well not really into posting but need to get going
being in the wine/food industry i felt that i should be out supporting restaurants in my area in this downturn
note: we dont eat meat, birds are my new favorite food though, linda fish only so we cant report complete and we only ate at each place once...
Smith St, USA
Grocery--nice food no tingle, need to try again
Saul--too heavy just ok, not going back anytime soon
Patois--we had a great dish here (old friend / ex chef of Nosmo King long ago) of trout served over mashed potatoes in a soup plate with a broth added containing corn and yelow beets, must return
Uncle Pho--we had one yummy and one super yummy here (the Jims Special Tuna!!!), hope they deliver
Banania--great brunch, ok dinner
Ytournel--my chicken as ok, Bill liked his cod gratinee very well, Linda's mussels were week, but we really like this place for the feel, try again soon
Smith St Kitchen--everything purrfect so far, yes its a mostly a seafood joint so its up our alley, we need to try more main courses to fully bless it, cant wait:>)
Not tasted:Cafe LULUc (owners of Banania), Bar Takac,
Ferninando's Foccaceria (open since 1904) which close's at 6pm, The Red Rose......
Ferninando's Foccaceria (open since 1904) which close's at 6pm.....we went over today and ate the special sandwich / AWESOME / chick pea fritter sandwich with ricotta--gotta a lot of food to go, delish clams and they have special bread...cold calamari salad with oil lemon and celery, chicken garlic with rabe and portabello's....need to do linguili vongole (sp?) next time...i am digging living in an italian hood:>)
pls post the adddress
My family and I eat at the Red Rose Restaurant every weekend it is now celebrating 20 years in business, we travel from S.I., it is not a very fancy place but the food is fantastic. It is a real down home type of place. You are always treated by family from the owners of the restaurant. One night white having dinner it was the owners birthday and everyone was given a piece of cake. Love this place
what do you eat there??
MB a spleen special??
with horse cheese??
Ferdinando's Focacceria Ristorante (151 Union Street, Brooklyn; 718-855-1545)
Most of us think we know what focaccia is. But when we step into Ferdinando's Focacceria, the homey, nearly century-old Sicilian café on a preserved-in-time strip of Union Street in Carroll Gardens, we find no trace of the customary square of seasoned pizza bread. A focacceria, says Sicilian-born chef-owner Francesco Buffa in a catchy, singsongy accent, is where you'll find "any sandwich you make with bread, a hot, round shape." The name focacceria, in this sense, may come from the Palermitan street-food snack sometimes called focaccia but more commonly known as vastedda or guastedde, which is a soft, round bun filled with calf's spleen and cheese (sometimes caciocavallo, or "horse cheese"). It's no surprise that vastedda in any dialect or by any name -- including "spleen sandwich with horse cheese!" -- is an acquired taste. "You gotta fell in love with disa kinda taste," says Buffa, and unless you look like you spend a lot of time in the park playing boccie, the restaurant's well-intentioned waitresses will steer you away from the organ meat on a bun. Panelle -- deliciously nutty deep-fried chickpea-flour fritters -- are another story. Buffa serves his traditional "panelle special" ($3.50) slathered with fresh, buttery ricotta and salty pecorino romano shavings on an excellent, toasty house-baked semolina roll. Comfort-food libertines and carbo-loaders request the works, the "panelle and potato special" ($4), which adds a couple of mind-bendingly tasty potato croquettes to the mix, a combination more satisfying than any other in the sandwich world. "Anybody try the panelle or the potato, they gonna come back for sure, that's 99 and 3/4 percent," says Buffa. The killjoy quarter of a percent who abstain must be die-hard Zone Dieters.
