The Mango Lassie

Last night, Empanada Boy and I joined our friends Bass Drum Crumb and Curly Fries at the new Park Slope location of Fornino, a restaurant and pizzeria that has already made a name for itself in Williamsburg. I had read about the fantastic Neapolitan-style pies at the first location and saw the mouthwatering pictures of them on the restaurant’s website. A great Williamsburg foodie attraction had made its way to the less hipster ‘hood of Park Slope! This was worth a celebratory cheer and a visit. What I didn’t know was that Chef Michael Ayoub had decided not to build the requisite wood-fired pizza oven at his Park Slope spot. Instead, he opted to grill his pies and serve a bunch of other Italian pastas and more elegant fare. I didn’t realize this shift until our pizza arrived at the table. (The menu for the Park Slope location is not on the website, but I eventually found it here.) I was disappointed not to be eating the chewy bubbly crust of the Neapolitan-style pizza I had been craving, but the company was great and the grilled pizza had its merits, which I will be discussing below.

We started with two tasty antipasti: eggplant caponata and a salad made with radicchio, peaches and goat cheese. The caponata had a nice balance of sweetness from the roasted eggplant and saltiness from black olives that were blended in. It came with a nice herbed focaccia that had just the right chew (a true rarity, in my experience). The salad was vibrant and beautiful in its color contrasts. My only complaint was that the dressing was a little too mild. A bolder, tangier dressing could have set off the sweetness of the peach wedges nicely. Next came our pizzas. We ordered the Funghi Misti with wild mushrooms taleggio and white truffle oil and another one called the Calabrese, made with tomato, fior di latte (cow’s milk mozzarella) and a spicy pepperoni called caciatorini a diavolo. The crust on these was quite thin and almost cracker-like at the edges. It had good flavor with a hint of smokiness, but none of the blackened, bubbly pockets that come from an oven. The mushrooms on the first pizza had strong flavors of their own, but didn’t seem to have been seasoned enough while being cooked. One variety of darker color mushrooms dominated the others. But the flavors that won the fight for dominance in this dish was definitely the white truffle oil. I could have done with less of it.

Instead of the Calabrese, our server ended up bringing us the Pizza Vinny Scotto. This one had all the ingredients of the Calabrese, but added bel paese (a semi-soft Italian cheese), pecorino, ricotta and a bell pepper aioli. Crumb had been hesitant to order this one because he wasn’t into big clumps of ricotta, but the clumps turned out to be fairly small we decided to keep it when it came. Perhaps we made a mistake, though, because there seemed to be too many ingredients on this pizza. The sheer number of cheese alone was enough to create a conflicting flavor profile that didn’t successfully highlight the quality of any single one of them. The best part of this pizza was the caciatorini. It was hot and well-spiced and not as greasy as the generic pepperoni found on so many pies.

Speaking of ricotta, this cheese also featured prominently in the cheesecake topped with strawberries that we ordered as one of our desserts. I am not a fan of American-style dense cheesecakes, but this one had a pleasant lightness to it, and it was not too sweet. The fresh strawberries made for beautiful color contrast and added seasonal freshness.

Our second dessert was a torta di limone, a cake with a thin crust of brown around the exterior and and moist, but light, lemony interior. This was a great dessert and one I would like to try making at home. Curly Fries and I had enough to drink between the two bottles of Italian wine we ordered as a table and the glass of white she ordered for herself, but EB and Crumb wanted to keep the party flowing…I mean going. They each ordered a glass of grappa from the fairly lengthy list. EB’s ended up being smoother than Crumbs, which was more like a whiskey in its smokiness. Both were quite strong, but the Italians believe they aid the digestion, and I’m not inclined to argue with centuries of tradition.

In the end, the pizza was good but not great. The ingredients were nice and the restaurant itself was pleasant, but I had really been looking forward to that Neapolitan crust. Maybe it was just a question of managing expectations.

Fornino Park Slope
256 5th Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11215
718.399.8600

I’ve written before about my strange tendency to avoid my own neighborhood when contemplating places to go out to eat. When I’m home, I just think: Why not make dinner at home? But a few weeks ago, Empanada Boy and I were getting stir crazy and decided to try a restaurant that was not only in our neighborhood, but catty-corner from our house. We had heard good things about Java Indonesian Rijsttafel, an Indonesian restaurant (obviously). Not having tried much Indonesian food, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But EB and I are always up for adventure, so we decided to put the speculation to rest and give it a try.

