Scones from Fairway

The Fairway in Red Hook (480-500 Van Brunt Street, Brooklyn (718) 694-6868, Hours: 8AM-10PM Daily, Cafe 8AM-8PM Daily) has a little secret hidden at the back of the store. A "veranda" as I overheard someone call it yesterday, looking out at the harbor, Staten Island and a multitude of boats and aquatic life. There are a number of tables out there, some in the shade, others in the sun, where you can take food prepared at the "Cafe" and dine in the glory that is the waterfront.

It makes me happy to just be sitting out there, but what REALLY makes me happy are the Fairway scones. Delish. Perfectly buttery, light and crumbly, topped with sugar and loaded with the fruit of your choice. I tend to stick to the cranberry or raisin scones, although they have other fruits (currants, blueberries, peach) as well as plain.



Having just come from a swim at the Red Hook Pool, I had a yen for a salami sandwich - there's something about sun and chlorine that gives me very random yet specific cravings. The Cafe doesn't make food to order, so I had to go with the "Ba Da Bing" sandwich from the menu (I know, I know, I was so embarrassed just ordering it) which was salami, soppressata, AND capicola, with provolone AND mozarella. I had them wrap up half since it was made with like, a whole loaf of ciabatta bread. It certainly was satisfying, with real buffalo mozzarella and lovingly presented on a plate with a mixed greens salad and potato chips. I was so hungry, I forgot to take a picture before digging in!

There's a full range of meal options offered at the Fairway Cafe, including egg dishes for breakfast and even a lobster roll for nine bucks! The coffee's not bad either.

Fish Tacos and Grilled Corn

I finally made it down to the new segment of Brooklyn Bridge Park at Pier 1 this weekend (www.brooklynbridgepark.org). It's located just south of the Bargemusic barge and the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. The entrance is at the end of Old Fulton St. where you walk through a little opening in a fence that leads onto a concrete walkway with little "hills" of grass. At the end is a fantastic view of the Harbor where you can see all four of Olafur Eliasson's Waterfalls. There's a great breeze, and a little cafe set up by Rice that sells Fish Tacos, Grilled Corn, and other such treats. You can sit at the bar or at tables under festive blue and yellow umbrellas.



The Fish Tacos were great, filled with a substantial amount of fish, cabbage and cliantro. There are a variety of sauces on hand to spice it up a bit and I found it to taste like a Thai version of Fish Taco. The corn was great too; crunchy and tasty with cotija cheese all over it, and the chips and guacamole were good too. The chips were an interesting V-shape, and while I initially felt the serving was paltry, paired with the other items I was glad it wasn't bigger. The watermelon juice was kind of bland, and I wished I had ordered the Ginger Lemonade.



Overall it's a really cute spot; perfect to take a break at while you're walking around the Heights, DUMBO and Downtown. And hopefully a little glimpse at what's going to be a truly awesome park, running the length of Furman St. and beyond. It will be open through Labor Day.

BURGERS!!! at 67 Burger

67 Burger (www.67burger.com, 67 Lafayette Ave, at Fulton St., Brooklyn, NY 11217, (718) 797-7150) is an amazing place. A long, narrow space around the corner from the G Train's Fulton St. station and down the block from BAM, is open until 11pm, so you can squeeze in a late dinner after a movie or show.

You can build your own burger from a long list of meats, chesses, sauces, and toppings (red wine pickled onions anyone?), or you can go with one of the burgers listed if you're feeling indecisive (Ranch, BBQ, Southwestern, etc.). This is their Basic Bacon Cheeseburger with Cheddar.



The bacon part is incredible. Little, crumbly bits of bacon are on the bottom and are perfection. They also serve the BEST, most amazing Onion Rings you'll find anywhere. Made with real onions in nice, big slices so you can bite into them and they won't fall apart.



The milkshakes are great too, bog and thick in basic flavors (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry) and two interesting ones I've yet to try (oreo and beer).

