Park Slope Reader

Park Slope Eater

Life on Cafe Mars

By Filed Under: Eat Local, Park Slope Eater

 I smirk at my wife across the table, as our waitress presents us with a tray containing an eclectic collection of colorful vintage drinking glasses. They asked us each to choose one for our complimentary welcome toast. I like a little bit of interactive theatre with my meal, as long as it doesn’t come at the expense of the food on the table; and so far this is striking just the right balance for us.

I lift a cheerful lime green goblet from the tray and inspect it in the ambient fluorescence of the dining parlor. A few moments later, our mix-matched glasses are full of tiny airy prosecco bubbles.

I stare into the now-full green-glass, and watch the way the suspended beads of carbon dioxide warp and spike behind the ornate curves of the cut crystal, and I feel a little bit like Percival Lowell looking at Mars through a telescope for the first time.

Lowell thought that he saw canals on Mars. We know now, what he saw then was an illusion caused by limitations of the optical glass in his telescopes; but in Percival’s day the theory was that an advanced alien race must have geoengineered their arid planet to funnel polar meltwater down to the Martian midlands, where they must have built magnificent civilizations atop their alien waterways. It’s a nice thought at least.  That an alien race could overcome their planets natural disadvantages and exercise a clean and sustainable mastery over their environment.

Those imaginary Martians would be awfully disappointed in the state of the Gowanus canal.

I pause on that thought. Maybe the prosecco is already getting to my head; and it occurs to me that I don’t even really know why they call this place ‘Café Mars’. I know the food is supposed to be creative, and that’s why I am really here after all. 

Our waitress arrives again just in time to stop me from sharing my insane inner monologue with my wife, and she presents us with a white plate holding 4 jiggling cubes of blood-red Jello, each containing its own dark green planetary body. 

“These are our Jell-olives. Most of our guests prefer to start the meal with them. The Jello is a citrus Negroni, and the olives are Castelvetrano. I suggest eating them before they start to melt.”

 I have to pause the narration at this point and say the staff at Café Mars have been exceptional from the moment we walked in. The host who greeted us was enthusiastic, bright, with a quick and cheerful whit; and our waitress is very well versed on the menu, and more than willing to make recommendations to heighten our experience here.

The menu at Café Mars is certainly adventurous, and undeniably Italian inspired, with plates meant to be ordered several at-a-time, and shared family style. As our waitress walks us through each section of the menu, and generously helps us put together a strategy for the evening, I interrupt briefly to ask her “What’s the inspiration for this place?” I gaze around and gesture at the colorful zig-zagging furniture, the rounded curves of the bar on our right.

“Italian!” She says brightly and with confidence.

I cannot tell if she is being ‘tongue-in-cheek’. Yes, the food is distinctly Italian-inspired, but is that really why I’m asking?

I pause on her answer for a moment and smile, letting the sincerity in her reply sink in. 

I think of the four or five dozen Italian Restaurants I have been to in New York City over my lifetime, and Café Mars doesn’t resemble a one of them.

We finish putting in our orders, and I return to conversation with my wife. “I feel like if aliens wanted to open a “human eating establishment”, and they researched the history of the neighborhood, this would be the end result.”  At this point I confess to her that I didn’t know exactly what to expect coming here. I read a few other reviews for this place and heard them reference something called the ‘Memphis Milano Design movement’, but rather than simply regurgitating the factoid back at my reader, I’d like to put the aesthetic into a more personal frame of reference that folks in the 28-45 age range will instantly understand:

Sitting here in the moment Café Mars looks like a spaceship tv set designed for an early 90s Nickelodeon sitcom, a surreal and uncanny experience of Nostalgia I had not up to this point, experienced up close and in person.

Back to those Jell-Olives. I held one up to the light, admiring the spherical globe behind the red-hue crystalline lens of biter citrus, and once again found myself daydreaming about controversial astronomy lessons from the late 19th century. And speaking of controversy, these were indeed ‘divisive’ at first bite.

We both bit into the first set, and while the flavors were lovely, the textural experience of introducing masticated olive to Jello was a little hard for my wife to appreciate. On second attempt, we found that letting the Jell-olives melt in our mouths produced something much closer to the Negroni experience, and that is probably how I would recommend eating them.

We finished the plate and I found myself with an unexpected craving for more. I had after all, come here for the creativity, and I had not been disappointed.

Next we tried the Eggs Paradiso; an unparalleled take on the deviled egg, with a sweet corn hazelnut filling, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Nothing controversial about these. We both loved them, and the plate was gone almost as soon as it had arrived.

As our confident navigator arrived back to the table with the first of our main plates, I tried prodding for a little more information about the genius behind the curtains. They let slip that the owners and co-chefs are no novices to high gastronomic art. Co Chefs Paul D’Avino, Jorge Olarte, along with general manager Jordan Gwiazdowski opened Café Mars in May of 2023 with a resume behind them that would make any Cosmopolitan blush; Aska, Olmsted, Momofuko Ssam and more.

Now it’s starting to make more sense. This place isn’t trying to fit any molds. The Chefs all know what they’re doing, the bartenders know what they’re doing, and they know they’re doing it well; so why not color outside of the lines after all.

As our mains arrive, my wife and I make the executive decision to order two colorful cocktails. I’m used to thoughtfully considering food and drink pairings, carefully balanced flavor profiles, but I’m starting to get with the program now. 

Café Mars is about having fun with your food. 

By the time the Cucamelon smoked trout platter comes out, we are both halfway through our light blue and yellow chamomile infused cocktails, and thinking about what wild combination to order for the next dish.

 Sweet orange, grappa and pistachio over ice, with a little blue umbrella, more reminiscent of a Tiki drink, than an Italian classic; “What better to go with our Pork-Tart!” I say to my wife, now sufficiently giddy. But after a bite of the braised pork-cheek tart my lighthearted sarcasm gives way to an impression of genuine awe. The cocktail-food combination actually worked. The orange-fennel in the tart pairs nicely with the fruity concoction, and I find myself once again experiencing something new and novel at the table.

We polish off the dayboat scallops, delicious, succulent (as expected by now), and arrive at our last savory dish of the evening; the baked stuffed artichoke Raviolo. And this isn’t your mothers stemmy, tough steamed artichoke either. The delicate leaves are cooked young enough to be eaten in their entirety, and it is served in a beautiful piece of earthenware, brushed expertly in some kind of dark leaf green edible paint. When it arrived at our table, it took us a moment to realize what was what, but once we had wrapped our collective heads around the illusion, we spent a delighted ten minutes running our spoons over the delicate vegetal brush strokes.

As the savory courses wrapped, the host who had initially greeted us came over and presented us with a sweet dark digestif, reminiscent of Jager, and asked us what we thought of the food so far.

The food is great, very adventurous, some (like the Jell-olives) even a little divisive… if that were not the case, I would have been disappointed. I came to be challenged, and I was challenged. I came to try something new, and I had gotten more than I bargained for and then some.

They asked if we wanted dessert and I responded that “I would like to try the Olive Oil Cake’. They both looked at me a little puzzled. “olive oil cake? OH you mean the olive AND oil cake.”

I paused and held the menu back up to my eyes; as the canals on its surface shifted and writhed, I could now see it did indeed read “Olive and oil cake.” I shrugged and relented. “I guess we need to try the olive and oil cake!”

 As we sipped on our dessert drinks, and mused over the pleasantly bizarre nature of this unusual Italian restaurant we speculated over how olives would go over in a dessert dish. 

Before long, a slice of crumbly black and white marbled cake arrived, modestly prepared with a dollop of whipped cream, a drizzle of olive oil, and a generous serving of blueberries atop it. I didn’t see any olives, but when I took a bite, I recognized the flavor baked into the dark black swirls of cake and before I had a chance to flinch, I felt the salty savory flavor blend effortlessly with the light sweetness of the cake and fruit, and instantly fell in love. Who would have thought that a dark olive note would work with whipped cream? Not me. But the highly advanced life-forms working at Café Mars had intuition otherwise, and they had been correct.

