I thought everything was very good.
The steamed fish did seem under-seasoned because all the sauce was underneath and not really able to stick to the fish (fixed by pouring over rice).
The lobster and the vegetables were particularly good, and the soft shell crabs were very nicely done as before, as were the e-fu noodles (which I should really make at home one of these days).
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Larina, Ft Greene, Brooklyn. The place has been on my radar for a while, but not the neighborhood. We go to Ft Greene approx every 10 years, but that will change (tho still cant reserve Theodora). The verdict: Some of the best Italian I’ve ever had in Brooklyn, and I’ve had some good ones.
Prosciutto di Parma with Mozzarella di Bufala - Your typical Prosciutto (I prefer San Daniele). Mozzarella a little less successful
Octopus - Not sure it can be cooked any better. Great favor and texture, nice complimentary sauce made with uncooked tomatoes among other goodies.
Intingolo - Like a thick Hummus made with green chickpeas, shishitos and pumpkin seeds. Goes well with their excellent bread basket (first one free). One in our group had a Ratatouille moment remembering her grandma making this as a child. She dropped her makeup kit while tasting.
Rapa Gialla Yellow beets, peaches covered with smoked stringy stracchino. Good tho boring after a few bites. More of a side dish.
Smoked spaghetti - Simple ingredients, sensational flavors. She smokes the spaghetti before cooking. Works really well. The only thing is it gets cold quickly, so mangia mangia
Lasagna - Very good, very saucy and cheesy but retains the texture. Made with spinach pasta sheets
Agnolotti del Plin - This is it. The reason to come. Better than anything we had in NYC (including at Claud) and even some places in Piedmont. Braised beef and chicken filling, sage, and butter mixed with the meat jus. In Piedmont many places even the notable add only butter, some a lot of it. But the jus adds some oomph, as we learned in Turin. I thought I found a good version in San Carlo in West Village a few weeks ago, but this blew it away.
Steak - Expertly cooked.
Tried just about all the desserts and they were all great. Usually I can pick a winner but not in this case. Proper Tiramisu, Panna Cotta
We sat in a nice corner in the back (6 ppl). When we left we noticed a packed house, a full backyard and more in the front sidewalk. Italian spoken more than English including people waiting outside. Turned out the Italian waiter and I have a mutual acquaintance, the owner of the great Il Centro in Priocca.
Excellent review, small_h, by which I mean I agree with it, of course.
My only amendment would be to note that the e-fu noodles were still tremendous, even if a little shy on the mushrooms. That great wok smokiness.
Agreed. I love e-fu noodles, generally.
Wow, so many triumphs in one meal. I am calculating how to get myself up there.
what is the panna cotta topped with?
Berry compote, vermouth and almonds. I think I read somewhere Silvia, the chef/partner, was a pastry chef somewhere in Italy, in addition to a very impressive resume. Two Michelin in Verona, Top Chef contestant…
A couple of quick hits on places Toni and I have eaten so far.
La Ñapa, on Nostrand in Crown Heights, is a Venezuelan/pan-Latin place. We had a very solid meal there last year and again this year. It’s not a destination restaurant, but it is an excellent neighborhood place. The highlight of the meal was the brisket arepitas. The mushroom and spinach dish was also done right, as was the carne mechada empanadas. The fish tacos were bland and skippable.
La Ñapa is a good option if you happen to be in Crown Heights.
Cafe Mado, a fancy-ish New American restaurant in Prospect Heights, was favorably reviewed by Melissa Clark in the Times and it made the Times’ most recent 100 Best list. Unfortunately, we had a meal that was a little disappointing. There were four dishes that were excellent – fries with herbs provence, an Ojibwe wild rice dish with summer squash, a baguette with great butter, and (especially) charred broccolini with tonnato.
But our main dish, described on the menu as “grilled beef, habenero, daylily,” was boring and badly overcooked. I forgot to specify how we wanted it cooked and the server did not ask, but it came out at least medium well. I asked what the cut was and the (very friendly and careful) server seemed surprised, but after a minute said it was a “chuck strip.” It was chewy, almost gray, and any habanero and daylily overtones were not noticeable – it just tasted like a pile of pickles on the side with a sauce that tasted vaguely red.
Not what we expected in a restaurant with such high critical praise.
Not sure what daylily is but the little pile of greens look like purslane. Grows all over my yard at the beach. Has a citrusy flavors.
No clue about purslane, since I don’t know that I’ve ever eaten that. Maybe, but it wasn’t identified on the menu. I don’t remember it being citrusy though.
Zoom in on the pile of greens. Those oblong orange-ish things are daylily buds.
Grows all over the place. I occasionally see it in restaurants. The link below has more info. I will pull some out that grows between some other plants we have in the garden and add it to salads.
Interesting. A salad of daylily buds and purslane. Never seen anything like that before.
Me neither, but I cook with them when I can.
Wow, seems like the purslane should have been listed on the menu. But it sounds more memorable than this dish was.
yeah, thats purslane in your garnish, Id say its tart (which lines up a bit with pickles) but not exactly lemony. Used quite a bit in salads in E mediterranean and cooked in latin america (verdolagas) and has plenty of omega-3s. I havent fallen in love with it yet. or run into it in a resto so far
Not much use to you New Yorkers, but here’s what the mothership of Formaggio Kitchen had to offer today in Cambridge:
$14.95 a pound!!! I literally pull it out of my garden by the fistful when I am weeding. Maybe I should sell it.
What? I’ve bought it in the Union Square Greenmarket…not this year, though, for about $3 for a huge bunch. It’s a weed…Mexicans use it a lot in cooking: “verdolaga.”
Big lunch! Six of us went out to Randazzo’s in Sheepshead Bay, an old skool red sauce & seafood place. First time visit for @FlemSnopes, and the first time in decades for me and @SteveR. I think @DaveCook has been more recently.
We had a lot of seafood and red sauce. To whit:
Excellent clams. Maybe some of the best clams I’ve ever had, and I’ve had a lot of clams. Large but not tough, delicately briny, just perfect.
Mussels in sauce, fried calamari with (not very) hot sauce, scungili with medium sauce.
Steamed clams. It’s no accident this is a clam bar. The clams are definitely the way to go.
Linguine with oil and an impressive amount of garlic, which surprisingly needed salt.
It’s great that places like this are still around.
I agree. Sorry I don’t ever take pictures, but I’ll add that the one fried soft shell crab on a bun was large and very tasty. Didn’t eat the bun. The fried zucchini was plentiful and greaselessly fried as well. I had a cup of lobster bisque that was bland and forgettable, although I think I got my annual allotment of cream in that cup.
I lived in that area of Brooklyn (well, Midwood - close enough) and frequented the 3 or 4 Randazzo’s that used to be on that block whenever we snuck off to Manhattan Beach, cutting H.School, in the late '60s. Haven’t been back more than 2-3 times since returning to Bklyn in '81, although many visits to Lundy’s (one block over) were made until it closed. Going back today, I expected little from the food and was very pleasantly surprised. Sorry I haven’t gone more and might correct that going forward.
Have you tried the new Lundy’s in Red Hook? I think I’ve been to Sheepshead Bay once in my life. It’s seems too far and I usually get my fill of seafood at our beach place. But Red Hook isn’t that far to go for me.
