Kinara II and Other Shenanigans

Things have been quiet in CHF land, with not much interesting eating or cooking going on as of late. We did quite a bit of grilling over Memorial Day weekend, but that was accompanied by quite a bit of drinking and not a lot of picture taking, so there's not much for me to really write about. I'm hoping to post some good grill recipes going into the summer, but I haven't had the chance to sit down and create a post about them yet.

We did get a chance to order from Kinara last night, and it was excellent as before. The deal they have for one appetizer and one entree along with nan for $11.95 is a pretty good value. Last night we had the chicken curry, chicken masala entrees with the chicken mali kebab and pekoras appetizers. Pekoras are described as "assorted fried fritters," but they all tasted pretty much the same and I was a little disappointed. They were great for making use of the various dipping sauces, though.

Neither the curry or tikka masala disappointed, however. I can now heartily recommend both along with the vindaloo I ordered last time.

I haven't tried Amin yet - does anyone have any opinions on how they compare? I'm really an Indian food novice and I'd love to learn more.

Information:

Kinara II Indian Restaurant
368 Myrtle Ave
Brooklyn, NY
718.237.4008

Google Map

Ruthie's, A Little Bit of Myrtle Soul

Another night where we didn't have the time or energy to cook. There have been a lot of those lately.

We initally tried to order from Peqeña, but it turns out we're outside of their delivery range. Fiddlesticks to that!

Our next choice was Ruthie's, and what a fine choice it was. This little place tucked away on the corner of Myrtle and Emerson is a real treasure. Their menu isn't expansive by any means, but everything is good. I had the smothered pork chops with sides of mashed potatoes and corn (pictures), and Mick got the fried chicken wings with mac and cheese and mashed potatoes. Both platters were excellent, if a little, shall we say, heavy. Don't plan on doing anything strenuous after Ruthie's - you won't be able to move.

For dessert I initally wanted some red velvet cake, but they were sadly sold out. We got the sweet potato pie instead, and I'm glad we did. It's one of my new favorite things in the world.

Information:

Ruthie's Restaurant
560 Myrtle Ave
Brooklyn, NY
718.399.2400

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?

Buff Patty?

I've walked by Buff Patty on Myrtle a few times, most recently last night, when I decided to order from Kinara. Today I was curious, so I did a bit of Googling. Lo and behold, the place sounds really good.

I think I'm going to swing by tonight. Anyone have a recommendation on what to order? I know I want one of those empenada-like patties, but beyond that, I'm at a loss.

A Little Indian

While I was out waking Riley, I decided that I had no interest in leftovers or cooking anything tonight, so I decided on delivery. As it happened, I was walking by Kinara II, so Indian it was.

I'm not really an Indian food connoisseur - in fact I know very little about it. I ordered a chicken vindaloo principally because I'm a fan of Red Dwarf. Yes, this is how I make many of my decisions.

The vindaloo alone wasn't enough to meet the delivery minimum, so I added some garlic pita bread.

Turns out, vindaloo is pretty good, and spicy as Hell. I absolutely loved it, and highly recommend it. I can't compare it against other Indian places, but everything I've read while poking around the intertrons says that it's pretty highly regarded.

Information:

Kinara II Indian Restaurant
368 Myrtle Ave
Brooklyn, NY
718.237.4008

Google Map

Focaccino

Focaccino's one of the myriad of new delivery places that are springing up around here, seemingly overnight. They're not technically located in Clinton Hill, but they deliver here, so I think they count. They're a self-described "Pizzeria and Espresso Bar," which to me sounds like someone wanted to open a nuevo-Italian restaurant and threw some darts at a wall full of Italian culinary terms. Whatever.

We got a menu in our mailroom a few months back, and were simultaneously impressed by its professionalism and wary of a restaurant that might be trying a bit too hard. Most of the best delivery places I've ever had never put half as much effort in to their menus. It was a bit of a red flag, but since my menu drawer can always use a bit of color and energy, I didn't complain. Not that I'm really sure who I would have complained to, mind you.

Anyway, we'd ordered a pizza from them once before, and while we liked it well enough, we'd never gone back for seconds. The other night, we decided to do just that.

Mick really wanted pizza, but I wasn't in the mood for it. They offer reasonably-sized perosnal pizzas, so she got one with pepperoni and mushrooms - both of our favorite toppings if we're going to get any. Focaccino offers a choice of dough on your pizza, which is actually kind of cool. She got the "special home dough," although we didn't ask what made it special or how it was different fromt he "regular" dough. In any event, it was pretty good. The most important factors in a pizza are the quality of the dough, sauce, and cheese, and Focaccino's strength is definitely the dough. Thankfully they don't screw it up by having bad sauce or cheese, although neither is really off the charts.