As we finished dessert, they brought out a colorful antique bowl full of hard candies and our bill came in at pop-up thank you card. A nice send off for our trip back to earth.

As we paid the bill my wife and I were speculating about when we could get back here, who we needed to bring with us, what we might like to try next time we came. For those curious, we booked our next visit for right after the fall article is published. 

I still don’t know why they call it Café Mars. There’s no running water on Mars after all, and therefore I would imagine there’s not much of a market for cafés over there. But in any case, I am very glad they opened up this weird little spot next to our canal. I for one welcome our new interplanetary gastronomic overlords, and feel that they may have much to teach us.

Chat with Marty

By Filed Under: Eat Local, Park Slope Eater

If you’ve walked down 7th Avenue in the past month, you’ve likely seen lines wrapped around a colorful storefront. Inside, old newspaper clippings pay homage to the restaurant’s humble origins as a pushcart while the decor emulates a taqueria you might find in LA. In the window, a woman hand presses corn tortillas as burritos the size of your forearm are served on grandma-style plates. This is La Taq. 

Owner Marty Medina is no stranger to this neighborhood. La Taq originally opened in 1986 and was a Park Slope fixture for 25 years before closing in 2011. Marty thought that was that for his California-style taco and burrito joint, but when a space became available one door over from its original location, he knew he had to take it. I recently had the opportunity to chat with Marty about childhood food memories, reclaiming burritos, and his vision for La Taq this time around.

Marty Medina in the kitchen at La Taq

Angela: Hey Marty, thanks so much for chatting with me and for sharing your pork chili verde.

Marty: My pleasure. You know chili verde and chili colorado were two of my favorites growing up. The chili verde came from my father’s mother in Jalisco, and the chili colorado came from my mother’s mother who was from New Mexico.

Tell me about the food you ate growing up in California.

First of all, it was very good food, very wholesome and fresh. The one thing I remember most is the kitchen table. My mother was known for eating extremely hot peppers, and she used to cry every night while eating dinner. When we were kids, we learned right away not to dip our finger into the chili and then wipe our eyes. So I would say that it could be a little dangerous at the table with the peppers. But we ate really well.

It sounds like your experience of food was almost like a love language, the way you sat down at the table everyday and enjoyed family recipes together.

Absolutely, those were very memorable moments. Food is a big part of our culture – it’s sacred to us the way it brings people together. When we were kids, we would go to the tortillerias where they made tortillas, and we would buy carnitas by the pound and buy all the trimmings with it, and make our own tacos at our table. You don’t see that here as much.

How would you describe the difference between Mexican food in California vs in New York?

New York is still a little behind in terms of products, but they’re catching up. From what I understand, New York City has the largest mixed Latino population in the country, but Los Angeles was the mecca for Mexicans. And so in East Los Angeles, where a lot of my family came from, we had everything. When I moved to New York in the 80s, I couldn’t find avocados. I had to go to a Chinese grocery store to get avocados.

Nowadays, you can go to a place called Sunset Park. We went to a poultry shop on 20th Street the other day and bought live chickens and made mole from scratch. And the chickens were fabulous. They gave us the whole thing – the head, the feet – it was everything but alive. You can get good stuff in New York City now, but you have to know where to go. And hopefully some people feel that way about us. When I came to Brooklyn, nobody even knew what the burrito was.

When and how did you learn to cook?

When I was a child, by sitting and watching. My mother would make flour tortillas, and I’d eat them as fast as she was making them. And my father went to Uruapan in Mexico to learn how to make carnitas. He was an excellent cook. I learned a lot from both of my parents.

I also remember the field workers, who would come from Mexico to work the season. They would bring a lot of the food that they grew up with, and I learned by watching them cook. Like barbacoa, which was wrapped in a special way. And birria – real birria – which is made with goat and is traditionally cooked in the ground. Birria is very popular right now, but most places are serving shredded beef, which is not authentic.

How do you think about authenticity when it comes to your menu?

Well, what’s authentic for us is what we grew up eating in California. Like we’re serving in chile verde today. You’re not going to go to a restaurant just anywhere and find chile verde on the menu. It’s very uncommon. Same with chile colorado.

Also the ingredients. Back in the day, lard was frowned upon, but now it’s okay. I used to be afraid to put lard in the refried beans, so I used vegetable oil. That’s not refried beans! Now I’m serving real refried beans.

And how did you go from sitting and watching other cooks to working in and owning restaurants here in New York?

When I moved here, I was working on the cruise ship as a waiter. There were 50 waiters in one dining room and we served 1000 people for dinner each night. Well one night a really cute girl from Brooklyn and her girlfriends were sitting in my section, and I got to know her and we sort of hit it off really well. So I followed her here. About a year later, we got married, and I told her about this idea I had to open up a pushcart (because I couldn’t afford anything else). A couple years later in 1989, I had 

enough money saved up, and her family supported me with the project. Her mother used to help me cook in her home kitchen and load up the pushcart.

Was it Mexican food then?

Yeah, burritos. I was testing them out to see if they would work here and two days later, I had a line around the corner. That led me to my first storefront on Bergen and Court. And then I came here, next door, in 1990, and then there was another location on 7th Avenue. Then we opened two in Manhattan, one in Cobble Hill, and one in Brooklyn Heights.

So it was a huge success, but I was the only guy in town so it wasn’t competitive then. I didn’t know what I was doing, but like with anything, you have to go through an education process. Hopefully you make a lot of mistakes, because that means you’re learning.

Where it all began on the streets of Brooklyn

Where do you draw your inspiration from for your menu?

I think one of the best Mexican meals that I ever had in my life was in Monterrey, Mexico. I was about six or seven, and the woman went out to the field, got the corn, processed it and made corn tortillas. And she made eggs with chorizo and refried beans to go with them. I’ll never forget the taste of that meal. It was so simple, cooked over a wood fire. That’s what inspires me. 

I enjoy going to fancy restaurants, but it’s ultimately street food that inspires me, and that’s what I try to serve here. I try to stay focused on that by keeping a small menu. I’m not falling into any trends. There are so many trends these days, and the guy that tries to do everything doesn’t really accomplish anything. It’s the guy who focuses on one thing that’s gonna really hit the target.

And how would you characterize the one thing that you’re doing?

Carnitas. We’re making them like they do in Michoacan, which is a state in Mexico that’s known for its carnitas. We use a big copper kettle and the pork is cooked in its own fat. You can do anything with food, and that’s the beauty of it. It’s like chemistry. And as humans, we’re geniuses when it comes to putting food together. Like, where did they come up with these ingredients to put together? Incredible. So yeah, we’re really nailing the carnitas.

What made you decide back in 2011 that it was time to go?

The landlord jacked up the rent, so I left. But if you let the dust settle on any bad situation, something good may come from it. I sold this business right before COVID, and then ran into the owner of Cousin John’s Bakery. We’ve been friends for 30 years. He said he was moving to their current location on the corner and I asked him what he was going to do with this spot that we’re in. We looked at each other and we started laughing, because we knew we were going to do something, and here we are. We did it. And it took a long time to open; a lot of heart and soul went into this place. We didn’t just slap it together and start serving food. There was a lot more involved than just the food.

Do you feel like right back up, where you left off? Or are you trying to do things differently?

I’ve made a lot of mistakes, and I’ve learned from them. We’re elevated. We have history here in the city. And like I said, our menu is very small, and we’re staying focused. And to me, our burritos are the highlight. I grew up eating burritos more than anything else. It was our lunch in the field: a tortilla wrap around last night’s dinner. And we used to be made fun of for it, you know, so now it’s payback time. I was called a beaner when I was a kid. Now I serve beans, and I get paid for it. I reclaimed it gracefully. I serve it with love. I want to be the burrito king.

Let’s talk about the community. When La Taq first opened in Park Slope it was here for 25 years. and since reopening it’s had such wonderful reception.