Foccaceria on 1st Ave between 7th St and St. Marks makes a killer Vesteddi sandwich. With spleen or without. $2.50
They also do a very tender cold octopus and celery salad $9.75
One of my favs is the "pizza" - Foccacia covered in a sauce of carmalized onion, tomato, anchovy and bread crumbs $2.50
The rice balls are nice, filled with a little ground meat and peas and served with marinara sauce $2.50
Too bad there aren't more places like these around :o(
Another noteworthy tidbit. Next time you go to Ferdinando's or Focacceria and ask for a vastedda, the sandwich without meat is ordered by Sicilians as "schietta" (single-not married) -or- with meat as "maritatta" (married). I think it's a sexual 'inuendo' (no pun intended).
Order it this way and watch the owner's eyes light up being in the presence of one of the cognescenti of vasteddi.
when i was a kid,focacceria was on first avenue between 11 and 12 streets.vasteddi were 10 cents.there was a back room and i ate trippa bianca there.later on price went to 25c for vasteddi.10 cents price was about 1935and i lived on e 13st bewteen a and first.good old days.
They were still up on that location when I first started eating there. I think they moved to 7th/St. Marks in about 1984 or 85?
I miss that place. Was just talking about it yesterday.
Caciocavallo is not "horse cheese", did anyone ever try to milk a mare? It's made of cow's milk and is called so because the shape of the cheese is a ball with a knot at the top. The two knots are then tied together (like horse saddle bags) so they can be hung to dry.
(like horse saddle bags) right!
As a Smith St. resident of a few years, I feel the right to both complain of and laud the recent developments. For example, Halycon has excellent coffee and scones but this benefit is slightly outweighed by the BEATS coming through my ceiling at 1 am. Nevertheless, here are my votes:
Banania--Yes, go there for brunch. They will bring you a basket of bread and croissants while you decide what to eat and fight over the chocolate one. Dinner is almost but not quite dazzling enough for the cost. And the waiters are not as cute as they think they are, by the way. Try their sibling:
Cafe LuLuc--My new favorite place. Good, reasonably priced bistro food, in a mellow atmosphere. Sea Bass and Steak & frites are favorites. Pork and fontina sandwich is also no slouch.
Zaytoon's--good for a cheap MiddleEastern meal but not nearly as good as Bedouin Tent on Atlantic, which is not too far of a walk unless it's freezing outside. Merguez that is juicy! lentils and carmelized onions with chewy bulgar instead of rice, and an inspiring chickpea and spinach salad.
Patois--charming dining. Amazing lamb.
Robin du bois--what is going on here? It was an antique store for a while, now a hoppin' cafe/bistro? Prices on the board outside seem ridiculous. Someone fill me in.
Sur--Good steak but I feel burned by a recent brunch experience in which my huevos rancheros were served on flour torillas instead of corn. Soggy. All wrong.
Speaking of Mexican breakfast, I recommend the Red Rail--which was the diner in the movie "Moonstruck," not to be held against it even though they feature a "Moonstruck burger" on the dinner menu. At the corner of Sackett and Henry. A $10 prix fix weekend brunch includes unlimited coffee and mimosas (!). I love the chilequilles (sp?)--which is like a migas egg dish but with green chiles and chorizo. I also love the Joni Mitchell and the children's drawings. It's that kind of place. The waitresses here are even cuter than they think they are. (Run by Alan Harding, of Patois and Uncle Pho.)
Uncle Pho--Stir fried duck for dinner. Vietanmese pork sandwiches for brunch. Late night, it empties out and becomes a great neighborhood bar. Good seasonal beers on tap.
Grocery, Smith Street Kitchen, all the Japanese joints: I don't really like much seafood. Sorry.
Paninoteca 201--I thought I would hate this place but was seduced one late summer brunch by a silver pitcher of sugar syrup served with my iced coffee. How brilliant--no frantic stirring to make the crystals dissolve! They seem to have it all--wine, coffee, beer on tap, vintage pictures of naked ladies under the countertop, and great sandwiches.
