By guest blogger Jeanne Rostaing
For the past 17 years the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Brooklyn Borough President’s office have sponsored a friendly competition in the city's most populous borough. Brooklyn's Greenest Block Contest promotes gardening, community involvement and neighborhood pride. It's hard work judging 218 blocks in the heat of summer. We started early and when lunchtime finally rolled around we wanted a break and some delicious food. Here's a look at our trip around town:
For the first round of judging two people view every block entered. I was lucky enough to be one of the judges this year.
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| Judges Jeanne Rostaing and Sam Rio at work |
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| Garbage Can Planters |
Our job was to select approximately 20% of the blocks entered to go on to the second round of judging.
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| Colorful Plantings Add Interest |
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| A Clever Use of an Old Radiator |
The journey took us to practically every corner of this vast borough. We got to see a lot of amazing sights and meet many proud gardeners.
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| Bed-Stuy Entrants take a rest |
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| Sneaker Planters |
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| Roti House on Utica Ave. |
And everyday we got to stop where we were at lunchtime and choose a place to eat from the international bounty of Brooklyn cuisine.
Here’s a list of neighborhoods and where we ate:
In Flatbush it was Jamaican and Mexican food:
On Utica Ave. we found the ABC Guyana Trinidad Roti House, 847 Utica Ave. between Church and Linden.
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| Giant size portions at the Roti House |
It’s not big on ambiance but we didn’t care when we saw the gigantic rotis: goat for everyone except the vegetarian who had chickpeas and potato. Cheap, chewy and full of flavor. We declared them too big and then finished every last crumb.
A few days later we landed at El Ranchito Poblano, 1228 Flatbush Ave. between Newkirk and Ditmas, 718 282-0366.
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| El Ranchito Poblano Vegetable Burrito |
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| El Ranchito Poblano |
This
friendly neighborhood spot serves up some delicious classics: Super (i.e. huge)
Quesadilla con pollo, Vegetable burrito, and huarache con carnitos (chopped pork).
Lots of very tasty food for little money.
In Bedford Stuyvesant we had soul food and Italian.
is a popular neighborhood mainstay.
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| Peaches in Bed-Stuy |
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| Pulled Pork and Fries at Peaches |
The place is known for its fried chicken but we ordered barbequed pork and mac and cheese. We were served French fries although we had ordered sweet potato fries. The waiter agreed to make a change but we waited a long time for that to happen. The carnivores thought the pork a bit dry but the vegetarian loved the tangy, creamy mac and cheese.
Go here when you have lots of time. It’s crowded. Staff is cordial but things move slowly.
was a totally relaxing experience.
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| Saraghina in Bed-Stuy |
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| Dining al fresco at Saraghina |
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| Farro Salad at Saraghina |
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| Ortolana Pizza at Saraghina |
We ate in the garden beneath a grape arbor and some suspended vintage tricycles. Pizza is a specialty here and we tried the margarita and the ortolana.
The waitress recommended an unusual special, the farro salad with avocado, capers, feta, tomato and arugula. It was scrumptious and satisfying.
Ditmas Park turned out to be our most frequented lunch neighborhood.
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| Picket Fence features comfort food |
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| salmon blt and fries at Picket Fence |
The crunchy buttermilk fried chicken sandwich and the salmon BLT were crowd pleasers in a pleasant, homey atmosphere.
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| The Farm on Adderley |
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| Outdoor dining at the Farm on Adderly |
We lunched in the garden on bacon and swiss chard quiche,
portobello sandwich and asparagus soup. The menu is inventive but servers seemed overwhelmed.
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| Asparagus soup |
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| bacon and swiss chard quiche |
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| Mimi's Hummus |
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| Hummus at Mimi's |
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| A special sandwich at Mimi's |
is a small friendly place serving delicious, squeaky fresh middle eastern food. The hummus with pine nuts was garlicky and smooth.
Sandwich specials were inspired and tasty. The “Iraqi” contained potato, hard boiled egg, hummus and eggplant. The labane cheese sandwich had cauliflower, hummus and mushrooms. We were all members of the clean plate club at Mimi’s.
In Prospect Heights we ate Thai and re-visited Mexican.
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| Born Thai Restaurant in Prospect Heights |
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| Shrimp in green curry at Born |
pleased us with a $9.00 prix fixe lunch which included appetizers and a wide choice of entrees: drunken noodles with shrimp, shrimp in green curry and tofu with basil sauce and brown rice. It’s standard Thai restaurant fare but flavorful and well prepared.
Chavella’s Café Mexicano, 732 Classon Ave., 718 622-3100, on the other hand,
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| Scrumptious tamale at Chavella's |
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| Chile rellanos torta at Chavella's |
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| Chavella's in Prospect Heights |
is serving revelatory delicacies with ordinary Mexican food names. The vegetarian tamale with cheese and chiles had a moist, almost cake-like corn meal wrapper and exploded with flavor. The chile rellanos torta is huge and apparently delicious because a lot of it disappeared before the camera was focused. The peak of the meal was the flan.
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| Irresistable flan at Chavella's |
What can I say? Even Sam, who declared himself not interested in flan, was seduced by its light custardy texture and its smooth just-sweet-enough flavor. No doggie bags here.
Note: Chavella’s will be moving soon to a new location at 736 Franklin Street. Call before you go.
In brownstone Brooklyn we made 2 stops for some very different kinds of Italian food.
and serves abundant classic Italian food in a spacious, comfortable room.
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| La-Villa in Park Slope |
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| La-Villa Salad |
Service is friendly and swift. We stuffed ourselves on giant salads such as the La-Villa with mixed greens, homemade mozzarella, provolone and roasted peppers over garlic bruschetta.
Pasta La-Villa came in a basin-size bowl with pappardelle, meat sauce, mushrooms and sautéed peas. Too bad there wasn’t time for a nap before we went back to judging.
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| Pasta La-Villa |
Bocco Lupo is at 391 Henry St. (between Congress and Warren) in Cobble Hill, 718 243-2522
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| Bocco Lupo in Cobble Hill |
It’s Italian but more rustic and spare than La Villa. The lunch menu offers a selection of interesting panini’s and crostinis. We tried the goat cheese and roasted vegetable panini and the mushroom crostini with truffle cheese.
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| Goat Cheese and Veggie Panini |
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| Bocco Salad at Bocco Lupo |
Salads are fresh and unusual, like the "Bocco" with parmesan, Jerusalem artichokes and escarole and an arugula salad with walnuts and gorgonzola. There’s plenty for meat eaters here but the reverence for vegetables is notable and the dishes are delicate and full of flavor.
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| Open kitchen at Bocco Lupo |
Special thanks to my fellow judge Sam Rio (a former chef and now a gardener to restaurants); Erik Rosenberg, our driver and a parallel parking genius; Nina Browne and Robin Simmen of Greenbridge at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden who were our bosses and gave us the opportunity to see more gardens in two weeks than most people see in a lifetime. And thank you Brooklyn Community Foundation for the support.
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| Cityscape with wise thoughts |
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| Erik in "no Park Slope" |
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| Bathtubs are popular planters in Brooklyn |