When I saw Park Slope for the first time, I felt like I was in a little baby section of Haight-Ashbury. Back then Brooklyn was rough, but this section was artsy fartsy and I loved it. So I opened the place here and I got to know everybody. I mean, I lived here for 35 years, and when I got out of the business, I didn’t think I was gonna get back into it. And I love it. I live just a few blocks away, and I feel like this is more home to me than where I live. So I love this neighborhood.

That’s the reason we reopened here, because we have history here. Even my staff are the same people from 30 years ago. Everyday people tell me, “We’re glad you’re back”. And you know, sometimes it’s overwhelming, but at the same time I love it. I feel like this is not just mine, but more of a neighborhood establishment.

The Heart of Brooklyn: Park Slope Farmers Market

By Filed Under: Park Slope Eater, Park Slope Life

Open all weekends in all weather, the Grand Army farmer’s market is a neighborhood institution. GrowNYC Greenmarket Director and Park Slope resident Liz Carollo talks about why the Grand Army location is “the heart of Brooklyn” and offers advice for new customers and regulars.

“The actual space itself, bordering Prospect Park, across the street from the library, the museum, the Botanic Garden, the zoo, is truly the heart of Brooklyn,” Liz Carollo, GrowNYC’s Greenmarket Director, said. 

Carollo started her 18-year career with GrowNYC’s publicity team in Grand Army Plaza. Her first two seasons, she watched runners jog to pick up milk and eggs in the morning and come back in the afternoon with their families. There were strawberry shortcake eating contests, planting demonstrations, and harvest festival celebrations. One Park Slope resident volunteered his 40-year-old tractor for kids to climb in the middle of the plaza. 

“I spent those first two years getting to know Grand Army, the producers, the customers. It is such a special place,” Carollo said. Even though GrowNYC organizes 45 farmer’s markets across New York’s five boroughs, Carollo moved across the street from Grand Army and considers it her “home market.”

GrowNYC is an independent environmental nonprofit that has operated for over five decades. Six years in, starting in 1976, the founders recognized a missing link between farmers who had trouble finding buyers and New York residents with limited access to good produce in the city. 

GrowNYC’s mission is to make fresh food accessible year-round to New York City residents. The greenmarkets operate year-round, and the markets stay open every weekend through heat, rain, and snow. 

The greenmarkets also stayed open through the pandemic. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the greenmarkets received essential worker status from the city. Due in part to the large outdoor location, the Grand Army farmer’s market established three entrance lines and socially distant stands for customers to access with proper safety protocols. 

Bradley Farm

“We had customers show up in tears because they didn’t want to go inside to shop anywhere. They were scared,” Carollo said. 

In a city-wide quarantine, the Grand Army Plaza Market offered a place for people to see their neighbors or other people outside their household in asafe,  outdoor, socially distant setting. 

“It was an incredible experience I hope to not repeat,” Carollo said.

Today, the Grand Army greenmarket follows its founders’ mission to bring high quality produce, meats, and other foods to the city’s neighborhoods. Each weekend is planned up to a year in advance. GrowNYC assigns spaces to vendors, or producers, who grow, raise, or bake their own products. Producer applications for the next season open around Thanksgiving, and GrowNYC assigns producers their farmer’s market spaces for the following year at the end of February. 

Producers resubmit their crop plans annually, even if they have come to Grand Army for years. The application asks what, when, and how much producers plan to make as well as when they plan to harvest it. These producers live within 250 miles north, 120 miles south, and 170 miles east and west of New York City.

“You have farmers who are coming in from South Jersey, so you get those early spring crops right away, and then you have farmers who are coming in from upstate New York, so it’s an extensive season on the other side. When you have a market like that, where you have producers that come from within the Green Market region, which is about a 200-mile radius around Poughkeepsie, you get a very wide range of products, and you take advantage of the seasonality of the region,” Carollo said. 

There’s also an inspections and compliance team who review the items to make sure they are up to the quality GrowNYC expects. There are regional managers and on-site supervisors who ensure smooth day-of operations to make the farmer’s market a “calm, lovely morning for customers who arrive as we open at eight.” 

“If we’re doing our job well,  people show up and think it’s a spontaneous pop-up,” Carollo said.  

Whether you’re new to the Grand Army farmer’s market or consider yourself a regular, here are the best tips to spending your weekends in “the heart of Brooklyn”: 

Dress for the weather. Again, the farmer’s market will be open in all weather conditions. Make sure you’re also prepared. 

Fresh Radish Farm

Bring a reusable bag. The farmer’s market is BYOB: bring your own bags. As part of its sustainability mission, GrowNYC doesn’t allow vendors to distribute plastic handled bags. 

Take a lap. Before you buy anything, browse all the stands. Are there any that stand out to you from a distance that you would like to check out? Any unexpected items you’re curious about? What is available today? 

Another tip? GrowNYC doesn’t regulate the prices of the stands, so two stands might have different prices for similar produce. Compare quality and prices between stands. 

Be open-minded and flexible with your expectations. You won’t know what is available until you arrive. If you want to make a tomato recipe in February, you’ll have to pivot when you realize no famers will have tomatoes until the summer. 

Farmer’s market regulars may know cucumbers and eggplants grow in the summer and apples come in autumn, but they should also stay open-minded as the seasons change. “As it gets warm, there was an expectation that the summer produce has arrived, or even the spring produce…For the farmers, they’re just going in the ground, the farm just thawed,” Carollo said. 

(Carollo’s produce recommendation for this spring transition? “You get these really, really tasty greens that have been in the ground all winter. You could either get bitter greens, or they get an added sweetness to them.”) 

Ask questions. This may seem intimidating if you’ve never been to a farmer’s market before, but interacting directly with the person who grew, raised, or baked the item you purchased is an asset. 

The most common questions people ask farmers, the information desk, or other shoppers is “What is the best way to cook this?” Producers eat whatever they produce, so they will have recommendations for how to best prepare and serve whatever you might buy. 

Customers can also ask producers what is happening on the farm, what they expect to grow in the coming weeks, and what other products they are excited about. Producers may try new things on their farms. A long-running tomato farmer might also sell a new homemade tomato sauce. “The producers are trying to innovate and serve the customer better,” Carollo said. Asking questions leads to new recommendations, new products, and new techniques to carry home with your tote full of produce. 

Talk to other shoppers. Start a conversation with a person that’s looking at the same honey jar as you. What else did they buy today that you should check out? And where did they get that cider donut? Be open to sharing what you discovered and what recipes you might have, too!

Go to the information tent. The information tent has all the answers and is present at every GrowNYC greenmarket. They can assist in questions from how to best prepare fennel, what local restaurants they recommend, or what vendors and produce might come in the next few weeks. A bonus? They may do a cooking demonstration or events at the information tent, making it worth your while to stop by each week. 

Use your nutrition benefits. Cost can be a barrier to fresh food for people with limited financial resources. GrowNYC provides a space where people of all income levels can purchase fresh food. They accept nutrition benefits from SNAP, WIC, FMNP, Health Bucks, HealthFirst, and Humana OTC. SNAP customers who shop at a farmer’s market receive $2 in HealthBucks for every $2 spent on their EBT card, up to $10 a day. 

Customers enrolled in these programs can approach the information tent to receive paper or wooden tokens to use directly at vendor stands. In 2023, customers across New York City accessed $4.3 million to use at greenmarkets, and Grand Army did 5,000 SNAP EBT transactions, equaling $155,000 in sales, and accessed $54,000 in HealthBucks. 

“Grand Army is a location that is perfect for food access and for customers who are shopping on all income levels to be able to purchase fresh local foods,” Carollo said. 

Support your local farmer’s market through GrowNYC. Though these farmer’s markets feel integral to their neighborhoods, GrowNYC is not a government-affiliated program. It is an independent nonprofit. If you love the farmer’s market, consider supporting their operations through a donation of your time or other resources. For more information about how you can get involved, please visit their website at https://www.grownyc.org/ 

Reader Recommendation: Our Favorite Coffee Shops

By Filed Under: Park Slope Eater, Park Slope Life

Coffee shops are the cornerstones of a metropolitan life, but not all coffee shops are the same. 

