Juniper Visited 6/29/2011 3 Forks

Juniper 112 Berry St., (between 8th St & 7th St), Brooklyn, NY 11211

Juniper looks a bit sketchy on the outside and even once you enter it, you're still not sure if it's really a restaurant you'd want to eat at.  But once you meet the staff and eat the food, your worries go away. 

Three nice things about this place: (1) it had a cute patio in the back; (2) it's BYOB; and (3) the food is pretty good.  As the weather gets nice outside, I really love eating outside and in New York, outdoor space is definitely hard to find.  So while the patio isn't really decorated well (it's basically a few old rusty looking tables and chairs), it just nice to be able to sit outside every once in a while. 

I didn't realize this place was BYOB until I noticed other people drinking beer while Dan was frantically combing the menu for their alcohol list.  But by the time we realized it, we were too lazy to go out and bring some beers back to the table. Oh well, something to remember for next time.

Now on to the food.  The menu is fairly small but includes burgers (regular and truffle burgers), grilled cheese, pulled pork sandwiches, a variety of other sandwiches and salads, mac and cheese and randomly udon and wonton noodles.  I opted for the steak and cheese sandwich with spicy fries ($12) and Dan got the burger with gorgonzola cheese and bacon ($11) and sweet potato fries.  I was intrigued by the udon noodles but it just seems weird to order it in a non-Asian place like this, but maybe next time.  Our food did take a little bit to come out, but when it did, it was steaming hot and you could tell that it was fresh off the grill.  My steak and cheese was thinly sliced beef mixed with caramelized onions and cheese (but not too much cheese, which was nice).  Unlike the Philly versions, this came on a soft brioche bun which was a nice change.  The sandwich was surprisingly delicious and flavorful.  I couldn't tell what kind of cheese it was but it definitely wasn't the canned cheese whiz type.  I devoured my sandwich in about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, my spicy fries were actually waffle fries with a light dusting of all spice.  They were perfectly fried and crispy and who doesn't love waffle fries? They are just far superior to a regular fry.  I didn't try Dan's burger but he said it was cooked exactly medium rare and tasted great.

What I also liked about the place was the really nice "waitstaff" - it was just one guy who ran the whole place.  He was attentive without being annoying and just generally had a really pleasant attitude and demeanor.  He also had the neatest handwriting of any waiter I've ever seen before. I know this sounds weird but when I got the bill I noticed he had written out every single word of our order in amazingly neat letters. I was just really amused by it. 

The downsides: cash only, limited menu, and after we came home, Dan and I felt a dehydrated so we're thinking there was a lot of salt in the food.  If I lived within walking distance to this place, I could see myself going here more often and just bringing a bottle of wine or 6 pack and just chilling in the back with a burger or udon noodle.

Saltie Visited 6/18/2011 4 Forks

Saltie 378 Metropolitan Ave., (at Havemeyer St), Brooklyn, NY 11211

I can't believe I've lived this close to Saltie and only just went there this past weekend.  These sandwiches were AMAZING even though they totally sound weird and potentially gross.  I got the Ships Biscuit ($9) and the Spanish Armada ($10) because they sounded the least bizarre.  The Ships Biscuit came with soft scrambled egg and ricotta on a giant salted (get it? Saltie...salted) foccacia bread.  The egg was perfectly cooked (soft, wet and yolky) and the ricotta was a perfect combination.  But it was the soft salted bread that really just made the sandwich so different from any other sandwich I've had.  The Spanish Armada came with a potato tortilla and aoli mayo on the same salted bread.  When I finished both of these sandwiches I was already craving another one.  I can't put my finger on the exact reason they were amazing, but it was just the right combination and the use of really fresh tasting ingredients.  They also had a delicious sounding beet salad with goat cheese and bib lettuce but at $9 and the fact that it was still breakfast time, it didn't seem right to order it at that moment. But if they have it next time I go during lunch or dinner, I'm all over it.

The rest of the sandwiches just sound plain weird: for example, the Scuttlebutt had egg, cauliflower, pickles, feta, black olives, capers and aoli.  I can name 3 things that I absolutely hate on that list, but that's the kind of sandwich they are famous for.  Ordinarily, I would never come near this sandwich but at Saltie, I'm willing to give it a try.  The reasons why this place doesn't get 5 stars are: cash only, no place to sit, and closes early (6pm).  Otherwise, I would have been really close to giving this place at least a 4.5 rating.  

