{The Menu - 10.13.07}

Noon
Regional, New York, NY

Night
Bello Giardino, New York, NY
+ Cupcake

Nita Nita: Learning to Love "Tapas"

Nita Nita
146 Wythe Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 388-5328
nitanitabk.com

After more than a requisite number of trips to Madrid in one lifetime, I have a soft spot in my heart for Spanish culture and nothing sends that heart into palpitations quite like a restaurant serving appetizers masquerading as "tapas."

If the French began piling beef on a croissant and calling it a hamburger, Americans would be outraged, right? If we Americans started freezing fish on rice and selling it in supermarkets to be deep-fried into sushi, the Japanese would all-out invade us, right? So, I find the co-opting of an inherently Spanish tradition to fuel sales of small-portioned food a rather annoying excuse for culinary innovation. For crying out loud, American culture spreads like a virus that no amount of orange juice and chicken soup can stop. You'd think, at this point, that we could just make up food 'cause we feel like it and call it what it is. It worked for Jimmy Dean, I'm pretty sure NYC restaurants could pull it off too.

Well, Nita Nita missed my memo.

Roxie coxed Mint and I out to this new Williamsburg spot, which we found absolutely packed on a Friday night. The drink specials were few, but stellar. Mint, who doesn't usually opt for oddly-contrived creations, ordered a pumpkin martini of remarkable substance--with actual pumpkin puree in the mix.

The "tapas" menu, aside from olives, chorizo, and a plate of garlic shrimp, hardly hinted at Spanish anything. And yet, I was impressed. The mojo potatoes, suggesting perhaps bravas inspiration, arrived quietly herbed with a bit of spice. Not bravas, but not bad. Nita Nita's bar pizza was a simple, crispy crust with superbly fresh tomato sauce and glowing white melted mozzarella. The specials were far more creative--salmon served with fried herbs of its own (a curious twist) and champagne-doused pears with biting blue cheese and shaved dark chocolate. Decidedly some of the most memorable creations I've had in a while, I'll grant Nita that much.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: At the end of the day, I still question invoking the Tapas Gods, but I will surely return. What can I say? Good food is good food.

Photo courtesy of Nita Nita.

{The Menu - 10.12.07}

Morning
Coffee + Oatmeal

Noon
Cafe 57, New York, NY + Banana + Bellini

Night
Nita Nita, New York, NY

{The Menu - 10.11.07}

Morning
Coffee + Muffin

Noon
Cafe 57, New York, NY

Night
Pretzel Sticks + Bowl o' Cereal + Banana

Old Mac, New at Brooklyn Label

Brooklyn Label
180 Franklin Street
Brooklyn, NY 11222
(718) 389-2806
brooklynlabel.com

Okay, so it's been on the menu for a couple months now, but this is the first I've had of it so it's new to me. The Basil Mac, of course, was entirely satisfactory, so I harbored no illusions that the Old Mac wouldn't follow suit. Indeed, gruyere, cheddar and parmesan cheeses compose the dish nicely. This is comfort food, simple enough.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: You'd think we could take this for granted by now.

{The Menu - 10.10.07}

Morning
Coffee + Oatmeal

Noon
Peanut Butter Sandwiches

Night
Brooklyn Label, Brooklyn, NY

{The Menu - 10.09.07}

Morning
Coffee + Oatmeal

Noon
Cafe 57, New York, NY

Night
Bowl o' Kashi + Bowl o' Kashi

Freddy & Pepper's Pizza Pub

Freddy & Pepper's Pizza Pub
303 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY 10023
(212) 799-2378

"WATCH, THOSE TWO are gonna try to eat that whole pie."

The guy next to us was nice enough, but he clearly had never watched Mint and I house a large pizza before. (It's pretty disgusting, I admit.) Or, he had never ordered a pie from Freddy & Pepper's. It's good-to-very-good pizza, but you vegans and lactose-challenged out there pay good attention: their soy cheese slice is top notch. But remember to get it fresh, piping hot, or not at all. And, of course, we recommend you order it delivered to Dive 75, where you can find many a tasty beer-on-tap to wash it down.

{The Menu - 10.08.07}

Morning

Coffee

Noon
Cafe 57, New York, NY

Night
Freddy & Pepper's, New York, NY

Dinner And A Movie: Samurai & The Darjeeling Limited

Samurai
149 N. 6th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 302-6232

Roxie had suggested a pre-movie visit to Miyako (not the first time she had suggested the Williamsburg Korean-Japanese joint), but we found it closed upon our arrival and our hopes of bi bim bap dashed. So, we wandered down North 6th and into Samurai.

Without much time to spare and all seats filled, Roxie and I settled in at the empty sushi bar, ordered ourselves some food and quickly chose a bottle of sake. Perhaps for keeping them company (or perhaps this is customary at Samurai, I'd never previously been), the sushi chefs offered us a small plate of marinated seafood, which reminded me quite a bit of the pulpo gallego (substitute seaweed for potatoes) found all over Spain at tapas bars both big and small. Mmmm, nostalgia is tasty. The sushi, too, was tasty, certainly not of excessively large cuts as is so often the case, and paired with nicely, subtly sweetened rice.

After grabbing a box of Pocky to go (figuring Mint needed something for movie munchies), we met the aforementioned Mint in Union Square just in time to grab icees and seats for The Darjeeling Limited.

Wes Anderson's latest film has all the look and feel of, well, a Wes Anderson film, methodical, purposeful, and incredibly thoughtful. The weight of thoughts and internal struggle figure heavily in Darjeeling's plot, even as its characters, three brothers, Francis, Peter and Jack, "on a spiritual journey", abandon those emotions externally. The result is a film that flaunts its metaphors as freely as the brothers toss around their dead father's Louis Vuitton luggage, and which says as much absent certain words than in those said.

The story is simple enough, trials of loss and insecurity told in Anderson's whimsical fashion, but I imagine for some the privileged air of the brothers' lives is too obvious and out-of-reach to allow the story resonate. Perhaps that life (and our resulting contempt of it) is part of Anderson's point, to force us to dispense of our objections in accepting his characters for being only as flawed as we all are. Or, it's just a convenient and pretty motivation for the plot. One never knows.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: Sure, I enjoyed the friendly reception; let's make an agreement: see Hotel Chevalier before seeing Darjeeling Limited. (Note: Hotel Chevalier is now showing exclusively in theaters in front of The Darjeeling Limited.)