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January 2, 2007

Best French Fare in Brooklyn?

2pitstop.jpg
Every time we turn around, there's a new French restaurant opening — like Le Petit Marche in Brooklyn Heights and Chez Lola in Clinton Hill, to name just a couple of newcomers. Our question is — which ones serve the best food? We're partial to Pit Stop (pictured above), Columbia Street's kitschy, racecar-themed French restaurant with Petanque in the backyard — but we wish it were called "Grand Prix." We put off checking it out for a long time because its real name kinda makes it sound like a truck stop specializing in jerky and malt liquor. Instead, they've got a stellar wine list and refined bistro fare, including an incredible warm lentil salad and a savory goat cheese tartine. Any other nominees for the best French fare in Brooklyn? Are any of the new spots worth checking out?
Pit Stop is located at 127 Columbia Street in Red Hook/Carroll Gardens West/Columbia Heights, depending on which realtor you ask; 718 875 4664.
Pit Stop [Homepage]
Photo by (michelle)




Posted by Brooklyn Record at 11:58 AM | Comments (21)
Categories: Food and Drink

Comments

I love Belleville on Fifth Ave. in the Slope.

Posted by: S at January 2, 2007 12:54 PM

It is difficult to name one of the Bklyn french joints that truly outshines all the rest. Haven't tried Petit Marche or Lola yet, but I'm partial to Ici (fresh, local ingredients), Jolie (authenticity a key here, along with ambience) and Cocotte (ditto). All three have that je ne sais quoi factor: a warm welcome from the patron, attentive service and fair prices. A well-constructed wine list is also a plus.
Would you consider 360 and its offshoot, Sorrel French? I think I would. Add those to my list.

Posted by: famdoc at January 2, 2007 1:36 PM

Patois.

Posted by: noneya at January 2, 2007 2:02 PM

Pit Stop is mediocre in my opinion.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 2, 2007 2:16 PM

The food at Provence en Boite on Smith Street is excellent. Unfortunately, after 3 visits, I still think they need to work out the kinks in the service.

Posted by: crouchback at January 2, 2007 2:28 PM

Pitstop is a hidden treasure, particularly if you have small children. In the summer, their garden provides a huge play area equipped with toy cars for the kids and petanque for the grown-ups. Since all the other adults are wandering around for the petanque, you can feel comfortable to wander after a toddler, beer in hand. In the winter, the collection of toy cars inside keeps little ones entertained, and I have often seen the chef/owner's kids hanging out in the kitchen, the sign of a family-friendly place if there ever was one. Food is good; hamburgers beat Schnak hands down and at brunch they have baked merguez sausages with ratatouille, a great alt. to eggs benedict. Overall, Pitstop has the magic of being a great place to take kids without being a kiddy-restaurant. You can have a great time, a great meal and emerge with your dignity intact.

Posted by: coco at January 2, 2007 3:36 PM

I'd have to go with Quercy on Court St.

Posted by: patrick at January 2, 2007 3:50 PM

Bar Tabac on Smith St.

Posted by: OE at January 2, 2007 4:21 PM

Definitely Quercy, Tabac for mussels, Pit Stop for fun brunch when it is warm. I've only been to Boullabaise twice but both meals were excellent.

Posted by: Carol Gardens at January 2, 2007 5:03 PM

Oh boy! Another restaurant using the back yard illegaly. I pity the neighbors of the Pit Shop. Once again. The use of the backyard for restaurants in most cases is not allowed by the building or fire department unless the backyard has a second means of eagress. That means that this second exit needs to lead directly to the street, not through the restaurant building in case of fire. A fenced backyard therefore is a fire trap and DANGEROUS.
So COCO, when you let your children play in the backyard, you run the risk of having them trapped in the back of the restaurant and the fire department will not be able to get to them.
Restaurateurs know this. They just push the envelope in order to fit extra patrons into their place and to make extra money.
Not to mention the fact that the restaurant neighbors certainly have a right not to listen to little children and pétanque players in the back yard.
So again: the backyard is NOT a place of business. Their use is dangerous. Call 311 to complain about restaurants who use them!

Posted by: Anonymous at January 2, 2007 5:26 PM

I believe Pit Stop has an exit to the street from the backyard. The lot next to them is empty and the few times I've sat in the backyard the gate has been open/unlocked.

Posted by: ColumbiaGirl at January 2, 2007 5:37 PM

Sucker

Posted by: Anonymous at January 2, 2007 5:55 PM

Patois? I love Cookin in Brooklyn as a TV show, but had dinner at Patois last week and it was terrible.
Will give them another chance, but service was horrible -- waitress was spacey and indifferent when shown that our food arrived burnt -- no...make that incinerated. Each time before that was a great experience.

Posted by: Homer Fink at January 2, 2007 7:07 PM

Belleville is not authentic at all. French natives swear by Quercy.

Posted by: North Sleeper at January 2, 2007 8:33 PM

The kids at Pit Stop are annoying and the food is terrible.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 3, 2007 7:32 AM

farmdoc - 360 is definitely a favorite of ours, too. Is Sorrel as good?

Posted by: Brooklyn Record at January 3, 2007 9:04 AM

I'm surprised no votes for Moutarde on 5th Ave.!! That is my favorite restaurant in Park Slope and in my opinion one of the best French Restaurants out there.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 3, 2007 9:29 AM

Re: Sorrel. Been there three times. I would place it a close second to 360. I am placing increasing emphasis on ambience and staff warmth as a factor in my restaurant selection and find Sorrel more conducive to quiet conversation than 360. Zagat 2007 included a comment that the owner of 360 can be rude. I certainly have never found him to be so and enjoy hearing him wax rhapsodic about his selection of biodynamic regional French wines. I have found the owner and staff of Sorrel to be nearly as warm. Give 360 a "9" and Sorrel a "7," but add a fraction to Sorrel for the ease of getting there from Park Slope.

Like Belleville, Moutarde is a shade of its former self. Both carved out niches as "authentic" Parisian bistrots, but both have somewhat gotten away from that model. I may be criticized for this, but I believe that both have adopted the mass-produced French food model.

Posted by: famdoc at January 3, 2007 10:19 AM

Re Anon 5:26-- how many people have been injured in fires that occur in restaurant backyards in Brooklyn? Probably not too many. Should people who have brownstones with backyards not use the yard because of danger of being trapped there if a fire breaks out? If people live in an area that is zoned for restaurant use, then they have the benefit of a restaurant nearby and the risk that they might have to hear some children and adults enjoying themselves outside.

Posted by: waverly at January 3, 2007 11:05 AM

Belleville isn't authentic? Its run by a French family who run around speaking French all the time! As far as I'm concerned, food cooked by French people is French, maybe its a regional difference in what is considered "french" or "not french"? I do know that the food I ate in Paris on my honeymoon summer before last tastes alot like Belleville...

Posted by: anon at January 3, 2007 1:30 PM

Moutarde is a chain restaurant and tastes it. Belleville is perfectly OK, but not fantastic. I've only eaten at Quercy once, but was deeply impressed.

Posted by: anonymous at January 3, 2007 2:32 PM

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