Fatty Cue Visited 6/17/11 3 Forks

Fatty Cue 91 S 6th St., (between Wythe Ave & Berry St), Brooklyn, NY 11211

 Fatty Cue was one of last year's hottest openings.  Given that I live in Williamsburg, everyone has asked me if I have eaten there yet but I have purposely stayed away from it because I hadn't heard really great things about it during its first couple of weeks.  People had told me the portions were small and the food was expensive, two things that I hate about a restaurant. 

When Dan came home with $100 of "free" money, we were racking our brain of where to eat.  Last time this happened, we went to Marlow and Sons and loved it.  We wanted to go somewhere nice-ish that we wouldn't normally eat at, so Fatty Cue immediately popped into my head.  Strangely enough Fatty Cue is located steps from Marlow and Sons as well.  For some reason I had always envisioned Fatty Cue to be a much larger restaurant mostly because any place that usually sells BBQ or smoked meats needs a larger kitchen.  But this place was fairly small...from the outside it looked like a regular bar. 


The menu was also a bit smaller than I thought but I had no problem finding enough dishes that I wanted to try.  Our waiter was great and one of more personable waiters I've encountered in a long time.  He suggested 1-2 large dishes and 2-3 small dishes/sides.  Dan and I got the Coriander Bacon ($14), Heritage Pork Ribs ($12) and Fingerling Potatoes ($9) to start and then shared the Lamb Shoulder ($19).  The bacon came out fairly quickly and it was fatty delicious goodness.  It was served with these small pieces of toast and a steam yellow curry custard.  Dan mentioned that it tasted like a hot dog but I think he meant it in a good way.  These pieces were thick cut and paired well with the curry.  Next came the ribs and there were 2 of them.  But they were huge and came with a tasty fish-palm syrup BBQ sauce on it.  They were pretty tasty but I had a bit more trouble getting the meat off the bone than Dan did.  His rib was almost perfectly clean at the end but mine still had bits and pieces of meat on it that was hard to get off.   Next came the fingerling potatoes which I thought was kind of weird to come out as its own dish since it was a side dish. I thought it would have been better to have been served with the lamb shoulder.   The potatoes were served in a crab butter sauce and black pepper.  It wasn't the potatoes that were good but the crab butter. It must have been made with 5-6 sticks of butter, which was why it was so freakin good and the black pepper was a good compliment to it. 


Then we waited and waited and waited for the lamb shoulder to come out.  Luckily we were pretty full from the bacon and ribs so we didn't have major hunger pains.  But it was nice that our waiter acknowledged the waiter and said that he would give us free pie as a result of it.  By the time the lamb came out, I was really excited to eat it.  It was served with a goat yogurt and house made pita.  The pita was actually really tasty but you couldn't open them to put the lamb in between it.  But the lamb was juicy and succulent and tasted great with the yogurt.  We then waited a bit for the free pie and I honestly didn't need it, but when it came out I was glad we had it.  We got the strawberry and rhubarb pie and it was served with fresh cream on the side.  I thought it was really refreshing and while I was pretty full, I did really enjoy it.

All in all I thought that the food actually was really good.  But the reason for the 3 forks was that it was definitely over priced. Our total bill (with 2 cocktails) was $104 (with tip), which is totally ridiculous for the size of the dishes we ate.  It's a shame because the food is definitely worth going back for, but not at those prices.  They need to come down about $5 a dish for it to really be something I would come back to with any regular basis. 

Ha Noi Visited 6/12/2011 2.5 Forks

Ha Noi 448 Ninth St., Brooklyn, NY 11215

I had lived in Park Slope for 10 years and had prayed everyday that a good Vietnamese place would move into the 'hood.  Well, just as I leave, Ha Noi moves in 4 blocks away from my old apartment, but luckily the food isn't something I would have cried over.  It's a decent addition to the neighborhood and considering that there are only Vietnamese sandwich shops nearby, it's a nice change to have a full Vietnamese menu.