For me, I have coffee shops that require a perfectly distanced walk to wake me up alongside a cappuccino. I have a spot for decadent pastries like burnt cheesecake and drippy cinnamon buns, perfect to dig into once you’re home, and I have a spot for an incredible apple turnover that can be, if needed, devoured on the move with only flakes left to clean. One shop offers picnic basket deals for lunches outside, and one place is perfect for an all-day laptop grind.  

In a city where living quarters can be…let’s say, contained, a coffee shop is an extension of our lives. It’s our living room, our old-fashioned parlor, and our study.  

In winter, we crave getting out of our apartments and rosying our cheeks in the cold air—if there’s a warm destination in mind. Pair this with the buzz of catching up with a friend over the joyful combination of a smooth coffee and buttery pastry and you’ll forget that you miss life before daylight savings. These are the best cafes where you can ask “No, seriously, how are you?” without getting a stink eye from a headphone-wearing stranger. 

Brew Memories 

295 7th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215 (7th Ave & 7th St)

brewmemoriesbrooklyn@gmail.com | (347) 987-3954

Mon-Fri: 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sat & Sun: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

I debated sharing this recommendation, but ‘tis the season for generosity. Sometimes when I meet up with a friend, I’m caught in that place of being a little too hungry or a little too wired from my morning caffeine to want the typical cappuccino or croissant. Brew Memories brings a versatility to the coffee shop scene that is much needed. With Vietnamese coffee, bubble tea, or hot brown sugar matcha lattes, this place steps above your typical barista spread for a variety of moods and cravings. Sure, you can get a croissant, but why not double down and get a tofu banhmi, a chicken katsu bento box, or a fried chicken sandwich? On top of that, the inside space is extremely calming. With bare bulb light fixtures and brick walls covered in art, you and your friend will chat catch-up until you remember this is not, in fact, either of your living rooms. 

Kos Kaffe 

251 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215 (5th Ave & Garfield St) 

koskaffe@gmail.com | 718-768-6868

Mon-Sun: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Listen, I’m not coming down on anyone who brings their laptop to a coffee shop. The perfect coffee shops for sitting and working like there’s no world around you is for a different article. Kos Kaffe appreciates that their customers will be both the duo talking about their life over a nice meal and the avid laptop workers. And they make it work. Styled like a quaint general store and a European café, they implement laptop rules from noon to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday or 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the weekends. During these restricted hours, smaller tables perfect for a chatty duo can nest, and laptops move to a communal table. Everyone wins! On top of that, Kos Kaffe sources their food from local farms, orchards, and bakeries, so you can dig in sans guilt to the green frittata, green BLT, or the kale salad. The non-green food options are equally as guilt-free. 

Maya and Camila Café 

463 4th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215 (4th Ave & 11th St) 

(862) 465-9389

Mon-Sun: 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Danny Salamanca, the owner of the café who named it after his daughters, planned this café for five years. Shortly after its opening, it experienced a fire in May and another electrical wiring setback in September, which put it back out of business. A local GoFundMe raising over $17,000 helped reopen this café, and their doors reopened in November. With the tagline “Columbia meets Brooklyn,” this spot feels incredibly warm and comfortable. Whether sitting barside or in a booth, this spot allows you to feel like you’re escaping in plain sight in the rare way that the best neighborhood haunts do. Whether you have a dog or a small child, a craving for empanadas or bacon-egg-and-cheese breakfast sandwiches, or can’t decide between espresso and espresso martini, this place will check all your boxes.  

Milk Bar 

204 6th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217 (6th Ave & Union St)

milkbarbrooklyn@gmail.com | (929) 276-3396

Mon-Fri: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sat & Sun: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m

The windows at the front of the store let in a great amount of light that lets you pretend you’re outside while hiding indoors. I’m not the only person who likes this space, so go earlier or later in the day to avoid a rush. It’s worth the schedule configuring to scoop one of those indoor tables. With no laptops allowed during the weekend, the Milk Bar on 6th Avenue encourages people to use the space to connect. Embrace the welcome, private hum of other conversations surrounding your rant about your roommates, life partner, or kids (depending on your lifestyle). Even better? Get the soup combo with the soup of the day and half a grilled cheese or French onion toast. What could be more delightful decadent than that level of escape in plain sight of the street.

Velvette Brew 

279 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215 (5th Ave & 1st St) 

(718) 971-9131

Mon-Sun: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Something all these cafes have in common for the right spot to catch up with a bud? Open spaces with lots and lots of seating. You don’t want to be that group that meets up at a spot, realizes after they bought the coffee that there’s nowhere to sit, then you’re wandering looking for something park-ish or bench-y to continue your chat in the cold. Velvette on 5th Avenue does it best. With plenty of tables along the wall (near outlets) and in the middle of the shop, people can find a space to hang out and chat any day. With another cozier shop opened at 814 Union Street, Velvette offers great coffee and small caprese or chorizo sandwiches. In the summer, they will have ice cream from Cry Babys Creamery to create a DIY affogato, if you so choose, but for now, embrace the indoor warmth and hefty sweater season of winter. Only the cold can make you remember how delicious a hot coffee can be. 

Food, Fire & Friendship: Lore

By Filed Under: Park Slope Eater

Park Slope’s Lore celebrates the universal appeal of dining together, and it is the perfect sanctuary from the cold this winter.

What does it mean to live well? Philosophers have been dashing themselves against metaphorical stones for millenia trying to answer this question. Their appeals have been passed down by their disciples, often through word of mouth. The noiseless cacophony of long dead sophists form universal themes and motifs that become woven into the fabric of civilization. That ancient lore, drapes and adorns the bedrock of empires, and those themes help to shape the collective zeitgeist of each successive age.

The oldest verified archaeological site currently being studied is Gobeckli Tepe in Southeastern Anatolia. Dated to around 9000 BCE, It consists of magnificent T shaped columns, and a series of concentric stone walls, forming an oblong circular foundation in the sandstone. We don’t know for certain what the beliefs and practices of those who inhabited the ruins were, but we imagine that the site may have served some religious significance to the people who built and maintained it.

There is an older site, though officially unverified, the example is simple enough to make for an uncontroversial metaphor and lead into this story.

Inside Theopetra’s Cave near Kalambaka, Thessaly in Greece, there exists a stone wall, dated back to 21,000 BCE. If the wall was indeed made by modern humans, that would make it more than twice as old as any other structure still in existence today, and unlike Gobeckli Tepe, its purpose is easily inferred. It was built simply to keep the cave’s inhabitants warm, and sheltered from the icy winds of winter. 

What does it mean to live well? For those people, it meant staying warm.

The ancient Stoics had an answer to the question “what does it mean to live well?”. To them the Ideal life was one spent in harmony with nature, and an attitude of calm indifference toward external stimuli. We can be charitable to the Greek Stoics for they lived in an age before man-made climate change, and atomic weapons, but perhaps their advice can still apply to nature’s adversities. 

Here in Brooklyn, Summer’s youthful kiss has diminished, Fall in her aged dignity has come to her cold and withered end, and we all must now face the biting and barren cold of another city winter. There are of course those (like this writer) who love the cold air in their nostrils, and the brisk silence that many consecutive winter mornings will bring; the austere stillness of each first snowfall. But In fairness I must acknowledge that for many of us, the winter is a time to hunker down, and to cozy up close in warm, safe man-made structures.

Whether you are among those for whom WInter is a yearly test of mental health, or you are a cold blooded child of the ice and snow, we should all agree that a flickering yellow light peeking out from a window is inviting contrast to the darkness and cold of the exposed winter night. This image is a romantic and primordial appeal to our innermost comfort. And in our chilly neighborhood this season there is perhaps no more romantic and inviting example of such a place, than Lore.

On the southeast corner of fifteenth street and seventh avenue, and framed on both sides of its corner entry by a black painted crown molded stone edifice, Lore evokes a moody kind of elegance perfectly suited for intimate gastronomic gatherings. We will certainly be getting to the food soon enough, but before we do we need to spend some time discussing Lore’s atmosphere. When you first enter beneath Lore’s dark awning, and crescent moon Signage, you enter a warm interior furnished in the best of taste. 

