Neighborhood Update
I have to apologize for the lack of Brooklyn-specific posts--there are so many interesting things going on in the neighborhood, but unpacking is a bitch. Some neighborhood highlights I wish I had more time to investigate: what appears to be a new community garden being built on the expanse of concrete across from the Carroll Street entrance to the Carroll Street F and G station; new Japanese noodle shop Taku that I've heard good things about; new comfort food spot Gravy, connected to the Pacifico/La Rosa restaurants at Smith and Pacific streets. I'm not a huge fan of Pacifico (the deck is great, as are the margaritas, but the service and food are inconsistent); however I think La Rosa's pizza is fantastic. Hopefully Gravy takes the middle ground between the two.
Any experiences at either Taku or Gravy? Also, I'd love to get the scoop on the community garden ...
7 Comments
Leave a comment
taku is the invisible restaurant ... after a fruitless search i ended up at Chance over the weekend. l. and i ate some pretty tasty dim sum. a bit hit or miss i suppose. some of them (crispy salmon! shrimp balls!) are great, and others just ok. avoid the foie gras, though. i don't think the quality was all that high and the flavors just didn't "go". or whatever. i'm expecting to be hosed in fake blood for this admission, by the way ...
oh, also they were blaring really funny/bad dance music.
My girlfriend and I ate at Gravy last week, we loved it. Everything's a little too new to carry off the kicked-up diner vibe, but give it a while to break in. I had chicken-fried steak. I expected a deep-fried cutlet somewhere between Japanese tonkatsu and weinershnitzel, but what I got was so much more. A lovely herb flavored crumb dredge covering tasty bite-sized (or a bit bigger than that) pieces of thin steak (hanger?). Oh yeah, and the steak was perfectly medium-rare inside, which you never expect from chicken-fried steak. Came with roasted squash which was delicious (and I'm not what I would call a squash person). My girlfriend had the Cobb salad, which measured up nicely and was a lot of food for the $. Given its proximity to Bar Tabac, for now it provides a nice alternative when the latter is packed (but we don't expect this to last as it develops its own following). We'll be back.
just got back from gravy and it was horrible. service was slow, served two cracked glasses. the garnola was burnt, and my girlfriends bag got soaked with coffee after a mug dropping incident. no help from staff.
maybe try in a few months after they get it together.
We ate there the other day and we weren't impressed. I did like the decor. I'd give it another shot in a few weeks.
gravy is on its way to being solid -- the service was friendly, if a little nervous. and the food has promise - the fried chicken was incredibly moist, although the mashed potatoes were a little dry. but they did an amazing job with the watermelon and feta appetizer. i think gravy will end up doing well by itself.
I wasn't too impressed with Gravy. The food was rather tasteless but considering the owner or managers are from Pacifico, it should come as no surprise. The redeeming value of the place is the nice beers they have on tap plus the backyard is nice to relax with some small plates and drinks. That's about it.
i do so love the decor at gravy. ok, so they only take cash and the atm fee is like 17.00...but hey. the spinach salad rocks the socks and the fries make me want to quit weight watchers altogether. the owners are attentive little hotties, too. the busboys are a bit aggressive in trying to snag your plates, but i'd guess they're trying to be too helpful. sunday nights they have a dj and the deck is hopping with hipsters. check it out for yourself-- it's a great vibe in there.