The decor is pretty simple but clean.  The menu has your usual offering of spring and summer rolls, pho, bun and other Asian noodle like dishes.   We ordered the vegetable summer rolls to share and I got the beef pho ($8) while Dan got the pho with beef balls.  I was impressed with the freshness of the bean sprouts and basil that came out for the pho, so I had high hopes that the rest of the food would be authentic tasting.  The summer rolls came out and they were totally bland.  The skin was too thick and the only thing inside it was a bunch of cold noodles with a few bits of lettuce and a giant chunk of cucumber.  It really needed some flavor to it...generally summer rolls have a fresh taste to it that this was missing. It could have used some cilantro, mint or basil and other herbs that are usually found in a summer roll.  The peanut sauce it was served with was also too peanut butter tasting.  It was very thick and literally tasted like peanut butter from a jar that was mixed with soy sauce.

Fortunately, the pho was slightly better tasting. The broth was pretty flavorful and I thought it had the right amount of noodles.  My one complaint was that the beef wasn't tender enough. It was definitely sliced thin enough but it had a slight tough texture to it.  Beef for pho should be extremely tender and melt in your mouth.  Dan thought his pho was too oily tasting which I could see.

Overall, this place was ok.  Definitely not a place I would go out of my way to return to, but if I still lived in Park Slope would consider going back every now and then if I was just too lazy to go into the city for pho. Total bill was $36 total (not including tip), which now when I come to think of it, I have no idea why it came out to be that expensive for what we got!

L'Artusi Visited 5/31/2011 3.5 Forks

L'Artusi 228 W 10th St., (between Bleecker St & Hudson St), New York, NY 10014

This is really one of those places that due to my new no quarter fork rating, isn't really a 3.5 fork restaurant...it's closer to 4 forks but there were just some things that just made it just a notch below.

The actual restaurant is beautiful although a bit dark.  At some point I started feeling tired just by the sheer darkness of the restaurant.  Our waitress was originally pretty nice and suggested that we order at least 6 dishes (a pasta and a meat dish each).  That seemed like a lot of food, so instead we ordered 2 small appetizers and then we each ordered a pasta dish.  Then this was where the waitress lost us...she gave us this look like "Really, that's all you're getting?".  She even said "I suggest you order more."  In order to placate her I told her that we were saving room for dessert.  That just kind of rubbed all of us the wrong way. 

For starters, we got the home made ricotta and the beet salad.  As the waitress walked away she said "I really think you should try the ricotta dish."  We just looked at her like she was crazy and then she realized we had already ordered it.  The ricotta almost looked like a scoop of ice cream.  It was super smooth and served with a delicious jam and sweet graham-like crackers.  While it was good,  I liked the ricotta at Loconda Verde better..it was a bit thicker and I liked the herbs on it. The beet salad came out next and it was pretty fresh tasting.  It was served with watercress and yogurt...I usually hate watercress but this was seasoned just right and I even enjoyed the watercress on it.  Pasta wise, I ordered fettuccine that came with spring vegetables and sausage ($17).  The pasta was amazing. So fresh tasting. I had just had boxed pasta for lunch and the taste difference was so obvious between the two.  It was perfectly thin and long.  The waitress made it sound like the pasta dishes would be pretty small but I thought the serving size was more than plenty.  I was stuffed but wouldn't let myself let any of the pasta go to waste.  As a side we had ordered the cauliflower ($8) which was roasted just right.  For some reason they also gave us a complimentary order of broccoli rabe..it almost made us feel like yet again they thought we didn't order enough.  Unfortunately, the rabe was overcooked and too salty tasting.  I was so full by then but felt the need to order dessert.  We ended up getting the chocolate cake with sea salt gelato ($10) mostly because we were intrigued by the sea salt gelato.  And alas, the gelato did indeed taste just like sea salt.  It had a lot of potential to be paired well with the cake but the cake was so rich and dense that between 3 girls, we probably had only 3-4 bites and couldn't finish.

Overall, the space is gorgeous and the pasta were fabulous.  I still can't imagine ordering a pasta dish and a meat dish as the waitress had suggested.  This would have been a solid 4 forks if it wasn't for the pushy waitress and disappointing cake.  None of us ended up getting anything to drink so the total bill was a very reasonable $39/pp.