The restaurant is small and simple, apart from a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The kitchen door is behind a screen, and at least when we went, there was only one woman (presumably the owner) working the floor. Unsure of what to order, we opted for some of the dishes with “Java special” in parentheses next to their names. The first, from the appetizer section, was the pastel, basically Indonesian empanadas, stuffed with thin rice noodles and vegetables. They came with two dipping sauces, one that was quite spicy, probably made with chilies of some kinds, and another that was a savory-sweet combination of peanuts, soy sauce and sugar. These were tasty in the way that most pockets of filled dough are. The fillings were flavorful, but I particularly liked the sauces. They added vibrancy and verve to the dish, which wasn’t remarkably seasoned on its own. After that, we had a traditional salad called acar, made with sliced cucumber, carrots, string beans, and onions, marinated in a sauce of vinegar and turmeric. The salad was refreshing, and I liked the crispness of the cucumber and carrot, but the string beans seemed a little limp as though they had been allowed to cook for too long. Turmeric gave the onions and cucumber a yellow color, but it added only a subtle flavor to the dish because of the dominant vinegar dressing.

Our final dish was another Java special called semur, made with beef stewed slowly in soya sauce. The meat was a little tougher than what I had been imagining, and the sauce was more like a soup. The abundant liquid had muted flavor without very distinctive or assertive spicing and was generally too watery. Still, the lemon zest on top added a nice acidity, and we hungrily sopped up much of the sauce with the accompanying rice. The leftover sauces from the pastel added a welcome occasional kick.

After hearing so many great things about Java Indonesian, EB and I really wanted to love it. In the end, we enjoyed it, but didn’t think it stood up to the hype. We may consider giving it another try the next time we set aside the time to dine in the Slope, but there are so many restaurants to visit that we’ll likely end up moving at least a few doors down the street.

Java Indonesian Rijsttafel
455 7th Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11215
718.832.4583

Unlike in Cannon Beach, Oregon—where I spent the long weekend, and which is still under a rain cloud— signs of summer are starting to appear in New York City. The weather has been in the 80s, and we’ve even had a few sticky humid days. People are out in the park, and most of all, people are starting to barbecue. There’s no better accompaniment to meat grilled outdoors than a nice potato salad. In honor of being on the cusp of summer, I decided to dedicate my June tribute to Gourmet magazine to a recipe for Potato Salad With Olives and Peppers from the June 2007 issue. The flavor combination of the starchy potatoes, the salty olives, the fresh parsley and the slightly sweet smoky peppers was spot on.

My only complaint is that there seemed to be too little dressing. I halved the recipe based on the number of potatoes I used, but It seems like I could have used half again as much dressing to really bring out the flavors in those potatoes. It would be an easy problem to fix. Either way, there are numerous potential variations on this recipe, offering the opportunity to add a twist here and there. I think it would be good with anchovies, lemon juice or capers added to the mix. It’s food for thought, but happy almost summer, nonetheless.

Potato Salad with Olives and Peppers

yield: Makes 6 servings
active time: 30 min
total time: 1 1/2 hours

Ingredients
3 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes
5 tablespoons olive oil
3 pound hot cooked small (2-inch) boiling potatoes, quartered
2/3 cup bottled roasted red peppers (4 ounces), rinsed, patted dry, and chopped
2/3 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

1/3 cup pitted brine-cured black olives, halved

Preparation
Mince garlic and mash to a paste with a pinch of salt using side of a large heavy knife. Transfer to a large bowl and whisk in vinegar, salt, and red-pepper flakes, then whisk in oil.

Add hot potatoes to vinaigrette and toss to coat. Let stand until potatoes cool to warm, about 30 minutes, then stir in peppers, parsley, and olives. Serve warm or at room temperature.

