Showing posts with label Prospect Heights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prospect Heights. Show all posts
12 January 2016
LOOK by Plant Love House
THAILAND
Now open for a little under a month is a very welcome new addition to Brooklyn, little sister of Elmhurst's Plant Love House. Within a stone's throw of busy Atlantic Avenue, Prospect Heights adds a winner to an area that usually does not get authentic world cuisine. The space has a patio in the back and they plan to use this when the weather warms up.
The previous owners had an extensive draft list and the bar in front remains, although the taps are all dry for now. What they do decorate it with is packets of spicy Thai red chili, giving a hint of the meal to come.
Prepare yourself for that heat they are not afraid to use with a cold sweet beverage of your choosing. The passion fruit juice ($3) is a bit too sweet for our liking, but does the trick to douse the fires. Iced nom yen ($3) is a syrupy milk named for the pink color. To me this tastes like bubble gum. That being said, I come to Thai restaurants for the food and have no grumbles.
Even though good Thai restaurants are popping up with a welcoming regularity the past few years, and even though there is one even named for the dish, boat noodles have not had a proper rendition. Until now that is, at least at first taste here the guay tiao num tok ($11, below) is on top of New York City's power list. Known as "boat noodles" in English, this is a deep dark soup of pork blood, palm sugar, and plenty of chili. The only thing I would want on a future visit is that little glass jar of vinegar and hot peppers to add some sourness and more heat to my bowl, but alas this is not really a noodle joint.
Amazingly there was a dish here we liked even more, the show-stopping yum pak boong grob ($12, below), described as a watercress salad but so much more. I was reminded a lot of tom yum sukhothai in a dry format instead of soup. Watercress mixed with minced pork and a lot of peanuts, fried morning glory and shrimp. The heat level on this dish is getting to some upper limits.
On one of many return trips, the dish looked like this
There had to be a reason to order the sticky rice ($2) in that photo above, so the favorite of bar snacks came out next. Moo manow ($10, below), is listed under the signature dishes of the house but so far was not quite as delicious as its colleagues. This was perhaps just the bad luck of being eaten in the same meal as two fantastic dishes, and unfortunately LOOK does not have their liquor license yet meaning beer was not an option.
The khao kluk kapi ($12, below) came out last but would have been prefered as a first arrival. The platter begs for hands to grab bits and pieces but is actually meant to be stirred together, toning down the sweet pork and rice that is fried with a strong shrimp paste. The centerpiece is surrounded by onions, cucumbers, sweet Chinese sausage, egg, fried morning glory, and shredded green mango.
[UPDATE: 12 March 2016] New to the menu on our last visit was the Bangkok guay tiao tom yum ($11, below), a dish with very high heat potential mellowed by sourness and peanuts. The fresh lime and fish sauce work well with the dried Thai chili.
Another look at the very good soup
When those first warm days of spring roll around, we can only hope that the bottles of Singha are available on the patio with our spicy meals. Let's also hope that the stroller and artisanal set doesn't require the restaurant to pull back from its fiery instincts. It is great to have more options in Brooklyn to eat Thai food as it demands to be eaten.
21 October 2013
Morgans Brooklyn Barbecue
USA 🇺🇸
(TEXAS)
(TEXAS)
Oh, Flatbush Avenue, how you have changed. When I first moved to Fort Greene 11 years ago, this broad street was just a dangerously wide street with unsafe intersections and a drastically different retail economy lining the streets. It remains unsafe, but now the crosswalks definitely stay on green for longer while strollers make their way across the avenue, and trendy bistros and smart clothing shops line it from Barclays Center to Grand Army Plaza.
In this vein comes Morgans Brooklyn Barbecue, the latest of respectable BBQ to come to New York City. I won't bore you with the details you already know. Austin pit master blah blah. At any rate, I was excited to check it out, and a small preliminary visit has yielded pretty good results.
The drinks still seem to be a little behind the opening, as a couple things we were looking for were not yet available despite being on the menu. The sweet tea ($3, below) was though, and comes with free refills like the sodas, and flows out of pitchers. I always find this drink more sweet than tea, and will just take a Coke or a beer. It's not bad with BBQ though.
The first visit here was on a weekend, and they have a creative brunch menu that looks good and probably stacks up well against local competition. Just off this menu is the breakfast burrito ($12, below), which definitely brings back memories of an Austin breakfast. In addition to your normal ingredients, this guy is filled with chopped brisket.
I tend to ease into a barbecue joint and find myself ordering the pulled pork before anything else usually. The meat here on the pulled pork sandwich ($10.50, below) has a perfect texture and some pieces are nicely charred, but it definitely needs the house BBQ sauce to overcome a bit of dryness. That being said, once you taste this sauce, you will want to put it on and over everything you order, as it is marvelous. A perfect combination of sweet and spicy, a great combination with most meats here.
Barbecue joints always need great sides, and the first one I tried was excellent. The mac n' cheese ($4, below, small) is indeed small, but very well done with a good helping of crumbs on top. The cheese is not sharp but very rich, the pasta well-cooked and not chewy.
Oh yeah, and there is seasonal cobbler ($8). Need I say more?
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
PROSPECT HEIGHTS Brooklyn
PROSPECT HEIGHTS Brooklyn
I COULD USE YOUR HELP
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17 January 2011
Geido
JAPAN
Geido is a lovely place, probably Brooklyn's finest Japanese restaurant, serving very fresh sushi and a full menu of noodles, nabes, and other dishes. The spot is unique, with graffiti covering the otherwise stark white walls, and a large open feeling not usual of casual Japanese restaurants.
The sushi chefs here know what they are doing and the fish is almost always fresh. It is not surprising that the place is nearly always crowded at peak times, a favorite of the neighborhood. The seafood okonomiyaki ($8.75, below) is a great way to start any meal, fresh and full of flavors, like you just cooked it yourself in Osaka.
The nabe and noodle dishes here are where Geido continues to shine. Sometimes it is hard to find decent noodles, but the pork nabeyaki udon (below) is a winner. The noodles are above average, the slices of meat finely cooked, and the broth delicious especially for colder months.
The tempura soba (below) is another good noodle soup, spicy if you want it that way, with another very solid broth. The soba noodles here and tempura bits are obviously made with care.
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