Elizabeth’s Neighborhood Table

680 Columbus Avenue

Elizabeth’s Neighborhood Table will charm you right from the get-go.  As you walk down Columbus Avenue, you will see a quaint looking yellow house, complete with white columns, shutters, front porch, and rocking chairs.  This is not someone’s residence- it’s a restaurant in the middle of a fairly busy New York City street.  Elizabeth’s is delightfully out of place, a cozy little haven for American comfort food.

Photo from www.elizabethsnyc.com

The service is warm and friendly, and the atmosphere is super relaxed.  This is the definitely the type of place where you can linger over a nice meal with good friends and family.  The drink menu is fun and fairly broad in scope.  Try the Acai Cosmopolitan or the Gin Lizzie to start your evening with a punch.  For entrees, you cannot go wrong with the crispy fried chicken- they are not kidding around, this is some delicious, crispy bird.  If you like a nice crunch on your chicken skin, give this a go.  The chicken is mighty savory and not too greasy.  The portion size is rather massive- you get a half chicken, a mound of mac ‘n cheese, gravy, and greens.  I have a pretty hearty appetite, and I had some trouble finishing this fine plate.

Elizabeth’s style is to serve up food that is fresh, seasonal, and locally sourced.  They take pride in working directly with farms and co-ops, sourcing delicious, organic ingredients.  The ingredients really shine in their homemade veggie burger, which has creamy avocado, sunflower sprouts, and grains.  This is one satisfying veggie burger.  The flavors are hearty and the homemade dressing complemented the burger nicely.  I did not miss the meat one bit!

If the thought of a veggie burger makes you cringe, you needn’t worry.  Elizabeth has got you covered.  The restaurant offers what they call “The Whole Barn House” burger, which is half a pound of grass-fed beef, thick-sliced applewood smoked bacon, and aged white cheddar- topped with a farm fresh fried egg.  This bad boy is salty, smoky, and wondrously meaty.  The grass-fed beef is total burger bliss.  This is a burger for those who love to roll up their sleeves and get messy with the food.  I assure you, it is totally worth it.  You will probably have some runny egg yolk dripping down your chin at the end of your delectable burger conquest.

In addition to satisfying suppers, Elizabeth’s also serves brunch on weekends.  Whether you fancy corned beef hash, biscuits and gravy, or banana stuffed French toast, this place never fails to satisfy.  When you feel like stepping out of the city for a while, pop into the bright yellow house on Columbus with the flower garden and rocking chairs and settle in for a satisfyingly simple home-cooked meal.

Vamos Al Tequila
162 Franklin St, Brooklyn 11222

bohemias!

OK, let’s get one thing straight: Vamos Al Tequila is not worried about plating. They could care less if they give you beans that are vulgarly spread all over the place and totally crossing the border into your Spanish rice or your enchiladas.

It’s also not a place where you can expect gorgeous mood lighting or food that you really can share with your significant other while you gaze at each other’s eyes above a beautifully-exposed guacamole bowl in a molcajete.

It is, however, a place where you can get some of the best-tasting enchiladas, tamales and most well-seasoned beans this side of Bedford-Nostrand. When we walked into Vamos Al Tequila, I was already pretty pumped. It looked like a Mexican cantina, tacky colors, plastic tablecloths and all. I looked at the beer menu and they had Bohemias! This was all looking good. One of the reasons why I was into Vamos Al Tequila when I lived in Greenpoint is because they do what (to my surprise) MOST Mexican restaurants fail to do: make their own tortillas.

But when the boyfriend and I went a couple of weeks ago, now with some distance and many more taquerías under my belt, I was ready to be more critical. At first glance, the menu was so varied that I had a hard time choosing. They have 2 kinds of tacos (traditional and deluxe-y ones that have guac and other stuff on them besides the classic chopped onion and cilantro), they have tortas, they have mole, they have tamales…so after careful consideration, the boyfriend and I ordered tamales, enchiladas and of course, I had to have me some carnitas.

bad carnitas

We started off as everyone should—with chips and guacamole and salsa. And the salsa was…gross. No other way to say it. Pretty bad. It was watery and salty and had NO kick. Pass, please. But the guac! The guac was awesome. The avocados were perfectly ripe, the spice was there in all the right quantities, and the portion was good.

