Dinner at Fushimi in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York

In the past weeks, I have been discovering Brooklyn's dining scene and I have to admit that there are quite few gems there! The last one I discovered is Fushimi, a Japanese restaurant located in Bay Ridge, where we were invited for dinner. Fushimi has two meanings: first it is the name of a city in Japan; second, it means "Clear water" in Japanese.

They have three locations: Bay Ridge and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, as well as Staten Island where they serve the same menu, an Asian fusion of Japanese, Korean, Thai, French and American cuisine, crafted by Executive Chef Chul Kee Ko.

Chef Chul Kee Ko has an impressive resume: born in Seoul Korea, his mom owned a popular Japanese restaurant, where Chef Ko helped in the kitchen at age 14. Then he went to the French Culinary Institute, before working for Jean Georges and Buddha Bar in Washington DC. The training in the latter allowed him to spend two months at the Buddha Bar in Paris. 

The restaurant is surprising: from outside, it looks like a club with the blue lights. Then, when you enter, the first room is dominated by the red and blue fluorescent bar, giving a lounge-y feel to the place. But it is not just a bar area, there are tables and booths were people can dine. I counted three more dining room, making this place quite big.

In the main dining room, you can sit at the counter, observing the Chef prepare the food, next to a small seafood display.

In the back is a cellar containing an impressive collection of sake.

I started the evening with a yuzu citron martini:

It was made of yuzu sake, citron (lemon) vodka, PunZone organic liqueur (vodka). It was good with a nice citrus-y taste, but clearly not something I would sip like milk...

The first two dishes were from their New Year's eve menu. It started with Four Senses of Lobster:

They took 1 1/2 lb lobster and prepared it 4 ways.

Tiradito that is similar to a ceviche, where slices of the lobster tail were topped with caviar and a spicy vinaigrette.

Villabate-Alba in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York

I admit that when I moved in the US, the only true Italian desserts I knew was the famous tiramisu. I do not recall having seen an Italian pastry shop, except in Marseille, South of France, when my parents used to go to this bakery to buy some Italian bread. For sure I traveled to Italy few times, but still, I can only remember the tiramisu or the gelato of course. Other desserts were unknown to me. Then I came to New York. My first cannoli was a disaster: not good at all and making me ignore this delicious pastry for many years, until Giorgio's in Hoboken.

So, on top of the usual excitement to discover a new place, I was excited to see what treasures Villabate-Alba had. This pastry shop and bakery is located in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, close to the Italian restaurant Il Colloseo that I posted last week. Believe it or not, but we went to these places the same day, hoping to optimize our time, sacrificing our diet...There, we got to meet with Anthony Alaimo, the son of Angelo Alaimo, who, with his other son Emanuele, started a bakery more than 30 years ago, naming it Villabate that is also the name of the town in Sicily they come from. Close by was a pastry shop called Alba. When the owner retired, he sold his shop to Angelo and that is how Villabate-Alba was born, merging the bakery and pastry shop altogether, making it the oldest in Brooklyn.

Villabate-Alba is not your small pastry shop and you may think, looking at the photo above, that it was quiet. It was not: I took this photo between two waves of customers. Yes, at some point it was packed and I cannot blame people who go there considering what this place has to offer.

When you enter, on the left, you cannot miss the gelato that they continue to offer, even if the temperature has dropped. I was glad to see that they have nocciola / Hazelnut that is my favorite flavor with praline, bringing me back few years ago, when Jodi and I were in Venice and Rome and had gelato everyday (keeps you hydrated!). 

Then is the counter where you can have a nice coffee with some pastries, or even breakfast.

When you go around the store, you see an incredible number of cakes, some looking amazing! Anthony told us that they also custom made cakes and showed us some of them that looked like edible works of art. They probably should get a show on TV (I guess this idea was already taken...).

The fruits below made with marzipan.

