Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

Pho Returns to Nicky’s Menu
311 Atlantic Ave. (btwn Smith & Hoyt), Boerum Hill; 718-855-8838
A Brooklyn Life snapped this picture of the pho at Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches — and claims that this satisfying soup is well-worth a long walk on a blustery day.

Now Open: Alta Voce
318 Fifth Ave between 2nd and 3rd Sts, Park Slope; (718-369-4899)
“Ten years to the day since opening the intimate Italian restaurant Sotto Voce (‘whispered’), the owners introduce the larger Alta Voce (‘loud voice’), with a multiregional menu.” [TONY]

Recently Reviewed: Eurotrip
667 Fifth Avenue (20th Street), South Slope; (718) 285-9425
“[The] kitchen serves Mittel-European comfort food in what might be called recession-era portions. Take the fried cheese ($10), a paperback-size slab of breaded Edam on a pile of crispy roasted potatoes. A gooey, crunchy, sizable mess, it gets surprising shades of flavor from the a tangy tartar sauce and pile of lingonberry jelly.” [NY Times]

After the jump: Caracas Arepas come to Brooklyn (!!!), a sausage shop gets ready for Red Hook, Ruby’s faces lease issues, and Gowanus is getting a new club…

Food News from The Brooklyn Paper
The BP reports that “Williamsburg residents Maribel Araujo and Aristides Barrios [have opened] Caracas Brooklyn — a Venezuelan restaurant specializing in the stuffed cornmeal patties called arepas.” (And if you’ve been to their original location in the East Village, then you know this is good news for our borough!) The local paper also notes that Red Hook’s Grindhaus is set to open in March and will be serving “five or six sausage varieties made on the premises, plus classics from around the world and newfangled concoctions that [owner Erin] Norris will rotate into the daily offerings.”

Quick Bites
Kinetic Carnival notes that “Ruby’s Bar & Grill on the Coney Island boardwalk is still awaiting a lease for the 2009 season”… Gowanus Lounge snaps some photos of the upcoming Gowanus club, Littlefield, and says: “The club has been promising a ‘fall 2008’ opening. While we don’t have shots of the interior, by the looks of things, they may not be far off target, though we’re going to guess Winter is perhaps most likely.”