The Crepe Factory--I am a shameless Francophile and I don't eat there. A good friend calls it "the crap factory." Enough said. A pity, though, for such a good idea to go wrong. I have been polling recent construction sites on Smith St. and and half of them are destined to be Chinese restaurants. Doesn't anyone in New York know how to make decent Mexican food? This is my major complaint as a displaced Texan. Although Buddy's (Court St. at Butler) will set you up with a good California burrito/taco, I still am looking for proper enchiladas verdes. Mole? Posole? Help me if you can.
Faan--I have no idea. I have been too annoyed by the cell-phone crowd on the patio to ever go there.
Joya (Court St.)--Related vaguely to Planet Thai in Williamsburg. Great for take out. The cement acousitcs inside stifle me. The patio looks lovely, but I've never eaten there. Pork with green beans. Spicy noodles. Coconut curry anything. You know what I mean. The papaya salad has too much fish sauce, but that's probably just me being picky and not liking fish sauce.
The meat in the vastedda is cow's spleen not calf's.
On my recent trip to NYC I was sorry to discover that Foccaceria on 1st ave between St. Mark's and 7th st. is gone.
I must have eaten a thousand meals there between 82 and 02
i was thinking of the old school pizza place on 1st between st marks and 9th st. on the west side of the block. thats not what your talking about though. never mind.
|
being in the wine/food industry i felt that i should be out supporting restaurants in my area in this downturn
note: we dont eat meat, birds are my new favorite food though, linda fish only so we cant report complete and we only ate at each place once...
Smith St, USA
Grocery--nice food no tingle, need to try again
Saul--too heavy just ok, not going back anytime soon
Patois--we had a great dish here (old friend / ex chef of Nosmo King long ago) of trout served over mashed potatoes in a soup plate with a broth added containing corn and yelow beets, must return
Uncle Pho--we had one yummy and one super yummy here (the Jims Special Tuna!!!), hope they deliver
Banania--great brunch, ok dinner
Ytournel--my chicken as ok, Bill liked his cod gratinee very well, Linda's mussels were week, but we really like this place for the feel, try again soon
Smith St Kitchen--everything purrfect so far, yes its a mostly a seafood joint so its up our alley, we need to try more main courses to fully bless it, cant wait:>)
Not tasted:Cafe LULUc (owners of Banania), Bar Takac, Ferninando's Foccaceria (open since 1904) which close's at 6pm, The Red Rose......
- Skinny 9-25-2001 3:44 am
Ferninando's Foccaceria (open since 1904) which close's at 6pm.....we went over today and ate the special sandwich / AWESOME / chick pea fritter sandwich with ricotta--gotta a lot of food to go, delish clams and they have special bread...cold calamari salad with oil lemon and celery, chicken garlic with rabe and portabello's....need to do linguili vongole (sp?) next time...i am digging living in an italian hood:>)
- Skinny 10-03-2001 11:43 pm [add a comment]
pls post the adddress
- bill 10-04-2001 3:10 am [add a comment]
151 Union
Red Hook
- Skinny 10-04-2001 3:12 am [add a comment]
My family and I eat at the Red Rose Restaurant every weekend it is now celebrating 20 years in business, we travel from S.I., it is not a very fancy place but the food is fantastic. It is a real down home type of place. You are always treated by family from the owners of the restaurant. One night white having dinner it was the owners birthday and everyone was given a piece of cake. Love this place
- anonymous (guest) 9-25-2003 7:58 pm [add a comment] [edit]
what do you eat there??
- Skinny 9-26-2003 6:34 am [add a comment]
MB a spleen special??
- Skinny 10-04-2001 12:20 am [add a comment]
with horse cheese??