I felt like trying something a little more interesting than pizza, however, so I went with a sandwich. Much like the pizza, you have your choice of a variety of breads, and in my case I went with whole grain cibatta, which sounded to me like the kind of healthy/non-healthy oxymoron that I tend to enjoy. I enjoy goat cheese, so I went with, surprisingly enough, the Goat Cheese Sandwich, which has lettuce, tomatoes, grilled eggplant, goat cheese, and a "touch" of cream cheese. Why only a touch? Who knows, in these crazy times? I added some turkey for an extra $1.50, because hey, why not?

One quick note - Mick placed the order, and commented that the man who took it was really friendly and well-spoken, which is a nice change of pace around here. The delivery guy was the same, and whole thing felt very professional, much like the menu.

So, how was the food? Pretty good, as it turned out. Mick loved her pizza, and I was pretty happy with the sandwich. It was much bigger than I was expecting, and I could only finish a little over half of it. The goat cheese was very prevalent, and it wasn't too greasy, which is soemthing I feared. I think there might be a danger of over-greasiness if you were to choose a non-whole grain bread and throw pepperoni instead of turkey on it.

Has anyone else ordered from these guys? What did you think?

Information:

Focaccino
1069 Bedford Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11216
718.622.2228
Google Map

Graziella's

After Mickey's pizza post, we couldn't rightly go long without heading up to Graziella's, which was far and away the most recommended pizza place in the neighborhood. I'd been there twice before and have had this pizza, which I agree is some of the best in the neighborhood, if not the city.

It was lively but not too crowded, and we got a table right away. The decor is kind a mixed bag - the wood-burning oven and brick walls and such are great, but the visible dessert fridge and lighting make the place feel kind of like a diner.

Kitschy or not, the food is great. We ordered the cold antipasto for 2 and a bottle of chianti classico to go with our two personal pizzas.

The antipasto was good - lots of meat and cheese, but I wish there were more olives. I love picking at olives when I order an antipasto, and this one had maybe nine. They were gone quickly.

The pizzas were the real reason were were there, and they didn't disappoint. I had the Prosciutto and Mozzarella and Mick had the Four Veggie. Both were fantastic and quickly devoured.

The Four Veggie was probably the more interesting of the two, but the Prosciutto and Mozzarella smelled so good that a lady at a nearby table had to ask what it was so she could order it too.

If you're in Clinton Hill and want pizza, go to (or call) Graziella's. Do it.

I mean it.

Information:

Graziella's
232 Vanderbilt Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11205
718.789.5663
http://www.graziellasmenu.com

Google Map

Craving A Noodle Bowl

Today on the way to the gym I was craving a noodle bowl for some reason. There's nothing like that in our food court at work except for the a Chinese place, and their lo mein sucks and isn't really what I had in mind anyway. I was resigned to getting something else.

So I went to the gym and then to our company cafe, which was recently completely redone. Lo(!) and behold today they had a build your own noodle bowl bar. I got soba noodles with chicken and all sorts of other stuff in them - pea pods, sprouts, broccoli, tofu, mushrooms, and some other stuff I can't remember.

Just an awful picture, I know, but the lighting in my office sucks and it's a cell phone camera.

It's awesome, and spicy as hell (yay rooster sauce). So is there any place in Clinton Hill to get a great bowl of noodles? I think my favorite bowl in the city is this Thai place that I can't remember the name of in midtown - 56th or 57th I want to say. The spicy drunken noodles there are fantastic, but since I don't work in midtown any longer, I haven't been back. I'd love to find a great neighborhood noodle place - preferably one that delivers.

Searching for the Best Pizza Around

Since I was a small child, I've loved pizza. I love thin crust, Sicilian, thick crust, with toppings, without... the list goes on. I've tried making it at home- my best luck is still with a Boboli and some spiced up spaghetti sauce out of a jar (Brian is cringing to hear I use sauce from a... gulp....store). I've tried it from scratch- OK, the pizza dough is frozen but I still have to pretend to throw it up in the air and try to not hit the cats with my tossing about the apartment. that batch came out OK. It looked a little like something out of an Alien movie, but it was edible and didn't cause any major diseases. I've tried frozen pizzas- my personal favorite is DiGiorno (it's not delivery... it's DiGiorno). I've had some really good frozen pizza and some really bad frozen pizza. But all in all, it's not delivery.

I have also tried pizza all over the world. Not many people can say that they went to Fiji, had a pizza and managed to get a bacterial infection from it that lasted for a month. That ended with the lovely loss of 15 lbs.- yea dieting in the most unhealthy way possible! I've tried pizza in London, I've tried pizza in Athens, I even tried pizza on a boat off the coast of Mikanos. I've tried pizza in my home town of Hamilton, NY. Pub food rules- much better than slices (only the locals will get that one). I've tried pizza in South Carolina, Florida, Canada, Los Angeles, etc. But at the end of the day, I'm still looking for the best pizza in New York City (including the outer boroughs).

I am new to Clinton Hill as of about 6 months ago, so now my search can begin anew. I have tried a few spots in the area, so look for more details about these places coming up in the future.

Wish me luck!