriam on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope (the one I visit) opened in 2005, but given the success of the restaurant, another one opened last year in Cobble Hill.
While Gazala Place and Miriam are stylistically quite different, both offer delicious fare in very diverse neighborhoods. Hurray for good Middle Eastern food in New York.
Posted in Brunch , Israeli , Park Slope
Stuzzichini Misti (selection of five appetizers)
by Celia Cheng
August 30th, 2007
It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s blazing hot or abnormally cold; the weather this month has not affected my appetite in the least bit. It’s been another full month of non-stop eating. I’ve had the chance to try a dozen restaurants, old and new, that have been on my list. Here are three more quick highlights for August:
Bar Stuzzichini
928 Broadway
(21st & 22nd St)
212-780-5100
The stuzzichini (small plate appetizers) at this new Flat Iron district Italian restaurant are actually quite good, but the size of the restaurant can be distracting and the service consistently sloppy. It feels more like a dining hall than a nice restaurant. Sitting at the marble-topped dining bar could’ve been just as delightful as the dining bar at Bellavitae, but, unfortunately, Bar Stuzzichini lacks the intimacy and comfort, and the large restaurant atmosphere sadly detracts from the otherwise perfectly good stuzzichinis. The pastas are descent but not exceptional and desserts not too interesting. My recommendation is to sit at the bar and have the stuzzichini misti — one of each from the five categories: fritti (fried), verdure (vegetables), pesce (seafood), formaggi (cheeses), and salumi (cured meats). Ordered individually, each appetizer ranges from $5 to $10, but the misti is a bargain at $22. The arancini (fried rice balls) are wonderfully crunchy on the outside and gooey inside, and the scamorza alla brace (grilled scamorza cheese — a type of dried and cured mozzarella) is scrumptious. It seems to me that happy hour at Bar Stuzzichini for some snacks may be the way to go.
Rose Water
787 Union St
(5th & 6th Ave)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
718-783-3800
website
Rose Water is a foodie haven in Park Slope. The seasonal menu focuses on quality ingredients, the service is always pleasant, and the prices are fair. At a recent dinner, the sweet corn risotto with oyster mushrooms, zucchini, pickled onions and herbs stood out as an extremely savory combination. The weekend prix-fixe brunch at $13 is also very worthwhile and includes an entrée and a drink. It’s an unbeatable deal. This past weekend, I was happy as a clam after having the poached eggs on flat grilled corn cakes, served with plum sauce and accompanied by a feta, spinach and grilled cherry tomato salad — a special so it was $15 instead of $13 — and a glass of fresh watermelon peach juice. Rose Water is yet another great Park Slope neighborhood restaurant.
Sfoglia
1402 Lexington Ave
@ 92nd St
212-831-1402
website
Trying to get a dinner reservation at Sfoglia is a real challenge, as they seem to be booked six-weeks in advance. It’s no wonder, since Sfoglia is small, with only ten tables and a bar, and the food is simple and good. If your schedule is flexible, though, there is the option of lunch, which is rather quiet. Several of the regulars eating alone at the bar treat Sfolgia like a neighborhood café, bringing reading or writing material and leisurely enjoying their meals. The homemade bread is served fresh and warm! It’s like country bread with a dash of sea salt seasoning; the outer crust is crunchy but not too hard or thick, and the bread inside is white and fluffy. The frittata of the day (fennel, cipollini onions and parmesan on the day of my lunch) seemed a popular choice amongst the bar diners, so I tried it and decided that on my next visit that would be all I’d need for lunch. Naturally I couldn’t pass up the scialatelli (a thicker version of spaghetti), roasted cherry tomatoes, bottarga di muggine (dried grey mullet fish roe), parsley and garlic. The scialatelli is a meatier pasta and worked well with the sweet roasted cherry tomatoes and bottarga. The pappardelle alla Bolognese sounded great with ground pork, veal and chicken liver and fresh hand-cut sheets of papparadelle, but alas the dish was over-salted and thus disappointing. Nevertheless, Sfoglia is a rustic gem, a sliver of a restaurant on the UES that I will happily return to for lunch. It’s a place where you can relax and find peace of mind, if you can take the time.
Posted in American , Appetizer , Brunch , Flat Iron District , Italian , Park Slope , Small Plates , UES
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Taquitos de Jabalí (wild boar tacos w/ guacamole)
by Celia Cheng
August 7th, 2007
PALO SANTO
652 Union St
(4th & 5th Ave)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
718-636-6311
Chef-owner Jacques Gautier creates eclectic Latin (South American and some Caribbean) cuisine at this wonderfully home-style eatery located on Union Street between 4th and 5th Avenues in Park Slope. With the help of some local artisans, Gautier transformed the unassuming brownstone where the restaurant dwells into a little Latin haven for comfort food. From the artful, organic curvatures of the hand railing along the front steps, to the mosaics on the wall in the kitchen, everything about the restaurant is ornate but not fussy.
From the front of the restaurant — at the tables or counter seats — diners can see the chefs at work in the open kitchen. There is also a corner table for larger parties on the same level past the kitchen. In the back, down a flight of wooden stairs, tables boast a garden view where herbs grow around a rock-sculpted fountain. Besides the sight of Gautier and his crew lovingly cooking, every detail of the restaurant speaks to his passion for this creative neighborhood venture.
The menu changes daily. Appetizers generally range from $6 to $14 and entrées from $17 to $24. However, from Sunday through Thursday, there is a three-course prix-fixe dinner (appetizer, entrée and dessert) for just $25. An absolute steal!
My friends and I started with a chayote (squash-like vegetable in the gourd family) salad with jicama, grapefruit and avocado, a light and endearing summer appetizer. Then we continued with the taquitos de jabalí (wild boar – braised in a sofrito containing beer and chilies — and guacamole tacos), which were so delicious I could have had rounds of these for dinner. The plantano relleno, a slender baked plantain boat stuffed with bacalao (cod), cooked in a tomato-heavy sauce, and topped with Manchego cheese, was both beautiful and mouth-wateringly delicious. The chorizo casero (homemade pork liver sausage) with beets, radicchio and pork cracklings was another meaty but rewarding dish as the loose pork liver sausage played well with the different textures of the sliced beets, crisp radicchio and crunchy pork cracklings.
For mains, first, the clams asopado (soupy rice) really hit the spot. There’s something about soupy rice that is just comforting, and the brininess of the clam juice mixed with butter made it slightly richer but not heavy. While the kingfish a la plancha (grilled on a metal plate) sounded more appealing than the pan-roasted barracuda, it was actually rather disappointing. Served with purple potato, olive and radish, the fish was dry and the starch of the purple potato weighed the dish down further. The olive and radish didn’t add any flair either. The barracuda, on the other hand, turned out to be a knock out. The sweetness of the plantain and the slightly sour hot slaw melded adoringly with this tropical fish.
For dessert, the cool, refreshing papaya sorbet was the ideal antidote to a hot summer night. We also tried the peach crisp with peanut topping and vanilla ice cream, which would be ideal for peanut lovers, but for me the peanut flavor overpowered the peaches.
Palo Santo is wonderful on so many levels. The food while eclectic is not heavy-handed in terms of flavor, but rather carefully comprised of ingredients that work together. As I spend more time in Park Slope, I am delighted to learn that there are so many wonderful neighborhood restaurants with tasty food, no attitude and fair prices. Yay for Brooklyn!
Posted in Latin , Meat , Park Slope
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