Have been collecting notes, via noshes, for great eats in Brooklyn and the outer boroughs, including the one that thinks it's the inner (Mannie), and so a quick round-up:
--Milk Bar, 620 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn. First, coffee lovers, their Flat White, Australian in origin, is just a great cuppa. Then, the Mushroom Toast on multigrain; add a poached egg or two, and you'll come back again and again. As I have. Took some young friends of mine for a walk recently and as they decided to snooze, I settled in for quite a while, drinking said Flat White in the warm sun.
--Bierkraft, 191 Fifth Ave, Brooklyn. This place is so famous that my reviewing it per se makes no sense, but what's new, at least to me, is their serving made-to-order sandwiches on baguettes, none better than the home-baked turkey, that you can actually sit down and eat. Where cash registers once roamed, now there are benches and tables, all very down-home.
--Not in Brooklyn (yes, one does leave eventually) but on the spur of the moment recently, we went to Joe's Shanghai in Chinatown. Oh, boy. Order the soup dumplings. And the scallion pancakes. Enjoy the pandemonium and the other ten people at your table (communal seating).
--And a bit uptown from there and deserving of about 25 posts: Dirt Candy. Another impulsive eating expedition (aka dinner when starving). With one of my very favorite dining partners, we ordered and shared (I'm pulling these straight off the menu): Portobello mousse, truffled toast, pear & fennel compote (even better than it sounds), Crispy tofu with broccoli & broccolini, and orange beurre blanc; and Parsnip gnocchi, creamy root vegetable slaw, carrot crumbs. That I can remember precisely what we ate several weeks later, well, draw your own conclusions. Vegetarian delight and a thrill for the rest of us to realize just how superb eating can be without the customary sacrifice of animal.
Photo from special event in Boston