Cafe Martino Prix Fix Dinner Specials

A reader recently urged me to stop into Cafe Martino, and while I still plan on doing that, I thought I'd relay something I saw over at Myrtle Minutes. Cafe Martino is now offering Prix Fix Dinner Specials in addition to breakfast and lunch.

I've heard nothing but great things about this place but I just haven't had the opportunity to stop in. Now that they'll be open a little later, I hope I'll be able to.

Information:

Cafe Martino
559 Myrtle Ave
Brooklyn, NY
718.636.3966

Google Map

CHB's Take on Takeout

The blogoholics over at Clinton Hill Blog have a post up today about takeout in the neighborhood, which reminds me that I'm overdue on a post I've been working on that was requested in a comment a while back about the same thing (Ed Note: Wow, that was an unweildy sentence). A proper Clinton Hill Takeout post will be forthcoming at some point, but off the top of my head:

Kinara is pretty great. I'm taking my first tepid steps into the world of Indian food, but I'm enjoying everything so far. Try the tikka masala or the vindaloo (if you can handle spicy).

Focaccino makes a unique pizza and their sandwiches are pretty inexpensive and very good. Half of them seem to have goat cheese on them, which is fine by me.

As I mentioned the other day, I'm in love with the toasted monte cristo panini from Bergen Bagels. Everything from them is good, though.

Little Louie's pizza on Myrtle is my favorite straight pie, but Liberty is pretty good as well.

For sushi, I've been ordering from Sushi Tatsu for a long time. Try the Samurai Roll.

I'm still looking for my favorite Chinese place. I haven't had much Chinese since moving in, and we seem to try a different restaurant each time we order, so I don't have a good idea of what's the best. Any suggestions?

New Favorite Hangover Food

Hope everyone had a great three-day weekend. We tied more than a few on during our respite, and twice were in dire need of foodstuffs the morning after. My new favorite Food for Those With Hangover™ is Bergen Bagels. It's hardly a secret to anyone around here, and I've been a fan of their bagels since I moved here. I didn't know (or had forgotten), that they delivered, but on Saturday (and again on Sunday), we gave them a try. Mick had nothing interesting - ham, egg, and cheese on a toasted everything bagel. I tried the reuben (decent but unspectacular) as well as the toasted monte cristo panini. We also tried the Russian panini.

The monte cristo is fantastic. Seriously, order one right now. It's my new favorite thing.

Oh, and one of the hangovers was partially caused by a Friday night at Rustik. We tried the wings and the pizza this time, and both were pretty good. The wings expecially are worth it - they're huge.

Information:

Bergen Bagels
486 Myrtle Ave
718.798.9300
Google Map

Once Again to Olea for Brunch

I know, I know. I need to change up where I go to brunch, especially with so many great places in the 'nabe. Next time I promise some place new, but we headed back to Olea once before before my dad and stepmom headed out of town. They'd heard our praise of the Savory Parmesan French Toast, and we couldn't deny them.

Two orders of the French toast later, along with a Spanish omelette and the cleverly-named Green Eggs and Lamb, and we had ourselves a brunch.

My green eggs weren't as good as I'd hoped they'd be, and I regretted not getting the French toast again. The Spanish omelette didn't disappoint, though.

Information:

Olea
171 Lafayette Ave
Brooklyn, NY
718.643.7003

Google Map

The Sunday Scavanger Omelet

I'll have a post later about our Friday night out at the opera, but until then I thought I'd write about the morning scavenging for an omelet. I knew I wanted to make a ham and cheese omelet but I figured I'd spice it up a bit with some cheeses we had sitting around.

For most of my omelets I beat two eggs in a bowl with some goodies, in this case salt, pepper, and oregano. I would have thrown some grated Parmesan in but I didn't have any handy and I'm very lazy.

The cheeses I used were shredded mozzarella, shaved Parmesan (yes, I wasn't too lazy to shave it), and some Danish blue that I crumbled up.