Now, for the food—and here is where I go chola on them. OK, first thumbs down is that Vamos refused to serve me one taco. I was FORCED to buy the two-taco order, which already puts me in WTF mode. So basically when the meals came, I looked like the fatty that had ordered two dinners. But it’s all good. It’s gonna be worth it when I have those carnitas. Right? Right??

Wrong. These carnitas are possibly the worst carnitas I have had in my life. They were dry. The tasted nuked. They were chopped too big. I had to not eat it. And I am the eater of all things pork. Like, ALL. And I was also outraged. How in God’s green Earth do you mess up one of the staple taco fillings of Mexican cuisine? Seriously, you guys, I cannot stress how bad these were. Do not eat the carnitas.

good enchiladas

But do eat the enchildas, because OMG. These enchildadas were as good as the carnitas were bad. The sauce was perfect in consistency, the tortillas were delicious, the seasonings were off the hook. It was so so good. Everything on that plate was good. The beans were terrific. The Spanish rice was tasty, which is often not the case with Spanish rice. And they topped it with real crema! I was in enchilada heaven.

The boyfriend’s rajas tamales were 100% veg and 100% delicious if you’re into that sort of thing. They were moist yet firm, the dough was not bland at all, and as far as presentation, they were the better ones.

tamales

So as far as Vamos Al Tequila goes, here is my final verdict: go if you are in north BK and want some amazing enchiladas. DO NOT go there for carnitas. But if you are in Greenpoint, it is the better of the Mexican joints there. Their carne asada tacos were great last time I went, and their shrimp ones were superb. And I use “superb” or italics sparingly.

Editor’s Note: Europhile Sam Griswold will be contributing the occasional blog entry about his favorite places in the city to watch the beautiful game. A near life-long soccer fan, Griswold is as well traveled as they come, having spent at least 2 years of his life in Pubs watching games from all over the world and then complaining about them afterwards. He currently resides in Greenpoint.

I can’t tell you how many hours of my life have been wasted waiting for bartenders to find a soccer game buried somewhere deep in the 300s. They usually only scroll 50 at-a-time with an exaggerated scowl on their face then pause to lovingly attend to the group watching the college football game. If and when the game finally does make it onto the screen—usually after three or four reminders on my part—I don’t even dare to ask for HD, let alone the sound or to get rid of the closed captioning. Finally, there is soccer on the TV. Usually the wrong game to start with. “What do you mean there’s two soccer games on at the same time?”

So, after about twenty minutes, with the right game finally on, I order a water to thank the waiter for his efforts and content myself with the corner I’ve been banished too, trying not to look behind me for fear of meeting the glaring eyes of the rest of the bar who are furious that one of the 32 TVs in the place isn’t on the Notre Dame game.

It can be rough finding a good place to watch a soccer game. Although, trust me, it’s not as bad as college hockey.

“I’m not sure we even get that channel.”

“Trust me you get it. Can I just have the remote?”

“Are you even going to order a beer?”

“Yes. Half-pint.”

Anyway, one of the great things about Williamsburg is that you can find almost anything, and that includes some great places to watch soccer. Places where rather than spending the first half arguing with the waiter, you can actually be drawn in off the street by the sights and sounds of the beautiful—well, not always because it’s often English soccer—game echoing onto the sidewalk.

The best atmosphere I’ve encountered for watching soccer was at the Iona bar. I went there for the first time hoping to watch a Champions League match last spring and was blown away. At 3 PM on a Wednesday afternoon the entire bar was full, with about 75% of people standing and the game being projected on a huge screen at the back of the pub. Most of the people in the bar were foreigners I’d say, predominantly English to judge by their teeth—although plenty of people have made that false assumption when they look at me. It felt just like being in a pub in Europe and I imagine if the atmosphere is that good midweek and midday, it must be great too on the weekend. Iona is the top candidate on my list of where to watch the EURO this summer—at least until they discover my true identity.