The space is small, with perhaps only a dozen tables, and enough bar seating for eight to ten more patrons. But for those fortunate patrons, the space delights the senses. The exposed brick wall on the far side of the dining room, adorned with a single high-spanned wooden shelf and a collection of blue glass bottles, evokes a rustic comfort we are perhaps used to in Brooklyn these days. But Lore is not just trying to be another neighborhood rustic chic boutique, instead choosing to embrace the eclectic. The emblematic tin lined ceilings support elegant pendant lamps, and a glorious mid century modern chandelier adorned with ten warm circular lights, ties the look of the dining room together.

The space was designed with care in mind, and certainly with the intention to evoke a vibe, perhaps even a theme. That vibe, I imagine will be a little different to each guest that finds themselves wandering in from the cold night air, but to this writer, I would describe it simply as “romantic and moody”, perfect for the time of year.

Much like Lore’s thoughtful interior design, its food also embraces collaboration and fusion, and much like its atmosphere, they pull off that exercise spectacularly. Chef Jay Kumar is very talented and seems to have embraced the role of chief food pioneer. By focusing not on one particular kind of cuisine, but instead on what is possible when we embrace variety, Chef Jay hopes to make Lore an embodiment of Brooklyn itself.

To quote directly from their website “Brooklyn is truly a confluence of cultures, kept vital by storytellers and community leaders, many of whom hail from far-flung places around the globe. So many of these diverse traditions are both preserved and born around a dinner table with friends and neighbors.” Simple, unpretentious, two sentences summarizing tens of thousands of years of human history and distilling it into a mission statement that says to me ‘look at what great living is made possible when we embrace diversity, and marry cultures and traditions together with care’.

The result of that culinary boldness is the perfect place to take your date on a cold winter night, to experience for a few brief hours, something warm and altogether unique. Lore’s cuisine marries a multitude of cultures, and its menu changes seasonally, but some of the defining elements are strongly rooted in Indian, Middle Eastern, perhaps east asian as well. It is truly impossible to concisely define (and perhaps that’s the point), but it is certainly ALL very good food.

This author has had the pleasure of dining at Lore on several occasions, and has had the opportunity to try out a number of their menus. The first time dining there we had the pleasure of tasting warm home made naan accompanied with spiced honey, fresh thinly sliced radishes, and uncultured butter. We also sampled a delicately smoked trout, and a particularly flavorful Sea Bream. I think my biggest takeaway from that first visit was how their homemade Dessert stole the show.

It deserves its own little paragraph. Lore makes a SPECTACULAR cashew baklava, which they paired on this occasion with a delicate rosewater ice cream. I am not in particular a dessert person, and it is rarely the most notable part of the meal for me, but this occasion was an exception.

On a more recent visit I was delighted by a perfectly spiced fermented dosa, and a crispy, deeply savory Hen-of-the-woods Uttapam dish. For the uninitiated, Hen-of-the-woods is a meaty and tender kind of mushroom, and Uttapam is a crispy sort of pancake.

My guests on this more recent occasion wanted to splurge on Lore’s wide spectrum of gastronomic variety, which included both a perfectly cooked specimen of Steak Bavette, and a perfectly classic fish and chips that would have made the grade across the pond.

I think my favorite part of Lore’s eclectic menu, aside from its perfect execution, might just be how easy it is to please everyone at your table. Despite having a relatively narrow seasonal menu, it always seems precisely engineered to impress every pallet in a different way; whether that be through a cultural marriage of tastes, a showstopper dessert dish, or a perfect embrace of classic European dishes.

And maybe that is what good living really is, just the art of being happy and of making other people happy in your company. Throughout the many biting plutonian winters nights we have ahead of us, I hope my fellow Slopers will deign to visit Lore’s mysterious inviting facade, and each embrace that great historical tradition; the primordial gathering of people, from out of the cold, and into the warmth of enriched company.

‘I Leave it up to You’

By Filed Under: Park Slope Eater, The Reader On Food

Trust the culinary process flow at Sushi Katsuei

Park Slope’s third street is beautifully incongruent. A double-wide thoroughfare, the street is lined by tall trees and some of Brooklyn’s oldest architecture. It ranks among the neighborhoods most picturesque walking streets, and yet it has neither the directional utility, nor the commercial purpose of busier streets like ninth.

A friend once told me that third avenue was built this way to fit the carriages of Park Slopes founding one-percenter, Edwin Litchfeild. This writer confesses he has not fact-checked that piece of local lore, but please feel free to pass it along to your out-of-town relatives the next time they visit.

And while you are parading your guests up third street, on a crisp Fall evening, professing the virtues of orange tree canopies and stately townhouses clad in Triassic sandstone, consider the building on the northwest corner of third and seventh where Brooklyn hides grand architecture of the culinary variety.

On the ground floor of this unassuming building, night after night, Brooklyn’s skilled sushi chefs sculpt and serve the best sushi in the borough. Sushi Katsuei is not ostentatious. It has none of the interior decadence or scale of its better-known Manhattan cousins. The interior is modest, clean and intimate. At first glance it might not strike your out-of-town guests as a gourmet eating establishment. But you should assure them to put a little trust in those men behind the counter. 

The Japanese word for a trained sushi chef is “Itamae” and it literally translates to “In front of the board”. They perform their art with such competence and skill, that they invite customers to watch them work.

Katsuei specializes in Edo-style Sushi, served to patrons in the Japanese tradition of Omakase. The format is a Chef’s choice tasting menu which literally translates as “I leave it up to you”. You walk into Katsuei, put your trust in their professional staff, and for that trust you will be rewarded. 

I realize it is a bold claim to say that they have the best sushi in the borough. Brooklyn has become a gastronomic jewel in its own right, and there is certainly no shortage of competent sushi restaurants serving high quality fish. 

My argument for why Sushi Katsuei deserves the title stems not only from the quality of their fish, but also from the manner of their service. It is true that when Katsuei’s Itamae serves you a single piece of Otoro, you will experience fatty tuna belly in its optimal platonic configuration. It will melt in your mouth, and it will ruin the average tuna for you forever. Still, there are more things to consider than simply taste.

At Katsuei you can be assured you are not only enjoying the highest quality ingredients, but that you are enjoying them in the optimal sequence, and with every ounce of value funneled into their preparation and presentation. Katsuei offers Omakase at an affordable price (relative to its peers) without sacrificing anything from the core experience. And now you begin to understand why they serve the best sushi in Brooklyn, because they offer what so few restaurants on Earth can: perfected cuisine, authentically experienced, at an attainable price. Nobu, for the rest of us.

The restaurant’s sushi bar is small, and if you want a seat there you will have to call ahead, but you don’t need to secure one of those coveted seats to enjoy their Omakase. Katsuei offers a variation to guests seated at tables, wherein their warm and intelligent wait staff carry out several pieces of fish at a time, and politely instruct patrons on the correct order to consume them. This configuration, though somewhat less traditional, lends itself wonderfully to intimate family gatherings, and is optimal for impressing your out-of-town relatives.

Like the prices, and the clean modest atmosphere, this adaptation further allows Katsuei to carry out its mission, while sacrificing no element of its art. The wait staff will happily transmit your giddy praise for each dish along to your Chef.

All the crowd favorites are present, and obviously perfect; uni, snapper, the best cuts of the tuna in three sublime acts, the perfectly prepared yellowtail, lightly seasoned with a few drops of citrus and a sprinkle of green onion. But it is the unexpected act that sets them apart; a succulent sweet shrimp that expands your concept of what sushi can be, or a cut of Mackerel, clean and bright like you did not know was possible. If you give them a chance, interrupt your evening stroll in the cool Fall air, the staff at Katsuei will introduce you to another dimension of this neighborhood’s intimate inner beauty.

Like the tree lined thoroughfare it sits beside, Sushi Katsuei was built to suit its own purpose; to invite the people that pass through it to experience Omakase in its purest joyful form. They are here to offer an accessible and broad avenue of entry to a bright Japanese culinary tradition. All you need to do is come inside, put your name down, and put your trust in them.