Before putting the eggs in the pan, I fried up a couple of slices of deluxe ham. Nothing fancy there. Take the ham out of the pan and re-oil it, pour in the eggs, throw in the cheese, add the ham back, and we're set. Simple and easy and it came out pretty great.

Marathon Brunch at Olea

Sunday marked the third time that the NYC Marathon has been run since I've lived in Clinton Hill. Each of the previous two years I've spent the day laying in bed and having nothing to do with it aside from later regretting not having anything to do with it. This year was a little different since we had cause to be out of the house at 9 in the morning. We'd planned to go to Olea for brunch but both of us had completely forgotten that the Marathon was going to be run that day.

Olea doesn't open until 10, so we took a leisurely stroll up and down Lafayette before settling in to a table outside at about a quarter of. It turned out to be a perfect place to have a great brunch and watch our first live marathon.

Olea's an incredible little Mediterranean restaurant on the corner of Lafayette and Adelphi. This was the third time I've been there and the second for brunch, and each time I've been floored by the food. There's lots of southern French, Italian, and Greek fare all mixed and matched in really interesting ways. This time I had the Savory Parmesan French Toast, which is completely different from what I'd imagined it would be when I ordered it. The French toast is made from a baguette and then covered in two poached eggs and doused with avgolemono sauce - something I'd never had but reminded me of hollandaise. They've also thrown some pea shoots and scallions in for good measure, and it comes with a side of home fries. Really interesting dish that kind of reminded me of an Italian neo-eggs Benedict.

Mickey had a Greek omelet that came with home fries and salad, and while she liked it I could tell she was jealous of my meal. Next time we go back she's definitely getting the french toast, while I think I might try the steak and eggs.

Also of note were the virgin bloody Marys we had - virgin because they couldn't sell liquor before noon. Even without the vodka these were amazing. I love spicy bloody Marys, and these ranked up there with the spiciest I've ever had. The rim of the glass is even coated with what looked like sea salt and cracked pepper. Definitely give it a try if you like them spicy.

The vantage point was perfect as well. The Marathon route runs down Lafayette, and aside from having to look through a bit of a crowd, we could see everything as it passed us by. We had such a good time that we're hoping to make the Olea Marathon Brunch™ a yearly tradition. We'll see if we can wake up in time next year.

Information:

Olea Restaurant
171 Lafayette Ave
718.643.7003

Google Map

Welcome

We spent most of yesterday out of the house and, for the first time in my life that I can remember, had two separate brunches. The first was at a fantastic little Mediterranean place on Lafayette called Oléa that we've enjoyed for a while. We were there at about 9:45 and got a seat outside - a perfect vantage point to watch the NYC Marathon. I had the parmesan French toast and Mickey had a Greek omelette. Both were outstanding, although she admitting being jealous of mine because it was lathered in hollandaise sauce.

Later, after a trip up to Queens to run some errands, we found ourselves having our second brunch at Maggie Brown where we eschewed the traditional brunch fair and each had a cheeseburger. Neither of us had ever been to Maggie Brown although I'd been meaning to for a while. The burger was great, especially notable for the excellent, reasy bun and the horseradish they sprinkle on top of the cheddar.

During the meal I mused out loud that I should start a blog about restaurants in Clinton Hill. There are new ones opening every week it seems, and since we both love food we try and hit as many of them as we can. As everyone should already know, Clinton Hill in Brooklyn is the "bloggiest" neighborhood in the nation. I'm a regular visitor to the fantastic Clinton Hill Blog, and I love when they post about new restaurants. Eating Clinton Hill is another I had high hopes for, but they don't seem to be updating much these days. By the end of the meal I'd decided it would be fun to try my hand at my own Brooklyn food blog. I haven't had a regular blog since 2000 or so, and back then it was about my adventures in web design and technology. I don't know if I'll have the time or the inclination to keep this updated regularly with interesting tidbits, but I'll give it a try in any event. Thanks for stopping by, and if you enjoy what you read, spread the word!