Spike Hill, perhaps surprisingly, is another great spot to enjoy some live soccer and it’s there that I’ve had better luck finding the obscure, meaningless mid-table match-ups that define me as a supporter. It is not the main entrance, but the side-room which doubles as a concert venue where you’ll find some peace and quiet and an impressive projector screen which sits above the stage. As you might imagine for a concert venue, it is an appropriately dark setting for the kind of heartbreak and melancholy that only a losing season can provide.

So, to conclude, I would say that if you’re looking for a loud, group atmosphere and if you like to think of watching games as an event or a party—maybe because your team actually wins from time to time—then I would go to Iona. And, if you prefer to be left to your own thoughts as you contemplate a Derby from a city and a region that no-one has ever heard of, then I’ll probably see you next weekend at Spike Hill and feel free to stay for the ECAC Hockey game after.

You may think that it doesn’t get more Williamsburg than a BBQ joint in a renovated garage—and that may have been true at some point—but now top that garage off with a fireplace roaring on a flat screen television, and butcher knives on the tap handles pouring out craft beer by the GALLONS, and you’ll think you’ve died and gone to hipster-heaven.

Welcome to Fette Sau, the place that should, and will be your go-to all-things-meat spot. Serving up Pork and Beef by the pound and cut, on butcher paper and tin plates. They have forks available but don’t feel compelled to use one; your fingers will suffice. The atmosphere and decor is casual at best.

Also, if you’re hungry and in a 3-block radius you can forget about resisting. Once you’ve turned onto Metropolitan you’ll be hit with the most mouth-watering of all mouth-watering aromas coming from their giant slow cooker, which is capable of smoking up to 500lbs of meat at a time. You’re hooked. Whatever gimmicky Mexican place you were thinking of dining at has been pushed to the back of your mind. Mexican food is for brunch anyways. This is dinner.

After you’ve picked the exact cut that caught your eye and ordered a GALLON of your favorite New York craft beer (screw pitchers right?), you’ll have a seat at one of the giant communal picnic tables (think beer garden), and dig in. Even their late night menu blows any competition out of the water. Seriously. The BEST pulled pork sandwiches in the Five-Boroughs are served from 11pm until they run out. And they will.

For the still skeptic: I understand that you may have been let down before.  You may think “There’s no way it can taste as good as it smells.” I too have been misled by a seductive sent when it comes to Barbecue, or cinnamon buns at the mall, etc. But let me be the first to tell you: The experience will exceed all aroma-based expectations. It is as good, if not better than it smells.

So plan on heading over there tonight around 5:30 because, on a nice day, lines reach around the corner, and you’re going to want to sit down and enjoy your meal.  Just in case it hasn’t been made clear—vegetarians are strongly discouraged. Though I don’t know why they would want to come to a place called “Fette Sau” (Fat pig in German) anyways.

Editor’s Note: The following post is Sarah Koehler’s first contribution to the ReALTO blog. Sarah has, impressively, been eating daily for the last twenty five years. She became a foodie while she was trying to impress a girl. Happily, the girl was impressed, and she and Sarah continue to explore restaurants all over New York City. When not dining out, Sarah can be found attending Broadway shows, or walking the world’s worst dog—her rat terrier, Minnie.

Sarah’s first entry is about Caffe Bene: 1611 Broadway (corner of W 49th St.) New York, NY 10019

I’ve been working in midtown Manhattan for the better part of a year and, let me tell you, it is
a bit of a food wasteland. (That is, if you’re not into Olive Garden, Starbucks, and TGI Fridays.)
When I saw that the South Korean coffee chain Caffe Bene was opening across the street from
my office, my expectations weren’t high. After all, what could another coffee place possibly offer
in an area saturated by Pax, Starbucks, and more coffee carts than you could shake a stick at?
The answer, my friends, is this: good coffee. The iced americano ($2.25) is incredibly strong
without tasting burned. The maple leaf latte ($4.35) is sweet without being sickeningly so, and
if you get the right barista they will even draw a maple leaf in it for you. If you’re not a coffee
drinker, there is tea, smoothies, and really killer hot chocolate available. If you specify that your
order is to stay, they will serve your drink in real dishes, rather than paper cups. I thought that
was a nice touch for a midtown coffee spot.