Brooklyn’s Best: Winner

By Filed Under: Park Slope Eater, Park Slope Life

I woke up to the smell of warm spring air blowing in through my bedroom window, and I fumbled for my phone on the nightstand. The snooze button had been running for 9 minutes already.

Under normal circumstances, sleeping in until 7:29 AM on a beautiful Saturday morning is ideal, but today I have an obligation, and I am already hopelessly late.

The night prior, I suggested to my fiancé that we would have freshly baked cinnamon rolls for breakfast, from our favorite local Bakery, WINNER.

For the past year we have had a love affair with this masterpiece of a Brooklyn bakery, but unlike most of their loyal customer base, we seemed to have discovered WINNER in reverse.

I remember when they opened in March 2020 just weeks before a global pandemic turned the entire world upside down and sent the whole city into a deep freeze. I remember passing there foggy glass store front windows on a chilly morning walk and seeing the bakers hard at work inside preparing loaves of bread for people I doubted would ever show up.

I remember turning to my fiancé and expressing sad concern over the unfortunate timing of the new local venture. 

Two weeks later I was eating my words. These would be the first of many things WINNER would have me eating in the years ahead.

Confident in the purity and quality of their art, the staff and owners of WINNER stood steadfast and the people of Brooklyn walked over every morning and stood 6 feet apart, in a line spanning avenues in length, to buy what they had to sell.

I have to confess that while I was very happy for their success, I was intimidated by the lines and did my not count myself along the stoic early morning brigade that came to the bakery‘s defense in the early months of the venture. 

Actually it was not until a little over a year later when they opened up a small restaurant next door, when I made my way over there and fell in love.

It turns out WINNER had not been the only inspiration Chef Daniel Eddy had for our neighborhood. In fact the success of the bakery had paved the way for a literal RUNNER UP to claim a prized spot in a cozy shell of a finished garage adjacent to the shop.

Far from its understated facadé, and diminutive moniker, the menu at RUNNER UP is anything but second rate.

“UNI TOAST. LOOK they have UNI TOAST.” My fiancé waves an Instagram post in my face. Its a post from Wilson Tang, owner of the world-famous Nom Wah Tea Parlor in Manhattan. “I think this is the bakery down the block from us. This is the bakery that YOU said wouldn’t survive covid! Now they have a restaurant, and they are serving UNI TOAST. We have to go!”

Within a few hours we were seated on a wooden bench, in an outside seating area, on a chilly fall evening. The tables around us were all warmly lit and buzzing softly with conversation. 

The waiter offered us each a blanket, a long ballot-style menu, and a pencil for marking it up.

We checked off a few standouts and the show began.

Salt Cod Croquettes, Sardine Toast, Roasted trumpet mushrooms cooked perfectly and marinated in miso beurre blanc made our eyes light up like we were in a Pixar movie.

The Uni Toast finally arrived, And it did not disappoint but by now everything we had eaten had already blown us away. The Uni Toast was no one-hit-wonder here. It was just one of many perfected small plates available to the lucky patrons of RUNNER UP. This place and the people behind it truly have something special at work in their kitchens.

The place was warm, wholesome, organic, like it always belonged to the neighborhood, but the food elevated far beyond even our snobby millennial expectations. In a neighborhood full of wonderful restaurants winter felt from the very first time like it was a cut above the rest.

And this is what I mean when I say we discovered WINNER in reverse. It was Danny Eddy’s exciting and vibrant menu at RUNNER UP that turned us into loyal bakery customers.

It’s just about the only reason I will hop out of bed at 7 o’clock on Saturday morning. The place is absolutely worth the line and wait. In fact, demand in the neighborhood is so high, they just opened up a pop-up shop in Prospect Park for the summer.

You can find them operating out of the prospect park picnic house, and who knows, maybe the new spot will shorten the line that currently runs down 11th St.

But for now here I am standing in line with my fellow Brooklynites on an unseasonably warm early spring morning, hoping I can make good on my word for freshly baked cinnamon rolls.

Something for Everyone

By Filed Under: Park Slope Eater

As the city awakens from its Winter sleep, it’s time to renew our appreciation of everything it has to offer. For this issue, here’s a look at classic foodie establishments including a gourmet food shop, an up-and-coming food truck, and a happening vegetarian restaurant.

A Haven for Cheese Enthusiasts

Right now, on Valley Shepherd farm in New Jersey, a lamb is being born nearly every fifteen minutes. This is just another layer to the hectic environment as milking season begins, when the sheep are milked twice a day from now through the summer. Their milk will be taken to the cheese room to be treated before being packed into a mold and transferred to the cave that’s modeled after the traditional aging atmosphere perfected by European cheese mongers. One hundred feet deep with twelve-inch thick concrete floors, walls, and ceilings, the cave nurtures Valley Shepherd’s cow, sheep, and goat cheeses for months as they ripen. Their cheeses have been farmers’ markets favorites for years, and after the success of their hole-in-the-wall shop in SoHo, Brooklynites finally have steady access to their goods in the Park Slope outpost at 211 7th Avenue.

The small, welcoming shop is a crash course in foodie favorites, packed with local products like Sour Puss Pickles and Brooklyn Raaka chocolate, freshly baked breads, Ronnybrook milk, and of course Valley Shepherd’s cheeses, pastas, and lamb sausages. The cheese case is visually stunning, but to the fromage novice the gourmet offerings may be intimidating. For those looking to experiment, start off with a sampling across the board of a cow, sheep, and goat cheese. A unique cow’s milk favorite is the Perlitta, which has been aged for two years and has a sharp bite with a bit of crunch to the texture. The Tartufo Shepherd, a sheep’s cheese with pecorino and black Tuscan truffles, is one of the best in the shop. As for a prime goat cheese, try the wonderfully named Gottogetagoat, which is similar to a gouda. If you’re looking for a softer cheese, the Scentsation has a delicious full-bodied flavor from its wash rind treatment and spruce bark wrap throughout the aging process. It’s slightly pungent, but not stinky.

Springtime is a great season to check out Valley Shepherd’s offerings, since the cheese will be at its freshest and seasonal offerings like ricotta and lamb cuts will be on hand. A wine and cheese party is the perfect way to celebrate the warming weather, and the shop has everything one needs to complete the soireé. Or, take it to go with a sandwich for a picnic in the park. At the time of this writing, the five choices included one with brie, granny smith apple, arugula, balsamic, and olive oil, and ham with mustard, arugula, pear and their Melter Skelter cheese that’s similar to Swiss. I’ve only just grazed the surface of what’s in store on 7th Avenue, since there’s a new discovery to be made with each glance at the stocked shelves. Don’t miss out on the fresh buttermilk, Poorfarm maple syrup, local honeys, fill-your-own olive oil, or pretzel croissants, but come explore on your own to see what you can find.

My Dog Ate My Barbecue

Perhaps you’ve seen Ashley and Matt Weavil around Brooklyn before. Restaurant veterans of over ten years, Ashley currently waitresses at Buttermilk Channel and Matt works at the Farm on Adderly. Inspired by both restaurants’ community feel and commitment to local, seasonal products, the couple decided to start out on their own with a food truck called The Fat Beagle. Drawing from Matt’s culinary upbringing in North Carolina, their focus is Southern barbecue with a creative twist. They have been bringing it to life since last Fall with pop-up events throughout Brooklyn. Their debut at No. 7 in Fort Greene treated guests to classics like pulled pork and brisket sandwiches, and small bites like sweet potato fries, fried pickles, and cornbread with honey butter and sorghum. An unexpected favorite was their vinegar fried chicken sandwich with bacon and jalepeno. In December, the Fat Beagle arrived at Sycamore for lunch in the Weavils’ neighborhood of Ditmas Park. The star of the show was Q in a Cup; layers of baked beans, coleslaw, pork, and cornbread served in a mason jar.

