Brooklyn-bound diners

I've been branching out into my second favorite borough these last two weekends: Brooklyn.

I bet you didn't know that I used to live in Brooklyn. Yes, we lived on Shore Road in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn from 1980 - 1982. In the 1950's, Bay Ridge was known to many as "Little Oslo" due to its large population of Norwegian immigrants and it's where my dad moved with his parents when they immigrated from Norway in 1948. Not quite the case today, but my dad and his dwindling gang of Norwegian friends still call Bay Ridge home, as do many Chinese immigrants and people whose last name may as well be "Soprano." Let me know if you ever need a restaurant recommendation in Bay Ridge since I eat out there pretty regularly.

Last Saturday, Judd and I met our friends Kate and Eoghan for a lovely dinner at Saul, a smart French bistro on Smith Street in Cobble Hill. Despite its off-the-beaten-track location, Saul was one of only three restaurants in Brooklyn to earn a prestigious Michelin star in the 2009 Michelin Guide to New York City restaurants and hotels, and was also favorably reviewed in the New York Times last fall.

Kate and I both started our meals with a warm asparagus salad with a soft boiled egg, brioche crouton, and pantaleo cheese. My egg was under-seasoned and there wasn't much asparagus in the salad, but it was quite tasty nevertheless. The barely cooked egg, asparagus, and hard cheese combination is always a winner. Judd splurged on seared foie gras with rhubarb, toasted almonds and an apricot compote. I really only like foie gras when cold or room temperature and spreadable, otherwise the slippery texture of liver kind of grosses me out. Eoghan tried the local albacore tuna ceviche with an olive oil and citrus marinade and a microdice (their word, not mine) of peppers.

For my entree, I chose caramelized scallops with white bean puree, ramps, chorizo and a pine nut condiment. I was happy with my four smoky scallops (there was something like a paprika oil drizzled over the top which I managed to get on my new white shirt), but I liked Judd's duo of beef even better -- aged ribeye steak and slow cooked short ribs with potato puree, baby spinach, bernaise sauce and pickled cipollini onions. Kate ordered a skate wing with caramelized pearl onions, brown butter, and lemon supremes, which our waiter graciously removed from the bone for her. Eoghan went with the roasted breast and confit leg of duck with gnocchi, pine nuts, currants, and lemon confit. For dessert, we shared a Tahitian vanilla panna cotta with poached rhubarb, a pine nut tart with blood-orange campari ice cream, and baked alaska with coffee and vanilla ice cream and a dark chocolate cookie crust.

I really liked Saul. It felt very laid back and cool (dare I say "chill?" can you still use that word after turning 30?) inside despite the sophisticated menu and accompanying serious prices -- dinner for four was more than $400! -- kind of like Brooklyn itself these days.

Last night, we returned to Brooklyn. This time, for dinner with Brooklyn food experts Ann and Brian (formerly of Fort Greene and now current residents of Bed-Stuy) at Joe's of Avenue U, a Sicilian restaurant in Gravesend. Don't ask me where Gravesend is relative to the rest of Brooklyn because, even having done a fair amount of driving around, I have no idea. In fact, I'd never even heard of Gravesend or Avenue U before I read about Joe's in a recent Tasting Table daily newsletter (does anyone else get that? It's great.) subtitled "Have Some Pasta With Your Breadcrumbs at this Brooklyn Institution." I'm grateful to Judd, Ann, and Brian for sharing my sense of adventure last night and agreeing to have dinner at Joe's.

Joe's doesn't look like much on the outside. Actually, it doesn't look like much on the inside, either. The decor is pretty outdated with murals on the wall, a television screen broadcasting Italian game shows, and even a pink jersey-strewn shrine to the Palermo soccer team. The menu, featuring "spicialita palermitana" (Sicilian specialities) is printed on the paper placemats. I did not previously know that Sicilians speak their own version of Italian as indicated by the many Sicilian spellings on the menu (e.g., salad is "nZalata;" broccoli rabe is "vrocculi ri rapi").

To start, we shared an arancina mPupata (enormous fried risotto ball covered in tomato sauce, ricotta cheese, and grated cheese), purpu a nZalata (octopus salad), and cacocciuli stufati (stuffed artichoke). The risotto ball sundae is what had lured me into Joe's in the first place and it was delicious. There was some kind of meat sauce inside the risotto which was a pleasant surprise but the risotto ball itself could have been a little crispier. Who knows, maybe it was before it was doused in tomato sauce and cheese.

For my entree, I played it safe with pasta cu l'agghia e l'ogliu (linguine with garlic and oil). As you can see, the serving was enormous, but my pasta was slightly over cooked, or at least not as undercooked as I like. And I would have added a healthy sprinkling of crushed red pepper flake if I could have, but for $6.99, I would order it again.

Judd had lasagna cu prpetti a ragu (lasagna with meatballs and sauce). I thought the meatballs would be in the lasagna, but they turned up on the side. That struck me as odd, but the meatballs, like their risotto ball cousin, were tasty and even had some raisins inside.

Ann enjoyed her vongoli riganati (baked clams) -- and they were only $6!? -- but Brian won the prize for most adventurous eater when he ordered liguini cu niuru a siccia (linguini with black sauce). Yes, that linguine is covered in squid ink. And mushrooms. But mostly squid ink. Even my half carafe of house white wine couldn't get me to take a taste, but Brian liked it. Because Joe's stops serving dinner at 8:30 and closes down entirely at 9pm, we stopped by a nearby gelato place for dessert and sat among a handful of Sicilians watching a repeat of an earlier World Cup soccer game. It was hard to believe we were only about 18 miles from the Upper West Side.

I am not sure the food at Avenue Joe's is worth spending more than an hour in the car - plus an additional 15 minutes and $11 in tolls when Judd accidentally drove us over the Verrazano Bridge into Staten Island on our way home - but I had a lot of fun trying out Sicilian food in a funny little corner of the city. And get this: dinner for four, including one and a half carafes of passable wine, only set us back about $100 TOTAL!? Naturally, Joe's of Avenue U is cash only though there's a conveniently-place ATM right outside in case you don't have enough.

I have many more Brooklyn meals in my future and am always looking for recommendations, so send them my way!