Food and Drink: February 2006 Archives

I know some will quibble with my assertion, but I truly believe that Genny is on the way in and Pabst is on the way out (no doubt helped by Pabst's current lack of a Brooklyn distributor, as I hear it). The trend-setter is Abilene at 442 Court Street, where they've replaced the erstwhile hipster go-to beer with the raging bandit from Rochester, New York ($2.50 per pint). See the similarities and decide for yourself.

Pabst
1. Tastes like shit unless it's super cold.
2. Makes you the fool of the room (aka, the guy still wearing a trucker hat) if you pay more than $3 for it.
3. Has a cool retro can.
4. Allows easy segue from conversation about the newest artist-DJ-indie rock collective to that time in college when you puked your guts out on this really hot senior.
5. In the spirit of the There's a Category for Everyone Olympics, Pabst has won taste tests, including a bronze medal in the American-Style Premium Lager division of the 2004 Great American Beer Festival.

Genesee Cream Ale
1. Tastes like shit unless it's super cold.
2. Even your grandpa would be embarassed to know you spent more than $3 on the swill.
3. Not only does its can look retro, so does its website.
4. Allows easy segue from the conversation about how your Chuck Taylors are waaaay cooler than that dude's over there to that time in college when you puked your guts out on this really hot senior.
5. You doubt? According to its own website, the brew pulled in a gold medal at the World Beer Competition in that tasty American-Style Lager category.

Let the ironically hip, I-really-want-to-convince-you-I-spent-some-time-in-a- western-Pennsylvania-steel-town beer wars begin. (And I can say this because indeed I have spent some time in just such a small w-PA town.)

Cheers and may the best cheap beer win!

In all this talk of warm, fuzzy neighborhood restaurants, turns out I missed one of the nicest: Caserta Vecchia at 221 Smith between Baltic and Butler streets. I'd never walked in because it looked too much like a restaurant my grandmother would like. And while I like both of my grandmothers, our taste in where to go out to eat doesn't always line up. I was wrong in skipping Caserta, but I was right about one thing: My grandmother would have liked it--and it just might have been her friend flipping the dough in the back. According to the take-out menu, Grandma Maddalena was one of the first female pizza makers in New York, and they've got a great photo of her tossing a large pie into the air.

And about those pies. The emerge from a brick oven with a thin chewy crust. In comparison to Grimaldi's or Totonno's the crust is thicker and doughier, and while I missed that first familiar crackle, a slightly thicker crust holds up better in the long haul, and I think it'd also be robust enough to make an excellent delivery pie.

In old-school Brooklyn pie form, ingredients judiciously top the 12-inch personal-sized pizzas, but the quality shines through in each bite. We sampled the classic margherita and the arrabbiata, topped with mozzarella, tomato sauce, sausage, peppers and pecorino. The rich, creamy fior di latte, or  "flower of the milk," mozzarella on both pies certainly pushed the meal into simple pleasures territory--a reminder that something done right with quality ingredients doesn't need to turn somersaults on your plate, it simply needs to taste like that Platonic ideal we all carry around in our heads.

Though the margherita was solid, I preferred the arrabbiata for its variety of tender spicy sausage and roasted peppers. And I'll be back to sample more  of their varieties (18 in all). Right now the profumata (fior di latte, roasted garlic, onions and Gorgonzola) and the campagnola (fior di latte, cherry tomatoes, proscuitto di Parma, arugula and shaved parmigiano) are looking nice. That said, most of the people in the restaurant were ordering off the full Italian menu, and their food didn't look or smell too shabby (when an appetizer of steaming mussels whizzed by, I had to smack Dennis' hand back in his lap).

Best of all, Caserta Vecchia delivers to the southern side of Carroll Gardens and are nothing but neighborly on the phone and in person. And while I wouldn't call the service flawless, it was certainly loving, which is--after all--what I've been looking for in the first place.

For more great Brooklyn pizza, try Slice.

