Isa

Sometimes, a plan just doesn't work out. Our recent trip to Brooklyn was kind of a disaster. In addition to messed up dinner reservations (who knew that Fatty Cue had two locations? and that one of them was closed?), we also had the excitement of a surprise attack of strep throat half way through the trip. All of a sudden, Bbq Jr had a raging fever and was exhausted. (Pro tip for recognizing a fever in a little boy? When the armor section at the Met is uninteresting to him).

Right, so after some naps, and a fair amount of tylenol and advil for fever control, we traipsed out for dinner. I'd heard that Isa was good, and it was empty at 6 o'clock (early for New Yorkers, perfect for the fever family).

The menu at Isa is quite simple. Bread. Ham. Cheese. Yeah, that ham? It's La Quercia shaved prosciutto. No biggie. With a "Rhubix Cuke" (a rhubarb-cucumber-gin cocktail) it made for a promising start. I hadn't planned on blogging this meal, so there aren't many pictures. But by the end of the meal, it was clear that I should have been photographing dinner. Each dish was beautiful.



They've also got a fairly unusual wine list. This is the first place I'd ever tried an orange wine. Orange wine is when you start out making a white wine, but let the grapes sit on the skins to soak out the color. I found the flavor interesting, if a bit green tasting. Glad I tried it, but quickly switched to red.

Steak tartare on a sunchoke paste was easily the best tartare I've ever had. But this was the most beautiful dish of the night:


A whole roasted squid served with ink and sauce. I wish I had loved this dish, because it is so beautiful. But much like a whole roasted turkey, a whole grilled squid is a pretty silly thing to serve. Parts were beautifully cooked, and parts were overcooked. It was good, but not as good as it looks.

We ended the meal with a beautiful pork and blood sausage dish that was delicious. Followed by rhubarb with earl grey ice cream, this memorable meal was one of the best parts of our trip.

UPDATE: Isa just fired their kitchen staff. What a crying shame. This fantastic little restaurant won't be the same.

Isa
348 Wythe Ave, Brooklyn, New York
(347) 689-3594
Mon-Sat 6 pm - 11:30 pm
Sun 6 pm - 10 pm


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By Bbq Dude

Woodfire Grill - Atlanta

I was fortunate enough to visit the Woodfire Grill in Atlanta last night.  The head chef at Woodfire (Kevin Gillespie) was a contestant on Top Chef Las Vegas (2009). And quite frankly, as someone who hadn't tasted his food, I found his food the most interesting conceptually on that season of Top Chef. He likes smoke. He likes bbq. And he likes fun meats. Do you know anyone else like that?

I really wanted to like Woodfire Grill. But I confess, I didn't like it as much as I wanted to. I started with the wood-oven roasted honey mussels with house made chorizo, potato and spicy tomato broth with grilled bread. There's a new fad, I've noticed, to burn the bread that gets served. I don't mean leave black grill marks on it, but to full on burn the bread. I don't enjoy charcoal in my meal, I don't enjoy burned bread. This would be a minor annoyance if the mussels hadn't had grit in them and were served in what seemed a spicy Campbell's soup. This dish was a a beautiful failure.

I moved on to the wood-grilled Hudson valley duck breast with some sort of cabbage/veggie mush. I liked this dish. The duck, while simple, was perfectly prepared. The cabbage mush, while unappealing to look at, provided a nice acidic contrast to the duck. And the Pinot Noir – Van Duzer that was matched with it went extremely well.

The real success of the evening was the dessert. Banana pain perdu with vanilla ice cream, salted caramel, banana crème anglaise and candied bacon - as described by the waiter, "The best thing I've ever put in my mouth." That raised an eyebrow. And, you know, bacon. Pain perdu is essentially French toast. Except the French toast is soaked in a custard. So yeah, that was tasty. The candied bacon was a nice touch, but loaded on a little heavy. Served with the Tokaji Cuvée Patrícia - Királyudvar. That was magnificent.

A final note - you know that you're in the South when you read the reviews that say, "Good restaurant, but the servings are a little small". These servings were enormous. No way I could have tackled the tasting menu. I watched a man plough his way through the tasting menu, I could only have done it if I'd skipped all my meals today.

All in all, I'm glad I went. But this restaurant isn't Genius. It's merely a good meal.

Pizzeria Bruno

Blogging changes things. It changes your surroundings. Walk into a restaurant with your 4 ½ year-old son. Carry a camera. And you will be treated differently than if you were not carrying that camera. It's 2010. They know why I have a camera. Even though ¾ of the photos I take are of Bbq Jr., they know that I'm going to blog about the food. I noticed it at the Lazy Ox. And I definitely noticed it tonight at Pizzeria Bruno.

"Daddy, why does the door not have a top?"



"I don't know. Maybe to let the air in and keep the cats out?"

Pizzeria Bruno is already well-known in San Diego for their fancy Italian pizza oven named Bruno (<--check out the nifty pic that KirkK put up).  Less well-known for the half door in the entrance.

But Bbq Jr. wanted to see the oven.  When we visited, we sat inside. And they graciously let us walk behind the bar so he could peer inside the oven (Bruno) where Bbq Jr.'s pizza was cooking. Indeed, they're so careful here, they cooked the pepperoni separately from the pizza and layered it onto the pizza after cooking. Beautiful.



As I mentioned earlier, they noticed the camera.  And we got better service for it.

The waitress: "We've added free buffalo mozzarella to your pizzas." The buffalo mozzarella is a $5 addition normally. "It comes from virgin cows grazing the Sicilian mountains in the shade of Sangiovese grape groves." Okay, that last sentence is bogus. But she told me a story about how lovely the buffalo mozzarella was, and why it was lovely. I just can't remember it. But it *was* lovely. Fresh. Smooth. Rich. And delicious.  And free.



And then, out came the margherita. Pizza doesn't need a ton of toppings to make it lovely. Good pizza needs merely good quality ingredients. And this pizza has it.  The cheese and sauce and the basil are amazing.  But the crust - um...  The crust on both pizzas was soggy.  So soggy, it couldn't be picked up.

Indeed, there was a pool of juice on Bbq Jr.'s plate before we'd even cut into the pizza.  Don't get me wrong, the toppings are *amazing*.  But the crust leaves something to be desired.  I don't know if they need to change the crust or add less liquid to the toppings (less sauce?  more concentrated sauce?  not sure).

At the end of the meal, I asked Bbq Jr., "Where would you rather have pizza?  Here?  Or at Blind Lady?  His response?  "Here, Daddy.  I can watch the pizza oven here."

We'll be back.  And we'll be carrying a camera on all of our restaurant visits from now on.  Even when we're not taking pictures.  And I'll suggest that you do, too.


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