Va Beh' 446 dean st

articoke and shaved parm

perfect pasta with pachetta

gnocchi

Andres from Milan-slope

torrone home made and gone

burnt wine..kind of mulled,,kind of grand

Anna said to go... so we went to 446 Dean Street ...across from the new mammoth JZ Netsidium...love i or hate the stadium  ,Va beh has an exterior windowed wall that can rise in the summer to the world of downtown bklyn and it has created an almost mythical Milan like cafe island blocks from where cousin Brucie and Alan freed held rock and roll shows with Wilson picket and Jackie Wilson... and just  a few miles from Wilson ave named as such when world war one  undermined Hamburg ave as a suitable name. This Va beh ' is different in a wonderful way. It is Andre's passion and drive and ingredients so fresh and pure that you will want to taste it all. Small and comfortable. Warm and enchanting. Nuts and a nutcracker like so many Bklyn living rooms and bruchetta and panchetta and burnt wine..gnocchi and no mularchy...olives and a bread with all the crack and crackle but none of the rigid tooth threat..with a soft chewy doughy greatness. This place is small not quaint and the people who welcome you do so with the generosity you know if you have been to Venice or Milan or Urbino and you luck upon a place where pleasing new friends rose to a life purpose. Location ,location, .....care and talent and food and wine and community.

Via Quadronno 25e 73st near Madison

Is it possible to provide a warm environment with excellent service and still make people feel like outsiders?

kind of egg drop soup

risotto

This cozy Milanese place offers good food and just that conundrum. Go anyway if your meeting is also on 72nd street. Wear Gucci shoes and eat the risotto.

CORVO, son of Al di la

lasagna

chickpea snack

Malfatti here too...fried chick peas are new...lasagna is  tasty and the Veltliner is perfect. Arrive early to avoid rejection but do arrive to taste the offspring of a great eatery.

Hecho en Dumbo...not in Dumbo...better than ever

Picaditas de crab

The small soft tortillas and the guacamole boosted the fine margarita and set the stage for cabbage slaw( ensalada de col) and a cheesy Fundido raja with peppers onions and Oaxaca cheese. The dungeness crab sat on masa corn cakes (picaditas de jaiba). Some say the portions are small... not really: they are rich and filling.

Fundido Rajas

Ensalada de Col

354 Bowery

IL BUCO Alimentary and Vineria

There are some Saturdays that a movie like Hugo and shopping and wandering can make almost perfect....and that become perfect when you step through an Italian Murano looking glass and are transported to an Italian wonderland of food and style. Here a glass of wine and fried artichokes and a risotto so lite it floats and ricotta so soft and herb scented that it glides and hovers in your mouth. Magical. Oh I can't even think about dinner...maybe Mexican?

Risotto

ricotta

PICCOLI...What a week end!

After La Traviata at BAM by the City Opera (omg i am becoming more than just a willing husband...I was practically a fan ...this opera should teach us fathers to butt out)...and later the ericwatches became eric eats. Late Saturday night(1030pm) we found another new terrific Italian restaurant in Brooklyn discovered this weekend(see Hopeland below).
This Trattoria has some Argentine influences (Torontes wine is one clue) and is located on an emerging strip of 6av (#522) near 14st. Don't miss the arcobaleno salad with grilled corn, peppers and avocado or the torta di olio with creme anglaise and orange (zest?).
escarole with cranberies(contori) but also don't miss the scallops when they have them or the cauliflower risotto (1 of 7 risottos). Chef Rodas is very present and the others who lead and serve here will make you feel at ease in a way that should draw you here from afar...from Mendosa,Argentina or Salerno Italia or Bandon, Oregon, but if you live between 3st and 18st in bklyn between ppw and 4av, they deliver.....

escarole

scallops in chickpea puree

Risotto

arcoboleno

TORTA

BUT go there if you can because it will feel like a family dining room wall hangings and all and you wont have to clean up after or invite the neighbors because Piccoli will do all that for you.

HOPELAND for some positivity

If you name your restaurant Hopeland, you must offer an optimist affirmation and a pessimist salvation ...
and that's what Roy Marino and his charming partner Pietro Costa do here in this glowing ,leather flowing,

lemon and parmesan

clams and muscles

ROY STANDING and diner struggling over so many tempting choices

                                                                 

cauliflower and mushroom and artichoke croquettes

haven with kind genuine servers and food that is familiar and yet unique. Roy is a friend who called his last restaurant Broken English ,so you know he has a sense of humor, but here we learn about his sense of style.  Even the tin bread bowl and the herbed olive oil and the light fixtures and the charming simplicity of the pasta dishes. The croquettes were fabulous . I will go here often and not just to say hi to Roy...but to explore the menu and in the Spring to sip Fallanghina in the garden. Ask if David can serve you and say you learned about Hopeland from Ericeats because I would like Roy to know that I am not the only one that reads this blog.