First, a follow-up on Dragon Lounge, the new bar on Atlantic that’s been rumored to be a gay bar. I checked it out Saturday night, with a crew of seven – three straight women, three gay men (myself included) and one token straight guy (you know, to keep it Brooklyn Heights real). The verdict: Cute space, same owners as Soju I believe (or at least he was sitting at the bar), and they left the nifty dragon mural up. The drink menu even had a few Soju leftovers, like the Sojito, a sake mojito that I remember liking quite a bit. The clientele: mostly gay men who walked in with wide-eyed disbelief that they were a bar in Brooklyn Heights without a frat boy in sight (OK, at least none who would admit it). Of course, there was the requisite hunky bartender with perfect hair and a quite nice house DJ who played, among other things, a thumping “Careless Whisper” instrumental. Only complaint, the bartender was a bit on the chilly side. I don’t know if they made assumptions about our group, but, if so, they’re going to have to lighten up a bit. After all, frat boys have feelings, too.

And now for something completely different: Brand Nubian is at Southpaw Friday night. Here’s a hip-hop act I’ve always respected, but never quite been able to love, mostly because they talk a lot of  “faggot” garbage. Fortunately, they’re joined by DJ Premier, who’s pretty much just the best hip-hop DJ ever. You’ve definitely heard his tracks—they’ve spiffed up everyone from Gangstarr, his own crew, to Jay-Z to Sinead O’Connor. Amazing stuff, futuristic and history-encompassing all at once. Rounding out the bill are a few other rappers, including current mixtape king Papoose, who gets points just for trying to sound hard with a name like that.

Updated: The Man in Black birthday tribute is at Southpaw on Sunday night. Performers include Lindy Loo, Alex Battles and the Brooklyn Two, Blue State Band and others. This could be the perfect corrective for anyone who's sat through the current Broadway atrocity, “Ring of Fire,” which plays like a cross between the “Muppet Show” and “Hee Haw,” only without the cute puppets or hee-larious cornfield jokes.

My apologies for the photo. I actually took a much clearer one, but this one appealed to me--kinda makes the place look haunted!

As I'm sure many neighborhoodies have noticed, Dunkin' Donuts has not set out to invade Carroll Gardens alone. Knowing the terrain would be difficult, the Double D enlisted the help of his good friend and often shop mate Baskin-Robbins. It goes without saying that there is some great homemade gelato in this neighborhood, and I sincerely hope those businesses don't suffer. My optimistic belief, given the love the neighborhood has for its local, family-run businesses, is that most Brooklynites will continue to patronize their old favorites (or, who knows, maybe some entrepreneurial spirit will open up an independent coffeehouse/ice cream stand nearby).

This brings me to a potentially heated debate, What is it about Dunkin' Donuts coffee that causes some people to love it so ferociously? I have friends and acquaintances who swear it is the best coffee in the world (no, they do not live in the neighborhood). Now, I've had a lot of fabulous coffee in my day, and I am happy to assure anyone who asks, it does not taste like DD's coffee. I'm betting it's all the sugar and half-and-half they pour in for you. Are there any DD lovers out there who care to explain the phenomenon.

And don't miss the NYDailyNews article about how the owner of our neighborhood's DD wants to blanket the area with the chain. He used to live in Carroll Gardens, but I'd like to think his Staten Island residence cancels out his neighborhood cred. I'm just guessing here, but who thinks that Mr. Ungaro might have gotten his franchise start-up costs from the sale of his family's brownstone? I suppose that turn-about would be fair play.

Brownstoner's two cents.

ABrooklynLife had dinner last night at Aroma in the East Village (menu here), and was struck by the intimacy the owners develop and maintain with their patrons. At first, it seemed that owners Alexandra Degiorgio and Vito Polosa simply had a lot of repeat customers and knew how to treat them well, and in many senses this is true. But towards the end of our superb meal, a couple sat down who had obviously not eaten at the restaurant before. Within minutes of their arrival, both owners and the waitress had been over to the table to talk about the menu, the wine list, the space itself; and by the end of the late-night meal, everyone was chatting like old friends. While we ate, at least 15 people walked by the outside of the restaurant and simply sent a friendly wave to those inside. The neighborhoodiness of this restaurant--clearly influenced by Vito and Alexandra--was so overwhelmingly warm and inviting that you have to wish this inventive Italian restaurant masquerading as a wine bar the best of luck and add it to your list of places in the E. Village to visit more often. But it got me thinking, Are there any restaurants in Brooklyn--specifically the Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill triangle--that have this kind of vibe, one so heavily influenced by such fiercely passionate owners?