As they prep for the truck’s arrival, expect more pop-up events around the borough. They’ll be testing recipes to whittle down the menu, which will rotate throughout the year to support a seasonal and local philosophy. Their hope is to work with bars looking for food trucks in their backyards as a primary location, but look out for them on the streets by mid-2012. Check out their website, thefatbeagle.com, for updates as their journey develops.

Mob Mentality Takes Over Downtown Brooklyn

Obscure history buffs will know what Maimonide of Brooklyn (MoB) is all about before even glancing at the menu. Maimonide, the ancient philosopher and doctor, was one of the first to figure out that there was a connection between eating fruits and vegetables and good health. It should come as no surprise, then, that MoB is a vegetarian restaurant near Atlantic Terminal at 525 Atlantic Avenue. It is the venture of hotelier, Cyril Aouizerate, who is the co-creator of Mama Shelter in Paris, and is a surprisingly seamless blend of Brooklyn and Parisian culture. One part trendy eatery, one part family-friendly dining, and one part hipster hotspot, MoB combines the best of both worlds between cheap eats and fine dining. The restaurant itself has a cozy neighborhood feel to it with an unpretentious atmosphere (complete with a comic book detailing their story and celebrating the Brooklyn and vegetarian lifestyle) and the prices to match, but the quality of the food and impeccable service make you feel as if you’re treating yourself to a high-end meal.

Take a seat at one of the large wooden communal tables or in the outdoor garden and browse the unique menu centered around their MOBs, a dish similar to a deep-dish pizza slice or an open-face sandwich. A piece of dough shaped like the arches of the Brooklyn Bridge is piled with fresh fruits and vegetables, which is served in a special serving tray cast in Paris that’s imprinted with all of Brooklyn’s neighborhoods. Most MOBs are a grouping of ingredients meant to help a particular ailment, like the Brainiac with sautéed sour apple, baby beets, sunchokes, and walnut wasabi oil, or the Glowing Skin with kalamata olive and sunflower seed tapenade, grilled zucchini, avocado, tomato, and orange. Other highlights are the Rock MOB with a creamy white bean, fennel seed, and almond milk base topped with escarole, pear, and basil, or their sweet MOBs, like the Energizer with raisin and date marmalade, honey roasted pear, toasted almonds, and coconut whipped cream. All of their offerings have a skillful balance of textures, and salty and sweet ingredients.

While the MOBs are the stars of Maimonide, the rest of the menu is not to be ignored.  Their starters include a creamy corn soup with popcorn, oven baked mushroom and chick pea nuggets with honey mustard, and two versions of their vegetarian saucisson. Both their fruit saucisson of fig, date, hazelnut, and pistachio and their fennel and sage saucisson of sundried tomato, porcini mushroom, and sunflower seed with aioli are hung, dried, and sliced like traditional sausage. For dessert, don’t miss their vegan carrot cake with chestnut cinnamon frosting. Keep a look out as the year goes on for events taking place at MoB as well. As the venue develops, it’s sure to be a vegetarian staple in the heart of Brooklyn.

Just Desserts

By Filed Under: Park Slope Eater

Somewhere along the line, the focus of the holidays shifted from all of the good things they bring to everyone arguing about what the most important of these things is. Is there a War on Christmas? Has it all become too commercialized? Is it about bringing ancient family feuds back up to the surface, who got the best presents, which type of tree to get, which charity to volunteer with? No. I think all sensible people can agree that the holidays are about dessert.

What is truly precious about this time of year is getting a free pass to eat as much dessert as you possibly can, in as many varieties as you are given the opportunity to eat. That’s why I think it’s important at this time of year to talk about what’s happening in the bakeries of Brooklyn. Thankfully, they’re giving us a lot to stuff our stockings with.

The Traditionalist With a Twist

Joe Monaco has not had a quiet life as a baker. In his thirty-seven years working at Veniero’s Pasticceria in Manhattan, he baked a birthday cake for Elizabeth Taylor, a wedding cake for Marty Markowitz, and an anniversary cake for Mickey Mouse, along with being filmed by the Food Network and a crew that flew in from Japan just to watch him make his famous cheesecake. But his two-year-old bakery in Bay Ridge, Monaco’s, lacks the flashiness of what one would expect from a new venture of a man with such an impressive resumé. Instead, you find the familiar, comforting feel of a mom-and-pop bakery, filled with a sense of community and nostalgia.

Monaco got his start in the kitchen of the Court Street Pastry Shop shortly after emigrating from Naples, Italy, eventually making his way to Veniero’s. The owner’s nephew saw potential in Monaco, and gave him his own kitchen to work in, and his innovations greatly expanded Veniero’s repertoire. Along with introducing new types of cake and tarts borrowing from the French traditions of baking, Monaco was the first to suggest that Veniero’s sell seasonal pies during the holidays. His first batch sold out by the end of the day, and when he left, the shop was selling 3,000 pies a week.  Monaco’s simple, traditional baking style hit an emotional chord with his customers, and when they heard word that he was leaving Veniero’s and opening his own bakery using the proceeds from selling his house, they followed suit. Calls started coming in asking for deliveries across the country, and one woman asked if he could have her favorite cake ready for her as soon as she landed in Brooklyn from Arkansas. Everything is baked in the kitchen next door, and you can watch the Monacos tinkering with their recipes through the window of the café. This homestyle baking is the kind you remember from your childhood, without any additives or substitutions and made with a lot of love, but it isn’t simply the baked goods alone that keeps people coming back.  It isn’t unusual for Bay Ridge residents to pop into Monaco’s a couple times a week for a coffee and a treat, or just to catch up with Joe’s wife, Elizabeth, whose friendly presence makes you feel instantly at home.

What makes Monaco’s really stand out from the run-of-the-mill Italian bakery is that he serves up just the right amount of innovation with his goods. The cake that immediately caught my eye in the case was his rainbow cookie cake, which was constructed of an outer ring of rainbow cookies, held together with the thinnest layer of raspberry pureé, and filled with perfectly fluffy Bavarian cream, topped with a chocolate ganache. Thankfully, Monaco’s has mini-versions of nearly every one of their cakes and tarts available, and I was able to devour one on the spot. In fact, this particular cake can be seen as a symbol for Monaco’s as a whole: a slightly modern twist on a classic.  There is plenty to look forward to at Monaco’s this holiday season. The usual will continue to be served – think breakfast pastries in the morning and Monaco favorites of cheesecakes, strawberry shortcakes, and tiramisu in the afternoons – as well as an assortment of pies, profiteroles, and the traditional Sicilian dessert, cassata. Even if you’re not ordering up a custom cake, Monaco’s would be the perfect place to pass a snowy afternoon with a cappuccino and a few of your favorite cookies, feeling like you’re back in the New York of so long ago.

The Treats Truck Finds a Parking Spot

His name is Sugar. (A boy named Sugar? Yes, it’s just how it is.) He’s silver, inviting, and smells amazing. Perhaps you’ve seen him around in his favorite places to hang out in Park Slope, Queens, and Manhattan, shelling his homemade baked goods to hungry fans. He is, of course, the truck of the beloved Treats Truck, run by Kim Ima. They hit the streets together in 2007 after much encouragement from Ima’s friends and family – who had been enjoying the results of Ima’s love of baking her whole life – and has been a hit ever since. Without any professional training, Ima created her treats through years of simply having fun in the kitchen and responding to what her friends enjoyed most. “Not too fancy, always delicious” is her motto, and it rings true with her assortment of cookies, brownies, and cupcakes that can be found in the truck. These are the classics (sugar cookies, crème-filled sandwich cookies, rice krispy treats, and lemon squares) and fun unexpected specials, like cake sandwiches, pumpkin swirl cookies, pecan butterscotch bars, or poppy seed cake.

The Treats Truck’s homegrown roots shine through with the sense of community between Ima and her customers. A favorite feature has always been that, upon ordering a brownie or other bar treat, you’re asked whether you prefer a center, corner, or side piece. (Center is clearly the correct answer.) Ima also holds contests for customers to name new treats or help come up with new ideas. There is even the Coconut Mitch, named after the man who asked weekly if Ima was going to have anything with coconut in it soon. Ima likes picking up trends based on the tastes of different neighborhoods (Park Slope loves their oatmeal cookies), and takes care to stock up before making the rounds. In a way, the Treats Truck is still just like one of Ima’s tasting parties that launched her career.