Ferdinando's Focacceria Ristorante (151 Union Street, Brooklyn; 718-855-1545)
Most of us think we know what focaccia is. But when we step into Ferdinando's Focacceria, the homey, nearly century-old Sicilian café on a preserved-in-time strip of Union Street in Carroll Gardens, we find no trace of the customary square of seasoned pizza bread. A focacceria, says Sicilian-born chef-owner Francesco Buffa in a catchy, singsongy accent, is where you'll find "any sandwich you make with bread, a hot, round shape." The name focacceria, in this sense, may come from the Palermitan street-food snack sometimes called focaccia but more commonly known as vastedda or guastedde, which is a soft, round bun filled with calf's spleen and cheese (sometimes caciocavallo, or "horse cheese"). It's no surprise that vastedda in any dialect or by any name -- including "spleen sandwich with horse cheese!" -- is an acquired taste. "You gotta fell in love with disa kinda taste," says Buffa, and unless you look like you spend a lot of time in the park playing boccie, the restaurant's well-intentioned waitresses will steer you away from the organ meat on a bun. Panelle -- deliciously nutty deep-fried chickpea-flour fritters -- are another story. Buffa serves his traditional "panelle special" ($3.50) slathered with fresh, buttery ricotta and salty pecorino romano shavings on an excellent, toasty house-baked semolina roll. Comfort-food libertines and carbo-loaders request the works, the "panelle and potato special" ($4), which adds a couple of mind-bendingly tasty potato croquettes to the mix, a combination more satisfying than any other in the sandwich world. "Anybody try the panelle or the potato, they gonna come back for sure, that's 99 and 3/4 percent," says Buffa. The killjoy quarter of a percent who abstain must be die-hard Zone Dieters.
- Skinny 10-04-2001 3:24 am [add a comment]
Foccaceria on 1st Ave between 7th St and St. Marks makes a killer Vesteddi sandwich. With spleen or without. $2.50
They also do a very tender cold octopus and celery salad $9.75
One of my favs is the "pizza" - Foccacia covered in a sauce of carmalized onion, tomato, anchovy and bread crumbs $2.50
The rice balls are nice, filled with a little ground meat and peas and served with marinara sauce $2.50
Too bad there aren't more places like these around :o(
- steve 10-04-2001 4:01 am [add a comment]
Another noteworthy tidbit. Next time you go to Ferdinando's or Focacceria and ask for a vastedda, the sandwich without meat is ordered by Sicilians as "schietta" (single-not married) -or- with meat as "maritatta" (married). I think it's a sexual 'inuendo' (no pun intended).
Order it this way and watch the owner's eyes light up being in the presence of one of the cognescenti of vasteddi.
- Vincenzo (guest) 4-13-2005 5:23 am [add a comment] [edit]
when i was a kid,focacceria was on first avenue between 11 and 12 streets.vasteddi were 10 cents.there was a back room and i ate trippa bianca there.later on price went to 25c for vasteddi.10 cents price was about 1935and i lived on e 13st bewteen a and first.good old days.
- nick (guest) 6-12-2013 9:27 pm [add a comment] [edit]
They were still up on that location when I first started eating there. I think they moved to 7th/St. Marks in about 1984 or 85? I miss that place. Was just talking about it yesterday.
- steve 6-13-2013 2:16 am [add a comment]
Caciocavallo is not "horse cheese", did anyone ever try to milk a mare? It's made of cow's milk and is called so because the shape of the cheese is a ball with a knot at the top. The two knots are then tied together (like horse saddle bags) so they can be hung to dry.
- Vincenzo (guest) 4-13-2005 5:18 am [add a comment] [edit]
(like horse saddle bags) right!