See my other Gourmet, Unbound posts:
May 2010, Moroccan-Style Mussels
April 2010, Shrimp Scampi Pasta
March 2010, Chicken with Black Pepper Maple Sauce
February 2010, Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream
January 2010, Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic and Pancetta
December 2010, Walnut Spice Cake with Lemon Glaze

After not having eaten a burger for months, I have somehow spent the last few months eating what must be near a whole heifer’s worth of them. As I discussed in my post on Flipster’s and Five Guys, some of these have been better than others. Most recently, I dined at Corner Burger in Park Slope, only to follow it up a week or so later with a visit to Corner Bistro in Greenwich Village. These two spots merit comparison only because they are both burger joints and because they both have the word corner in their names—reason enough in my book.

I’ll start out by saying that while the burger at Corner Bistro had its drawbacks, Corner Burger’s was pretty much a flop. Of course, that doesn’t reflect at all on the company we had there: Empanada Boy and I went to Corner Burger with my colleague Chopped Salad and his lovely wife Vinaigrette. Chopped Salad had heard that the burgers were good, so I proposed that we meet there to give them a try. I was also intrigued when I learned that the restaurant recently started serving poutine, the gravy-and-cheese-curd-topped French fries of Montreal. Chopped Salad and Vinaigrette weren’t sure about poutine, but EB and I wanted to try it. I ordered the classic poutine ($6.50) instead of a burger. It wasn’t a great first impression for this culturally iconic dish. I could see how poutine would be amazing if the fries were hot, thin and crispy and the gravy more inspired, but the dish had none of these qualities. The cheese curds were squeaky, though, an attribute which I have learned to appreciate now that I have family in Wisconsin.

The burgers ($6.50) at looked far better than they tasted. EB ordered the one above with Swiss cheese and mushrooms. As I have said before, I consider cheese and other toppings undesirable because they obscure the taste of the meat. In this case, the meat needed obscuring. The burger arrived on the rare side of medium-rare, which would have been perfectly acceptable if the meat had been seasoned. It hadn’t been. We found ourselves biting into rare, bland meat, which proved a very disappointing combination, even despite the cheese and mushrooms. Chopped Salad and Vinaigrette ordered burgers too and were similarly disappointed. The curly fries may have been the only saving grace. We were among the only patrons there when we sat down and the only ones there when we left. We now understand why Park Slopers are staying away.

EB and I visited Corner Bistro with our friends Porky Braiser and Sweet Tooth who were visiting from Chicago. We were planning to get drinks at Little Branch in the Village, so we looked for some good cheap chow in the general vicinity to eat beforehand. A dark, old-timey and decidedly unbistro-like bar, Corner Bistro fit the bill. We waited for a seat in a pretty long line that snaked through the bar area. The wait wasn’t so bad, though, because we were throwing back $2.50 mugs of McSorley’s. In a city where it typically costs $6 or $7 for a pint, that alone is reason to visit. Soon we got a seat at a tiny cramped wooden booth. We had a good view of the Heinz ketchup bottles lined up near the kitchen window like soldiers awaiting deployment.

I ordered the basic burger ($4), while Sweet Tooth got a cheeseburger ($4.75). Porky and EB naturally ordered the Bistro Burger, made with cheese and bacon, but still a steal at only $5. And we got three orders of French fries. The fries were nothing special. They weren’t hand-cut and weren’t quite as crispy or hot as we like them. Clearly people come here for the burgers. The patties were juicy, tasty and well-cooked. That is what matters most in a burger, and that’s what Corner Bistro does well. Where it falls short is in its buns (whimpy, airy and easily destroyed by the meat juice) and in its toppings (flavorless American cheese, faded iceberg lettuce). In general, I found I could overlook these drawbacks because of the quality of the meat, the no-nonsense atmosphere and the excellent prices.

I’ll go back to Corner Bistro, especially when I’m looking for a real New York experience. I don’t think I’ll go back to Corner Burger. It may well close before I get a chance to. But first, I think I’ll take a hiatus from burgers and let my arteries unclog for a bit. There will always be more to try once I have a hankering again.