Fans and curious readers longing for more of a sense of permanence for the Treats Truck have had their holiday wishes come true. In November, Ima released The Treats Truck Baking Book which has recipes for all of the truck’s greatest hits, along with a few new ideas, like ice cream treats. You’ll be happy to know that these recipes even include how to make your ice cream cone cupcake, one of the most whimsical treats offered in the truck. One of the book’s strongest features is how easy it makes it to create your own recipes with mix-and-match suggestions throughout the book, showing how to make even more versions by switching the frosting, filling, or crust, or slightly tweaking the flavor. Just like the truck’s approach to no-frills eating, most of the recipes are easy to tackle and focuses more on fun than perfection. This perfectly designed and compact book is a perfect gift for both seasoned bakers and amateurs alike.

But if you’d still rather just be served a treat rather than make one yourself, Ima is also opening the Treats Truck Stop in Carroll Gardens, at 521 Court Street. The bakery and café will have all of the treats available for sale, as well as light breakfast and lunch options throughout the day. While baking has been done in Red Hook, now customers can watch production happening through a window in the back seating area, continuing to foster that connection between the truck and the community it serves. In contrast to the feel of the Truck, which is constantly in motion, the Stop will allow customers to relax and enjoy. In the end, it’s about a simple kind of joy, one that Ima strongly believes can be created through the power of treats. So treat yourself, or treat a friend, with the Treats Truck, Stop, or Book.

Fool Them With a Vegan Option

The holidays can be a tricky time of year for restricted diets. Once again, your family “forgot” to serve a single animal-product-free dish at the Thanksgiving table, despite having been a vegetarian for the past ten years. Once again, you have to convince yourself that the one gluten-free option for dessert – this grapefruit – is just as delicious as the piles of cookies, cakes, and pies on the table. Thankfully, Sun in Bloom in Park Slope is around to remedy that this year. Inspired by her discovery of her passion for a healthy lifestyle, holistic health coach Aimee Follette decided to open a café and bakery to make those diets more accessible. Offering vegetarian dishes (all of which can be made gluten-free, most of which can be prepared raw), vegan and gluten-free baked goods, and a juice cleanse program, Sun in Bloom provides a warm and welcoming environment for those seeking out a healthier lifestyle, either by choice or necessity.

Many people are skeptical how vegan baking can be done at all, let alone done well, but put any assumptions aside. The cupcakes, muffins, and cookies offered throughout the year are delicious and incredibly moist. It should be noted that “gluten-free” is not akin to “sugar-free,” so they are sweet without being overbearingly so. Last year, during Sun in Bloom’s first holiday season, regular customers returning to the city after celebrations spent with their family raved about all of the compliments they got from their pies, without ever knowing they were eating vegan baking! It would be a great opportunity to introduce those in doubt to the concept that a vegan or gluten-free diet can be just as tasty and fulfilling. And if your family is visiting, take them to the increasingly popular weekend brunch, which has a menu that changes weekly depending on the season and Follette’s whims. One weekend offered apple pie pancakes, a quinoa burrito, and a butternut squash and shitake mushroom soup, among other intriguing dishes.

But we’ve been focusing a lot on stuffing our faces with baked goods and brunch, like one tends to do during the holidays. Come New Years’, losing weight is the most popular resolution for a reason. After indulging for months, perhaps it’s time to test out Sun in Bloom’s juice cleanse. Follette, who has cleansed at least twice a year for the past seven years and credits her introduction to cleansing as how she discovered her Celiac’s disease, has developed a nonthreatening program meant to recharge your system, get back in tune with your body, and reevaluate your relationship with food. She works with people individually to create a cleanse that suits their needs (a much safer option than assuming the cleanses you read about are one-size-fits-all), usually for a choice of three, five, or ten days. The basic program is four green juices a day, along with a spicy lemonade, a watermelon juice, and a brazil nut milk. Options to include a raw food meal are available, and the supplies can be delivered throughout Park Slope and Prospect Heights.

What makes Sun in Bloom’s cleanse stand out is their use of a Norwalk Press, an hydraulic press that has no oxidation effects on the produce it presses, creates a much smoother consistency, and extracts thirty percent more minerals and nutrients from the fruits and vegetables than a standard juicer. Believe it or not, these juices are filling, not to mention tasty. Even the intimidating green juice – consisting of collard greens, romaine lettuce, celery, parsley, and cucumber – is delicious and refreshing, and if I hadn’t been told I was drinking the Sweet Lady Green, I would’ve believe it was the sweeter Green Lady Dream, which also has green apple, kale, and lime in it. This magical drink is the key to the detoxifying properties of a juice cleanse since it is packed with antioxidants and alkalizing benefits.

So, why cleanse? For starters, it has been found that eighty percent of disease starts in the colon, so it has the immediate benefits of ridding your body from any toxins that have been sitting around, unable to be used. But what Follette enjoys most about the cleanse, especially on a three-day time frame, is that it sets you up for success for a more permanent lifestyle change. It discourages the yo-yo effect of dieting and helps you pinpoint the struggles you’ve been having with food once you have a clean slate. Were you eating out of boredom? Were you unaware of an allergy? Now, you can start fresh knowing that it is possible to live without any unhealthy habits. But that can wait until New Years’. In the meantime, I’ll be helping myself to another pumpkin spice cupcake.

Season to Thrive: Kabocha Squash & Sage Butter

By Filed Under: Park Slope Eater

For this issue’s seasonal feature, I’m sharing a wonderful fall squash recipe from Sustainable Table’s friend Brendan Brazier, also recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on plant-based nutrition.  Brendan is a professional Ironman triathlete, bestselling author of The Thrive Diet (Penguin, 2007), and just released a new book, Thrive Foods (2011, Da Capo), featuring incredible recipes highlighting his “Nutrient-to-Resource Ratio.” Brendan is also partnering with our EatWellGuide.org to provide resources for buying sustainable produce to create these earth-friendly recipes.  Learn more at BrendanBrazier.com.

Enjoy the harvest and the simplicity of real food and each moment.  Best, Destin

Recipe

In Thrive Foods, the goal is simple: get as high a level of health-boosting micronutrients from food, while expending the smallest amount of each natural resource to do so.  There are also 200 recipes in the book, including a few from Brendan’s favorite North American restaurants (New York’s Candle 79, and Jivamukti Café are among them), as well as a few of his favorite chefs (including Dirt Candy’s Iron chef competitor, Amanda Cohen and Tal Ronnen).  This is one of our favorite recipes from the book and the perfect fall meal, especially after a run or bike ride in the park.

To save time, make the rice and butter while the squash is cooking. Yams may also be used in place of the kabocha.  Time: 1 hour prep; 30–45 minutes for the rice.

Makes 4 servings

1 pound kabocha squash (about 1⁄2 medium squash)
3 tbsp melted coconut oil + 1 tbsp, divided
1⁄2 cup wild rice 1⁄2 cup brown rice
2 cups water
1⁄2 tbsp chopped fresh sage, packed
1 tbsp minced shallots
1⁄2 tsp salt

• Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the squash in half, then scoout and discard the seeds.
• Use 1 tbsp coconut oil to lightly brush the cut areas of the squash, and place cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake for 40–45 minutes or until soft when pierced with a fork.
• When cool enough to handle, cut into 1-inch chunks (skin may be left on for extra flavor and nutrition or disposed of). Keep warm.
• To make the rice, combine the rices and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and let simmer, covered, until done.
• Meanwhile, in a food processor, blend 3 tbsp coconut oil, sage, shallots, and salt until smooth.

To serve: In a large pan, heat the sage butter mixture over medium-low heat for 1 minute. Add the rice and toss to combine, and cook for 1 minute longer while stirring constantly. Remove from heat and carefully fold in the squash.