Now, what to eat with your coffee? I have one word for you, my friends: waffles. Fresh, hot,
made to order waffles, with both sweet and savory options for toppings. I sampled the waffle
with whipped cream and strawberries ($5.95) as well as the bacon, riccotta, and almond waffle
with peach compote ($6.45). The waffles themselves are sweet enough to be eaten plain, so
keep that in mind when you’re picking your toppings–lest you go into sugar shock. The waffles
are also smaller than your usual diner waffles (about the size of a CD case). They’re a great
snack, but not a full meal.
If you don’t want waffles, there is a plethora of pre-made sandwiches to choose from in the
refrigerator case by the door, ranging in price from $5.00-$7.00. You can find classics like ham
and swiss, but I have to recommend the goat cheese and pancetta baguette ($6.99). The
baguette was fresh with just the right amount of crunch, and there was just a little bit of fig jam
on it that brought the whole sandwich together.
The only thing that I don’t like about the place is the service. They’ve only been open for a few
weeks, so I expected some bumps. However, I have run into issues the last two times I visited.
The first time, no one at the counter seemed to know how to use the registers. Most recently, I
had to wait nearly fifteen minutes for an iced coffee– and this was after my waffle had come up. I
wouldn’t have minded the wait, but it was 4:15 pm and the place was nearly empty.
Service aside, Caffe Bene is a great addition to the wasteland that is the midtown coffee
landscape. It’s a nice place to sit down, read a book, and have a great cup of coffee. The food
is better than your average coffee chain, and it’s quickly become my go-to place when I need an
afternoon pick-me up!

Editor’s Note: Our first guest blog comes courtesy of Nadia Reiman, a self-proclaimed taco snob of Mexican-Chilean stock. Apparently there isn’t a taco in North Brooklyn that she hasn’t tried. For her regular contributions to this blog, Nadia will be hunting down the best Mexican food Brooklyn has to offer.

Her first entry is about La Superior: 295 Berry Street Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211

I am not one to believe the hype, especially the crackly dried tortilla-wrapped, overseasoned-ground-beef-gushing Brooklyn taco hype. And let’s face it, there’s a lot of it. But hey, that’s how it is, right? When it comes to restaurants, we are the land of plenty. In fact, we are the land of oversaturation. And thus, the hype is born.

It seems like you can’t go a block in Williamsburg without hitting a taco truck or restaurant of some sort. They all claim to have it down right: street tacos, fusion tacos, fish tacos, grilled seitan asada tacos. But for a Latina girl that grew up with a Mexican dad making chilaquiles every Sunday, you do not have it right. When I moved to the BK, I made it my business to find the flavors that reminded me of home. I grew up with double-tortilla-wrapped carnita morsels of heaven topped with fresh cilantro. I grew up with a million small salsas, each with their own back story and bases of smoked chiles, tomatillos, and even habaneros.

So when I got here, I ate at every single truck and stand I could find—and they all had the same problems. Salt does not equal flavor, people. Also, what is up with these giant crackly tortillas? Tacos are the food of beer Gods: to be eaten many at a time with a chilled one, each soft small corn island a bite-size of awesome star fillings.  I also found even the best places that were reviewed, ranted and raved about, to have consistency problems: sure, some had ok fish tacos but really despicable carnitas. Some would be good if only they changed their tortillas. Some had the potential for a good cochinita pibil but none of the balance of smoky, banana-leaf-wrapped full-bodied flavor.

