Brooklyn Food & Drink Round-Up
Brooklyn, Bite by Bite At Monday night’s Hot Plates Live event at the Bell House, we sampled bites from 10 new Brooklyn restaurants — and then washed them down with a super potent (and super delicious) New Orleans-style iced coffee from Blue Bottle, which we don’t recommend drinking right before bedtime. Our favorite tastes? Branded…
Brooklyn, Bite by Bite
At Monday night’s Hot Plates Live event at the Bell House, we sampled bites from 10 new Brooklyn restaurants — and then washed them down with a super potent (and super delicious) New Orleans-style iced coffee from Blue Bottle, which we don’t recommend drinking right before bedtime. Our favorite tastes? Branded Saloon‘s “Uncle Ricky’s Fried Corn” — a family recipe for Nashville-style nachos — involved sweet kernels of corn fried in bacon fat, and then tossed with bacon and pulled pork, served on a tortilla chip. (Plus, it was served with a drink ticket to redeem at their Prospect Heights bar.) We also loved the whole spread and the friendliness of the chefs at Williamsburg newcomer Cariño. We’ll definitely be visiting their restaurant to eat more of their creamy guacamole, spiked with the Mexican herb papalo, and to enjoy their handmade tortillas and tamales. Check out more photos at Metromix.
Brooklyn Brewery Expands
The Brooklyn Paper talks about expansion with Brooklyn Brewery’s Steve Hindy: “When Hindy’s space becomes operational in December, the brewery will be 14 times larger — able to accommodate more experimental blends as well as produce more of Hindy’s beer in Brooklyn (most is currently produced upstate)… Perhaps, Brooklyn will one day be know worldwide for its proficiency in all things beer — in July, Brooklyn Brewery even began exporting to India.”
These Ain’t Your Mama’s Red Hots
Grown in northeastern India, ghost peppers register more than one million Scoville units, and if you’re a heat-seeker, you can taste ’em without leaving Brooklyn: “Jay Sheldon, a Brooklyn sculptor, sells not only small dried ghost peppers, crushed flakes and finely ground powder, but also little watermelon-flavored candies — black with green stripes — made with the pepper. They are spicy and sour, and no hotter than most ginger candies,” says the New York Times. Look for Sheldon’s wares at the Brooklyn Kitchen in Williamsburg or Blue Apron Foods in Park Slope, or place an order at bhut-pepper.com.
After the jump: Pasta at Campo de’ Fiore, some of the best pie in America, a honey-beer tasting, underground homebrew tasting, and a Park Slope food tour…
Recently Reviewed: Campo de’ Fiore
187 Fifth Avenue (Berkeley Place), Park Slope, Brooklyn, (347) 763-0933
“You wish [the chef, Andrea Dal Monte] made more pastas. Just a few are available each day. If you’re lucky, there will be gnocchi with musky oxtail ragù ($16), pappardelle fragrant with beef stewed in red wine ($16), and the double debauch of roast duck over oozy orzotto ($18)… Forgive the stark lighting, the tiled floor, the takeout counter. The vibe is uncozy, at odds with the quietly deferential waiters.” [New York Times]
American Pie
Bon Appetit tracks down the best pie shops from sea to shining sea, and one of them is Brooklyn’s own Four & Twenty Blackbirds: “Classic flavors and inventive creations such as bourbon-sweet potato spring up at this destination-worthy shop in the up-and-coming Gowanus neighborhood.”
Honey, Homebrews, and a Park Slope Food Tour
Grub Street shares a couple of intriguing upcoming events. On September 20 at Beer Table, “Eagle Street Rooftop Farm and other city beekeepers get together for a citywide honey tasting featuring beers brewed with honey… $34. E-mail events@beertable.com to make a reservation.” Plus, on September 25 and October 2, “Gut Instinct‘s Joshua M. Bernstein leads you to three apartments where homebrewers will pony up their suds… $25. E-mail ‘josh.bernstein at gmail dot com.'” … Plus, mark your calendars for Buy in Brooklyn’s 3rd Annual Park Slope Food Tour on Thursday, September 23. A tipster tells us, “They are running on Mobile Meteor, so if you visit the site from a smartphone (Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, etc), the directory is mobile-optimized with links to call and maps for each location. There also a link to a mapping of all participating establishments.”
11217 – la villa is great for take out though – if you live close enough. i don’t like pizza delivered that’s not standard issue, cause you need to eat right away.
fornino is best to be eaten there, doesn’t even hold up to carry home – can imagine that space is too big tho. one in WB is smaller/more bistro like and is enjoyable to hang out in.
motorino and baci and abracci maybe be better in WB, but fornino still has good pizza. need to go check out Pauly Gee’s now. roberta’s in bushwick has good pizza, and great atmosphere – very relaxed, very brooklyn.
Gotcha 11217. Sounds like they fill a pretty good niche though – a decent place that may not be as good as some of the destination spots nearby – but is also big enough that you don’t have to worry about long wait times (and therefore have to plan your whole evening around)
I wish there were more places like that up here
DH,
Grilled pizza can be excellent. It’s a specialty in Italy and in Argentina. It’s just not all that common here in the U.S.
I actually don’t mind the pizza at Fornino….it’s fine. I really don’t like the interior of Fornino though…too large and suburban looking. The outside looks GREAT, but the inside is blah and I prefer the pizza at Campo de’Fiori, Lucali and Franny’s so no real reason to be psyched about Fornino.
They seem to do pretty excellent business though, and I have bought some things at their store next to the restaurant…they have some nice homemade sauces, sausages, pasta, etc.
I can’t stand La Villa. To me, it’s one step up from Olive Garden and there are always a ton of screaming children in there.
The pizza at Fornino’s is very dry – it’s grilled and the tasty sauce/cheese on top just can’t save it. On our first visit we ordered a few pizzas and I felt like it was diet food. The next time I tried the Salmon and was pleased. I like it as an alternative when the Al Di La wait is too long…
“WAY better than Fornino Park Slope (which I’m sad to say am not that impressed with).”
Yeah, did you have their pizza? I hear they don’t make it in a pizza oven, but grill it on open flames. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.
The pizza at Campo de’Fiori was tasty but the ambience confused me – I bring my kids to La Villa where I enjoy the pizza and the fact it’s inexpensive and festive but for a more grown-up treat campo didn’t deliver… Hopefull they do a great take-out business. I think the times hit the nail on the head with fornino’s last week – the entrees are better then the pizza.
I thought it was interesting that two Brooklyn food stories mentioned India this week… and I just made dinner reservations at Tamarind Tribeca, so I’ve got India on the brain. Thanks for reading so carefully!
Nice structural touch that this post followed an item mentioning that Brooklyn Brewery is exporting to India with an item about importing hot peppers from India to Brooklyn. Was that intentional?
Also, not sure if it’s going to be around again, but the Calexio Food Cart was hanging out on 7th Avenue and Carroll Street last night…