Dino Visited 1/1/2013 3.5 Forks

Dino 222 Dekalb Ave., (between Adelphi St & Clermont Ave), Brooklyn, NY 11205

Here's the first review of 2013 and it's a pretty good one.  I've never been a big fan of New Year but I'm feeling good about this year and really taking control of my life and doing things that just make me happy.  So starting off my New Year with a good meal with good friends was a nice step forward.  It was my good friend Cicily's birthday, so we celebrated her big day with a brunch at Dino.  Unfortunately I ran into some L and G train issues (worst train combination in NYC) and was a bit late.  When I got there Cicily and her friends had ordered the bufala mozzarella ($12) and had one bite left.  I scooped up the last bite and it was delicious.  The mozzarella was perfectly wet and soft and fresh tasting.  Paired with fresh tomato slices and basil made it a perfect first bite for the New Year.  I was excited to order my main entree after that.  The menu had a great sounding breakfast dishes such as frittatas, benedicts, eggs ragu, french toast, plus lots of lunch dishes such as burgers, pastas, skirt steak, and salads.  Everything sounded delicious and while I was tempted to get a pasta or a burger (it was after 1pm afterall), I opted for the eggs and polenta ($12) and a side of bacon ($4).  The rest of the table got the rigatoni with meatballs ($14), the burger ($14), the burrata special, and the frittata.

While the plating wasn't anything super special, everything was served in these classically simple and clean white bowls and plates.  The eggs and polenta came in this humongous white bowl and had a giant helping of polenta at the bottom, a layer of garlic sauteed kale and two poached eggs.  As soon as I cut into the eggs and saw the runny yolk, I knew it would be a great dish.  The combination of the runny yolk, poached egg white, creamy polenta and kale was fantastic.  It felt strangely healthy (even though I'm sure it wasn't) and I wish they had served up more given how big the bowl was.  The side of bacon was actually a really appropriate serving size and I was able to finish the whole thing without feeling like a glutton.  It was a bit burnt for my taste but it wasn't a huge deal breaker.  I didn't get a chance to try Cicily's rigatoni but it looked really good and the perfect hang over cure.  The burrata dish looked like a big plate of vanilla gelato and it was served with a nice tomato balsamic mixture.  I actually like the mozzarella better because it was a bit softer and creamier but I'm never one to dislike any cheese dish.

So if the food was great, why didn't I give it 4 forks or higher? Honestly, the service was incredibly slow and not super attentive.  While our waitress was nice, she missed my initial drink order and I had to ask twice for it.  Then our water glasses pretty much went unfilled for the majority of the lunch which is another pet peeve of mine.  Even though I do like it when the wait staff isn't crawling all over you and shoving you out the door, it would be nice if they came by to check on you every now and then.  I would most definitely come back to this place for brunch again and even dinner, but hopefully the L and G train aren't being so fussy.   Total bill: $180 with out tip.

Photo Credit: Yelp

Roman's Visited 8/5/2012 2 Forks

Roman's 243 DeKalb Ave., (between Clermont Ave & Vanderbilt Ave), Brooklyn, NY 11205

Roman's has got to be one of more disappointing restaurants I've been to in recent months.  And it pains me to say it because its from the people who brought us Marlow&Sons and Diner, both of which I love.  The inside of Roman's is lovely and the waitstaff is also very nice.  But as soon as I looked at the brunch menu I was like "Huh? This is it?"  The menu was only 1 page, which is fine as long as there are great things to choose from.  But the menu here had almost nothing brunch-y at all.  While I am an adventurous eater, sometimes all I want for brunch is a good egg dish with a side of bacon or sausage (or both!).  The menu here was much more refined lunch than brunch.  It featured items like crostini with chicken liver, burrata with fresh peaches, string bean salad, poached eggs on a lentil salad, and spaghetti.   While I'm sure these dishes could be good, I just wasn't in the mood for any them at 11:30AM on a Sunday.  I settled on the most brunch-y item on the menu, the frittata with aioli and watercress salad ($12) and Cicily got the Mozzarella in Carrozza ($12) and we split an order of homemade donuts ($4).