- bill 11-17-2007 9:59 am [add a comment]
As a Smith St. resident of a few years, I feel the right to both complain of and laud the recent developments. For example, Halycon has excellent coffee and scones but this benefit is slightly outweighed by the BEATS coming through my ceiling at 1 am. Nevertheless, here are my votes: Banania--Yes, go there for brunch. They will bring you a basket of bread and croissants while you decide what to eat and fight over the chocolate one. Dinner is almost but not quite dazzling enough for the cost. And the waiters are not as cute as they think they are, by the way. Try their sibling: Cafe LuLuc--My new favorite place. Good, reasonably priced bistro food, in a mellow atmosphere. Sea Bass and Steak & frites are favorites. Pork and fontina sandwich is also no slouch. Zaytoon's--good for a cheap MiddleEastern meal but not nearly as good as Bedouin Tent on Atlantic, which is not too far of a walk unless it's freezing outside. Merguez that is juicy! lentils and carmelized onions with chewy bulgar instead of rice, and an inspiring chickpea and spinach salad. Patois--charming dining. Amazing lamb. Robin du bois--what is going on here? It was an antique store for a while, now a hoppin' cafe/bistro? Prices on the board outside seem ridiculous. Someone fill me in. Sur--Good steak but I feel burned by a recent brunch experience in which my huevos rancheros were served on flour torillas instead of corn. Soggy. All wrong. Speaking of Mexican breakfast, I recommend the Red Rail--which was the diner in the movie "Moonstruck," not to be held against it even though they feature a "Moonstruck burger" on the dinner menu. At the corner of Sackett and Henry. A $10 prix fix weekend brunch includes unlimited coffee and mimosas (!). I love the chilequilles (sp?)--which is like a migas egg dish but with green chiles and chorizo. I also love the Joni Mitchell and the children's drawings. It's that kind of place. The waitresses here are even cuter than they think they are. (Run by Alan Harding, of Patois and Uncle Pho.) Uncle Pho--Stir fried duck for dinner. Vietanmese pork sandwiches for brunch. Late night, it empties out and becomes a great neighborhood bar. Good seasonal beers on tap. Grocery, Smith Street Kitchen, all the Japanese joints: I don't really like much seafood. Sorry. Paninoteca 201--I thought I would hate this place but was seduced one late summer brunch by a silver pitcher of sugar syrup served with my iced coffee. How brilliant--no frantic stirring to make the crystals dissolve! They seem to have it all--wine, coffee, beer on tap, vintage pictures of naked ladies under the countertop, and great sandwiches. The Crepe Factory--I am a shameless Francophile and I don't eat there. A good friend calls it "the crap factory." Enough said. A pity, though, for such a good idea to go wrong. I have been polling recent construction sites on Smith St. and and half of them are destined to be Chinese restaurants. Doesn't anyone in New York know how to make decent Mexican food? This is my major complaint as a displaced Texan. Although Buddy's (Court St. at Butler) will set you up with a good California burrito/taco, I still am looking for proper enchiladas verdes. Mole? Posole? Help me if you can. Faan--I have no idea. I have been too annoyed by the cell-phone crowd on the patio to ever go there. Joya (Court St.)--Related vaguely to Planet Thai in Williamsburg. Great for take out. The cement acousitcs inside stifle me. The patio looks lovely, but I've never eaten there. Pork with green beans. Spicy noodles. Coconut curry anything. You know what I mean. The papaya salad has too much fish sauce, but that's probably just me being picky and not liking fish sauce.
- Brooklyn, NY (guest) 12-11-2001 7:11 am [add a comment]
its expensive and i have not tasted but i want to eat at Maya 1191 First Ave 64/65th...??...now theres one in SF
- Skinny 12-11-2001 5:50 pm [add a comment]
Thanks for the tip--I will definitely put it on my list.
- Brooklyn, NY 12-11-2001 11:38 pm [add a comment]
The meat in the vastedda is cow's spleen not calf's.
- anonymous (guest) 10-10-2005 5:45 pm [add a comment]
On my recent trip to NYC I was sorry to discover that Foccaceria on 1st ave between St. Mark's and 7th st. is gone.
I must have eaten a thousand meals there between 82 and 02
- steve 10-10-2005 8:51 pm [add a comment]
i was thinking of the old school pizza place on 1st between st marks and 9th st. on the west side of the block. thats not what your talking about though. never mind.
- bill 10-10-2005 11:33 pm [add a comment]
huh?
- steve 10-11-2005 3:23 am [add a comment]