Corner Burger
381 5th Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11215
718.360.4622

Corner Bistro
331 W. 4th St.
New York, NY 10014
212.242.9502

How many guys does it take to make a good burger? Apparently more (or less) than five—at least that’s what the burgers at the Park Slope outpost of the cult chain Five Guys Burgers and Fries suggest. Two thin, dry hockey-puck-like patties come stacked on an unremarkable bun. The free toppings—including jalapeños, A-1 Sauce and grilled mushrooms and onions, to name a few—are the only plus. Fries are flabby and flavorless, lacking all crisp. Empanada Boy and I ordered the spicy Cajun ones, which were just the same fries doused with a dusty heap of cayenne pepper. They didn’t redeem this restaurant.

So why do people (such as my editor, Noodles, mentioned in last week’s post) like this place so much? Perhaps it’s the free toppings, or the free peanuts they give you while you wait. Or maybe it’s that people are comparing it to McDonald’s, which it obviously surpasses. I’m just not sure how to explain the phenomenon. Since EB and I moved to Park Slope at the beginning of January, we’ve already had time to try Five Guys, reject it as overrated and identify a far superior burger at a place up the street called Flipster’s.

The name Flipster’s admittedly leaves something to be desired. (The website says it’s a reference to the Brooklyn hipsters who flip the burgers, but I noticed no skinny jeans or horn rims behind the grill.) But EB and I were very pleasantly surprised when we stopped in at Flipster’s after signing our lease. It’s a pretty standard looking bar and grill with dark wooden furniture and a TV playing sports. The menu has items like chicken sandwiches and popcorn shrimp, but burgers are the clear focus. These range from the most basic option to Kobe beef burgers, bison and lamb burgers and even a pizza burger with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese (might be gross, might be good).

I ordered the plain burger, which I believe is the true test of greatness because it highlights the most important ingredient: the meat. It came with lettuce, tomato, onions, mustard and ketchup. EB ordered the Brooklyn Flipster Burger with bacon, mozzarella and caramelized onion. Both patties were obviously hand-formed and nicely charred on the outside. Biting into them revealed the pretty pinkish hue of the meat, medium-rare as requested. The meat was flavorful, fresh and juicy and had obviously never been frozen. It was a far cry from the chewy shriveled disks at Five Guys. EB’s bacon was crispy and delicious. The cheese added chew. Still, I don’t think a good burger needs these accessories, and I was completely content here without them.

Lastly, I cannot fail to mention the superior fries at Flipster’s. They are waffle-cut, offering a greater fried surface-area-to-volume ratio. These were crispy and evenly spiced with a blend of seasonings. Five Guys may give double the number of fries (a huge paper bag full) in its large order, but who wants to eat double the number of limp, flavorless potato sticks? Flipster’s wins this round too, hands down.

P.S. EB has been back to Flipster’s once since our first visit. He was offered a frequent burger card with his check. As much as we liked Flipster’s, we think this could set a dangerous precedent. That’s one club we won’t be joining.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries
284 7th Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11215
718.499.9380

Flipster’s
444 9th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11215
718.832.5500

Empanada Boy and I are moving to Brooklyn in January. We don’t know where we’re moving, mind you, but we know we’ll be going to that borough. After a year in Mahattan, we are ready to move to a neighborhood that’s more our speed and one that’s not an hour’s subway ride from the majority of our friends. In search of the right neighborhood, we set off on Saturday on a walking tour through Prospect Heights, Gowanus, South Slope, Windsor Terrace and Greenwood Heights. We walked for miles, through light rain at times. As we walked up to the Prospect Park F Train Station at 15th Street, it started to pour. I spotted a tiny Vietnamese cafe called Henry’s. It didn’t take much to convince EB we needed a lunch break.

As the rain started coming down harder, we went up to the counter in the closet-like restaurant and ordered a classic banh mi and an almond bubble tea from one of the red-shirted servers. The classic is made with pate, Vietnamese ham and roasted ground pork with a tangy carrot and radish slaw served on a toasted French baguette. The bahn mi is an amazing amalgam of Vietnamese and French flavors—the bun is even buttered as the French do with their sandwiches—reflecting the history of French colonization in Vietnam. We split the sandwich, and I was glad we did because it was rich and packed with deep, satisfying pork flavor. The ground pork gave it extra crunch, while the layer of pate added foundation. But my favorite element was definitely the vegetables, which were seasoned with the same vinaigrette you find on a green papaya salad.