The frittata was made with potatoes, beans and mushrooms and wasn't very impressive.  The aioli on top of it was overly salty and I personally don't like watercress so that just wasn't a good pairing for me.  The Mozzarella in Carrozza sounded really good when the waitress described it (she said it was a mozzerella sandwich lightly battered and fried) but Cicily had about 3-4 bites and didn't finish it.  The saving grace of the meal was the donuts.  They were light and fluffy sugar donuts and I could have ordered an entire dozen.  I left brunch feeling unsatisfied but I will caveat that I have been to many places where it's good for brunch but terrible for dinner or vice versa.  So maybe this place has a much better lunch/dinner experience but I probably won't really go back to find out.   But the one good thing was that it was pretty cheap:  $33/total including tax.

Photo Credit: Eater

   

Olea Mediterranean Taverna Visited 5/31/10 3.75 Forks

Olea Mediterranean Taverna 171 Lafayette Avenue(between Adelphi St & Clermont Ave), Brooklyn, NY 11238

I have run out of decent brunch choices in Park Slope and have decided to branch out to Ft. Greene, which is an area that I really love. Olea is in the really cute part of Ft. Greene, lots of tree-lined streets and brownstones. The restaurant is adorable with a right mix of Mediterranean tiles and exposed brick and wooden beams. There are a few outdoor seats, but the majority of the seats are indoors.

The brunch menu is really interesting, it had egg/brunch stuff but with a Turkish/Greek flair to all of it. There were so many choices and I had a really hard time deciding. I had the green eggs and lamb (scrambled with fresh cilantro, tomato and red onion, served with merguez lamb sausage and pita $13), Aarti had the Turkish breakfast (eggs scrambled with cilantro, tomato and red onion, fattoush, eggplant salad, herbed yogurt and grilled pita bread for $10), Will had the Savory Parmesan French Toast poached eggs, peas and pea shoots, scallions, and avgolemono sauce ($12) with a side of eggplant salad and Dan got the French style scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and brie ($10.50).

The food came out relatively quickly although they did violate one of my biggest pet peeves in that the table next to us, which was seated after us, got their food before us. But our food came out right afterwards. My meal was pretty good, although the lamb in sausage form is not as good as when it's sliced up in a more traditional meat-like cut. The grilled pita was really good and I tried it with Aarti's yogurt, which tasted like what it was supposed to: plain yogurt with cucumber and herbs. The eggplant salad that Will got was a bit of a disappointment in that it was a bit too sweet (tasted like mint jelly) for all of us. But the best thing I tasted was dan's salmon brie scramble. It was so perfectly cooked and it made me want more. I was really happy that there was a cute place not too far that had different take on brunch because Lord knows there aren't that many good options in my direct 'hood. It looks like they have a pretty good dinner tapas menu and $1.50 happy hour oysters...I would definitely check that out.

No. 7 Visited 3/13/10 - 3 Forks

No. 7 7 Greene Ave
(between Oxford St & Fulton St)


I had been wanting to go to No. 7 for a while and was excited to try it out for brunch. The first thing I notice was how beautiful I thought the restaurant was when I first entered. It's got this airy, bright, but yet pub-like design in the front. In the back is just a bunch of tables put too close together. They do have a pretty limited menu and many of items are pretty unique, not your usual brunch fare. I ordered the Plantain, Egg and Cheese sandwich and Dan got the Butternut grits and we split the sausage.

Now comes my biggest complaint. We waited FOREVER to get our food. I don't know exactly how long but it must have been at least 30 to maybe 40 minutes. At one point, I had to stop speaking to Dan b/c I was so hungry. But once the food came out, I really enjoyed my sandwich. I usually am against ordering breakfast sandwiches at a sit-down restaurant, but the couple next to me had gotten it and quite frankly there wasn't anything else I really wanted. But the sandwich was really good and b/c it had plantain, it was more filling than usual. Dan said he liked his grits but the side of broccoli was cold and sour tasting and there were practically no maitake mushrooms, which was disappointing. The sausage was spicy and oily but that's kind of what you want in a breakfast sausage, right? Plus there was a whole bowl full, so I definitely think we got our money's worth on that piece of the meal. Overall, I liked it and would go back only if I knew that I didn't have to wait that long.