So we went at the counter where Anthony made us try few specialties. The first one was a Cassatella:

It is a white wine ravioli filled with ricotta (I should mention that their ricotta is imported from Sicily).

The shell was crispy and nicely sweet and the inside so smooth, it was divine.

Il Colosseo in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York

Last week end, Jodi and I were invited to Il Colosseo (The Coliseum), and Italian restaurant located in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, that opened in 1991, at a time where the area was an all Italian neighborhood. There, we met with Giulio Mannino, the son of the owner, Lorenzo.  He gave us a bit of history about his family who comes from Sicily and explained to us that he worked in the restaurant business since age 14. He also told me that the dishes at the restaurant are straight or derived from family recipes.

When you enter the restaurant, there is first the bar area.

Then, you pass an arch to go tot the dining room with its open kitchen in the back.

There is definitely a feel that it is an old Italian restaurant where you would eat traditional dishes.

Also visible from the dining room is the wood fire brick oven where they make pizza.

Apparently, when they opened, they were the first to have such oven in Brooklyn. 

Giulio decided to make us try different dishes that are on the menu. We first started with the Misto Mare, an appetizer plate composed of octopus, shrimp and baked clams:

The octopus and shrimp (that were of a nice size) were deliciously grilled, giving them a nice char; simply grilled I should say, letting them be the star. The octopus, purchased from one of their friends in Bensonhurst, was perfectly tender that is not a given, and they served the full animal...

Mexican brunch at Sabores in Hoboken, NJ

I am not sure how to start this post, the experience at Sabores being so disappointing, food and service wise. And it is not as if we went there right after they opened! 

Before I start with the details, let me give you some information on the restaurant. It is located in the middle of Washington street, and area that has always been tough for restaurants because there is more foot traffic downtown. Several restaurants tried but failed; the last one was Piri Piri, a Portuguese BBQ, unique in Hoboken. Of course, food or service are not the only reason: rent increase is a big factor that led, for instance, to the closure of my favorite Indian restaurant in town: India on the Hudson. 

So, Sabores serves Mexican cuisine. In fact, we were greeted by: "Here we serve real Mexican cuisine", probably a dig to East LA, a popular Mexican restaurant located few steps from it. 

The place is big (high ceilings) and very colorful with dark pink walls.

So, Sabores means "savors" in English: let see how the food measured up! Similar to most of the mexican restaurant we went to, they brought us some tortilla chips and salsa, a little after we ordered.

I guess it is the equivalent of bread and butter, Mexican style! I appreciated to have chips that were not stale as it happened some other times in other restaurants.

Then, we decided to order our favorite appetizer: guacamole!

Nice presentation, however, the avocado was not ripe, making it inedible. Interestingly, the table next to us had the same problem!

Jodi ordered the ensalada verde, made with red onions, tomatoes, avocados, arugula, corn and radish.

L'allegria in Hell's Kitchen, NYC, New York

There are times when, as soon as you enter in a restaurant, you get this feeling that you probably should have passed on it. It was what I felt at L'Allegria. The manager was outside and asked us to follow us inside, so far, nothing unusual. But then, he did not even hold the door, called somebody and left. As soon as we got seated, we heard a big noise and it was one of their customers pounding his fist at the table because something was wrong. We were too far to hear what the problem was, but there were four staff members surrounding him. It calmed down quickly, but Jodi and I were wondering what we were doing there! After a while, a waitress came to us, bringing us the menus. At least she was courteous, not like most if the staff that was not making us feel welcome. 

We ordered our food and had enough time to look at the 1970 decor of the restaurant. Yes, it clearly did not look modern! 

They also brought some bread that was most likely made with the same dough as the pizza and cooked in the same oven:

It came with some tasteless olive oil and some balsamic vinegar that had a consistency that made me think that it probably sat in that oil for a while...

We decided to order their Margherita pizza with fresh mozzarella. 

It was a six slice pie that had some cherry tomatoes and fresh basil as well.