Unfortunately, the bubble tea was a poor choice, flavorwise. It tasted like pure almond extract blended with some milk. This may well be what it actually was. I couldn’t stand the taste of it, but EB successfully managed to fish out the tapioca balls.

As soon as the rain cleared up a bit, we continued on our tour by about 6 pm, we were totally exhausted. We took the train to Vladimir Pudding’s house in Boerum Hill and crashed wearily onto his couch. After a few drinks, we called Basedrum Crumb and invited him to come from Park Slope to meet us for dinner. (We had been planning to meet somewhere in the middle, but EB and I were too tired/lazy to walk.)

Instead, we walked down the street to a New Orleans-style bar and cafe called Stan’s Place. We had Abita beers (made in New Orleans) and three out of four of us ordered po’ boys. EB got catfish; Crumb got fried shrimp. Still in the mood for sandwiches, and having just finished reading a New York Times article on the dying art of the New Orleans po’ boy, I ordered the fried oyster po’ boy.

Like bahn mi, po’ boys owe some of their influences to French colonizers, in this case those who occupied the Louisiana Delta. They are made on the same baguettes and are sometimes also smeared with pate and filled with lettuce. After reading the article, I was looking forward to that crisp bread with a chewy interior. Unfortunately, the po’ boy at Stan’s didn’t live up to the ideal flavors and textures I had envisioned. The chew was lacking, as was the kick. The sandwich was also a steep $12. The oysters were tasty, though, and the crispy potatoes on the side were delicious. Probably the best thing we ate at Stan’s came before the sandwich: a spicy grilled andouille sausage appetizer with a soft homemade biscuit.

We still don’t know which neighborhood we’re moving to, but it’s clear that coming to Brooklyn will open up a whole new array of food options to explore. I’m looking forward to sampling the flavors of our new neighborhood.

Henry’s
433 7th Ave. (at 15th St.)
Brooklyn, NY 11215
718.788.8882

Stan’s Place
411 Atlantic Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11217
718.596.3110

Empanada Boy is now on a diet. I know, I know, it crushes me too when a man who loves food so much has to be reigned in. It’s not as if he’s had to punch new holes in his belt or anything, but we both agree that he could trim up a bit if he’s going to look like a young Paul Newman for the wedding. I also want to be sure he lives a long and healthy life with me. EB has done a fantastic job of sticking to his diet during his first week. He’s kept to his calorie limit every day and has even turned down birthday cake and beer. He’s riding the stationary bike as I write this. We both agree it’s for the best, but I can’t help thinking that this is something like the end of an era. What was the tipping point? The answer can be found somewhere in the depths of the fryer at Chip Shop.

Chip Shop is a British-themed fish and chips joint in Park Slope, Brooklyn. EB used to frequent it when he lived in the neighborhood, and he had been looking forward to dinner there months before we came to New York. We rounded up Vladimir Pudding and EB’s former roommate Bassdrum Crumb to join us. Chip Shop specializes in one mode of cooking: frying. A deep-fried pizza even appears on its menu. I was content with fish and chips, but the frying possibilities were too tempting for EB. He ordered a meal, which comes with a side, fish and chips and dessert. He started with a lovely ball of deep fried mac ‘n cheese (pictured above). It was actually pretty disgusting— just as lumpy, heavy and goopy as it looks. EB’s next course was the cod fish and chips. The fish was tender, but batter on these was too bready and lacked the fine crispiness I was expecting. The fries were decent, but not remarkable.

As if all that weren’t enough, EB’s dessert was a Twinkie cut in half and deep-fried into two calorie-laden packets. Fittingly, they looked like empanadas dusted with powdered sugar. One bite revealed a gooey, fake creamy interior that could only be one thing. The fruit compote that came on the side may have been one of the only sources of nutrients in the entire meal. As that meal came to an end, the seeds of regret and self-doubt were planted in his mind. Empanada Boy was disappointed in the diminished quality of the food, acknowledging that it probably wasn’t worth the calories. It was a Chip Shop epiphany. And it wasn’t long before the diet began. I may not have exactly the same Empanada Boy when it’s all said and done, but I’ll have a trimmer, more studly guy standing next to me on wedding day.

Chip Shop (another location in Brooklyn Heights)
383 Fifth Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11215
718.832.7701