And then I heard about La Superior. This is the real deal, my friends claimed. And I love my gringo friends, but I was like, “OK guys, but you also ate at Calexico.” So when I arrived at the small, red space at South 1^st and Berry, I was skeptical. The atmosphere was great, that was for sure: it had one of those taco boards that I had seen in Mexico City growing up listing all of the tacos as one would there: rajas, tinga de pollo, al pastor. Their menu even warned, “Do not eat the banana leaves.” Very cute, but I’ve been fooled by “authentic-looking” joints before. Then I started eating.

Now, I am not a salad type of girl. When my friends and I go out to eat, we are out to eat everything—and La Superior was no exception. My friend and fellow taco snob and I went and we threw down, ordering almost every taco on the menu. I can honestly say that La Superior proved its hype. Every taco that I had tasted differently than the one before, each one their own corn island of awesome. The first thing I noticed is that these tacos were taco-sized. The tortillas were soft and luscious, and each taco was topped with their chopped cilantro and onion garnish, like God intended—except for the cochinita pibil, which had its pickled onion topping, as it should have. Their carnitas were tasty and tender, not too dry, and perfect in spice and not salt. Their camarones con chipotle were tasty—though a bit heavy on the chipotle, and their al pastor had a good pork-to-pineapple ratio. I was thrilled to see rajas on the menu—and to see that they were done right. Perfectly cooked with crema and just slightly undersalted. They also offered the many salsas I so know and love to top their respective tacos.

It was obvious that La Superior’s owners, Iris Avelar and Felipe Mendez know and love Mexico City in all of its taco glory. Sure, not everything is perfect at La Superior—I actually like Hecho En Dumbo’s cochinita pibil better and their tinga de pollo was good but not as amazing as everything else—but it was pretty damn close. For tacos in Williamsburg, I go nowhere else.

Today we are officially launching the ReALTO blog, a place where we hope to establish an ongoing conversation about capital-F Food. Good Food. Interesting Food. New Food.

Of course we will be talking about some other topics, but we’ll probably be thinking about food while we’re saying them. What’s that you say? What other topics? Well, for one, booze (with and without a capital-b) will be discussed. To carry out all this Food-talk, we’ve assembled a crack team of guest bloggers who will be sharing their culinary musings with us on a semi-routine basis. You’ll hear from a group of people who have a wide range of interests and tastes when it comes to eating and drinking.

We hope that the diversity of opinion on this blog will generate an interesting conversation—and perhaps even start an argument or two. If you disagree with something said on the blog, feel free to comment on it (graciously, of course). We won’t take it personally, we promise. To paraphrase Groucho Marx, these may be our opinions but if you don’t like them, well, we have others. And to paraphrase the Dude, yeah…well…that’s just, like, your opinion, man.

I should also note that we’ll be using this blog occasionally to provide updates on ReALTO the company and all of the exciting things that we have in store for you, dear reader.

You see, ReALTO was founded by three guys whose love for food & drink is surpassed perhaps only by their desire to consume said food & drink affordably. It’s their belief that the time, and technology, is right for the restaurant and bar industry to experiment with alternative forms of menu pricing and, by extension, marketing.

The fundamental premise behind ReALTO is that each individual values a good or service differently when factors like time and location are taken into account.  While you may be willing to pay full menu price for a dinner on Friday night (since you always go out on Friday night), you might require a discount to be convinced to eat out on Wednesday night. Similarly, different individuals require different values for this discount. While it might take a discount of 50% to convince Sam to try out a new place on Wednesday night, perhaps Sarah would be willing to take the leap at only 30% off.

With all of this in mind, ReALTO was set up to allow individuals to name their price at bars and restaurants. At various times throughout the week, these businesses have empty seats to fill. For new establishments still building their customer base, this might be every night of the week; for well-known venues, this could be only at certain times of the day or certain days of the week. ReALTO allows these businesses to fill their empty seats by creating unique offers to convince you to try them out—or visit them at off-peak times—at whatever price you’d be willing to pay.

ReALTO will be launching a limited beta test in the next month or so in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and, if what I described above tickles your fancy, we hope you’ll register your email to sign up.

Now that we’ve gotten the housekeeping out of the way, I’d like to hand the blog over to our guest bloggers so that we can get on with the Food talk…

www.goReALTO.com