Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up

Brookyln’s Best Eats?
Time Out New York lists their 10 best things to eat in New York City and two items from Brooklyn menus make the list — the fried chicken and biscuits at Roberta’s Pizza in Bushwick (which was recently reviewed by Alan Richman in GQ) and the roasted Manila clams at Umi Nom in Bed-Stuy. Do you agree that these are the two best dishes Brooklyn has to offer? If not, what’s your pick?

Newly Opened and On the Way
The Brooklyn Paper reports on Michael & Ping’s Modern Chinese Take-Out. It’s “slotted to be the first eatery in Brooklyn certified as ‘green’ by the Green Restaurant Association,” and it’s set to open in March at 437 Third Avenue between Seventh and Eighth streets… Manhattan’s Dinosaur Bar-B-Que is expanding — possibly to Brooklyn — and is seeking “6,000 – 10,00 square feet of space within ‘buildings with character,'” says Eater… Plus, The Downtown Diaries reports that Cupcakeland is now open in the old Catbird space in Williamsburg.

Warning: Before You Visit Mile End…
Check out their twitter and make sure they haven’t run out of food. This Montreal-style deli in Boerum Hill has been having trouble keeping up with the demand for smoked meat, says Eater.

After the jump: “the last intact pre-Prohibition bar,” a lobster shack run out of a Greenpoint basement, Beco, Roman’s, and Eat…

The Last Pre-Prohibition Bar in Brooklyn?
Off The Presses makes a good point about this handsome bar: “A recent Brooklyn real estate posting, peddling a two-story brick corner building in Williamsburg, includes this eye-catching boast: ‘It houses the last intact pre-Prohibition bar in north Brooklyn, crafted by German cabinet makes of Cuban mahogany.’ Judging by the picture, there’s not doubt it’s an old bar, and a beautiful one. But the last intact pre-Prohibition bar in north Brooklyn? …Show me an old wooden bar in New York, and I’ll show you a bar that served drinks on the sly in the 1920s.”

Lobster Rolls from a Greenpoint Basement
In the this-can’t-be-legal department, Bostonian Ben Sargent “operates a secret lobster-roll shop out of his Greenpoint basement. If you have his number, you can order some rolls (assuming he doesn’t have a date that night) and he’ll slip them through his mail slot for you,” says Grub Street. More info on his website, The Brooklyn Chowder Surfer.

Recently Reviewed: Beco, Roman’s, Eat
Oliver Strand for the NY Times visits Williamsburg’s Brazilian spot, Beco, and recommends “the excellent pão de queijo ($4), a basket of six puffed cheesy breads the size of Ping-Pong balls; and the sliced linguiça sausage ($6), made by a Brazilian butcher in Newark and browned in a skillet, then finished with cachaça.”… Time Out New York says that Roman’s in Fort Greene “doesn’t add up to a meal worth making a trip for. If you live next door, however, the daily seasonal surprises are an outstanding alternative to your own CSA delivery box.” … And New York magazine’s Underground Gourmet enjoys the “restorative” fare at locavore hang-out, Eat: “There is a refreshingly abstemious quality to the food… A woeful-sounding ‘mashed potatoes and sautéed cabbage’ plate exceeds expectations with its runny poached-egg topping.”

Fried chicken photo by Jolie Ruben for TimeOutNY.