Eating Out in Brooklyn

‘You can eat out every day in Brooklyn for a year and still have plenty of places left to go…  some of the best restaurants in New York are here.’ that’s what one taxi driver told me. During my stay in Park Slope I did my best to try as many of the restaurants as I could. It’s common to eat out and popular to have a take-out. My daughter told me that home cooking is not a priority in New York.

This blog isn’t about reviewing restaurants but I just wanted to give you a little taste (excuse the pun) of my gastronomic experiences. I have included links to some of the cafés, bars and restaurants I enjoyed.

I had some wonderful pasta with rocket pesto, fresh tomatoes and zucchini at Rucola, a fabulous Italian restaurant on the corner of Dean Street and Bond, to start we had roasted carrot salad, unusual and delizioso (delicious obvs). Slow cooked barbecue pork is popular on many of the menus, often served in a sandwich and of course all sandwiches come with fries, and the fries are fantastic, there are mostly roughly cut and thin, perhaps a little heavy on the salt but I don’t mind that. Salads are abundant and you can mostly get a base variety of lettuce and then add what you like to the top, Building on Bond made a mean salad, Bob’s Cob being one of them.

Of course, hamburgers are plentiful and there are $5 hot-dog stands on every corner of Manhattan. Food from street vendors is popular and people pick up a pretzel or a doughnut on their way to work. Speaking of doughnuts I had them twice for breakfast, best  I’ve ever tasted, honestly…

Delicious caramelized onion soup at Café Colette in Williamsburg, an area of Brooklyn. This café was buzzing one Monday lunchtime. Alchemy bar and restaurant in Park Slope Brooklyn was just round the corner from our house so a favourite haunt with the family. Roast chicken was a popular choice for us but also the mussels went down pretty well!

It was wonderful to stroll down 5th avenue Brooklyn, (not to be confused with 5th Avenue Manhattan) and stop at one of several coffee shops to choose a coffee from the enormous list of options. Straight coffee, soya latte, cappuccino, mocha, espresso, skinny latte, chai latte, etc., and of course everything comes in small, regular or large AND you can have any of them iced! Best to make up your mind before you get to the shop then you don’t stand staring at the menu boards for ages. Of course, coffee must be accompanied by a little something; croissant, muffin, Danish, cookie, turnover…oh it goes on and on and so have the pounds! Mercifully, as I also did a lot of walking whilst staying in America I have managed not to pile on too much weight.

One more little point…Before leaving I did have to pay a visit to the amazing deli, Sahadi’s on Atlantic Avenue to purchase a few double choc malt balls to bring back to Italy…didn’t buy nearly enough though…

Next time I visit NYC, first thing on my list is a trip to the famous deli Dean & Deluca’s in Manhattan …I just don’t know how I managed to miss it this time round. Guess I was a little busy becoming a Nonna (Grandmother) and that truly was the best experience for me during my stay.