After you place your order at the counter, you'll be given a big plastic number on a stick that you set on your table so the staff knows where to bring your food. It's a sort of crazy, loud place, with frenetic energy coming from the cooks behind the counter, so it's not a romantic date night place. But the staff is sweet, and they'll even offer to cut your burger if you're sharing.

Dumplings at Eton

**Eton has moved and is now located at 359 Sackett St., just off of Smith St., around the corner from Zaytoon's. The menu is the same.**

Eton, 205 Sackett St., between Henry St. & Hicks St., 718-222-2999, hours: 11:30am-11:30pm), Carroll Gardens.

Five dumplings come in an order for $3.50. Quite a bargain for such scrumptious little treats. We took home the Chicken Dumplings with Sweet & Spicy sauce and the Vegetable (with Mushrooms, Lentils & Tofu) with a homemade Soy Sauce. Yummy! The chicken had abundant, juicy white meat and the sauce was a perfect match, tasty and tangy.

Chicken:


The vegetable dumplings tasted very fresh. The flavor of the celery and carrots jumped out, but the lentils were a little dry or something. I didn’t like the texture of them, and thought the soy sauce was on the bland side, as compared to the sweet & spicy sauce.

Vegetable:


I tried the beef and pork dumplings the first time I went into Eton and they tasted fantastic - deliciously salty, savory and tender. They also serve Shaved Ice, with a huge array of flavors to choose from, but I’ve yet to try them out. Eton is awesome, and is the only late-night place to go to in the neighborhood if you need some quick, warm & tasty food at 11pm.

**** UPDATE 10/3/08****
Just found out that Eton has "re-opened" with a new wood counter-top, new stools, new staff, and new biodegradable take-out containers! They're also selling their homemade sauce by the jar. Yay!

UrbanSpoon has more reviews.

Brunch at Harefield Road

Brunch: A meal that serves as both breakfast and lunch. So says dictionary.com. I love brunch, and have a list of favorites that I rely on when the times comes. Sometimes I'm not in control of where we get to eat however, so we ended up at Harefield Road on Sunday morning (769 Metropolitan, between Humboldt and Graham, (718) 388-6870). There's nothing terribly wrong with Harefield (save our waitress' mood), and I suppose that if you live in the neighborhood you'd end up going there a lot.



I'm generally supportive of wait staff and give generous tips all the time, having worked in restaurants myself, but the waitress we had on Sunday was really a downer. She seemed like it was a major pain in the ass that we sat down and ordered food, and barely let us finish eating before clearing our plates.



There were five of us there Sunday morning, so we got to sample a wide range of dishes. Eggs Benedict, a Breakfast Burrito, French Toast, a Salmon dish and Eggs Over Easy with potatoes and bacon. Everything looked great, generous portions of bacon (bacon makes it better), and we each got a free Mimosa or Bloody Mary with our meal. Only one person was brave enough for the Bloody Mary and found it to be quite spicy. The Mimosas were delicious.



Everyone seemed pleased with their meals and not much was left over at the end. The only thing that I didn't like were my eggs, which were a bit under-done. The white was raw and clear, which is just gross, but I ate around it and things were fine. The potatoes helped since were perfectly browned and savory, and of course there was the bacon.




The place itself is nice, with lots of dark wood which makes it feel like an old pub. A big selection of beers were listed above the bar, but I didn't really pay attention as my major focus was getting something with my bacon. I suppose Harefield Road makes a better bar than Brunch place, and every review I've read refers to it as a bar and makes no mention of the food. This all makes sense since it's co-owned by Sean O'Rourke who also co-owns the Pencil Factory over on Franklin Ave. in Greenpoint, but in a pinch it's a decent meal for a good proce.

Sushi To Go

Koto Sushi, at 552 Henry Street on the corner of Carroll Street (www.kotosushi.com, (718) 222-8055) on the corner of Henry St. and Carroll St., is my new favorite Sushi restaurant. At first I thought it was a weird location for a sushi place, being in the heart of still-old-Italian Carroll Gardens, but it won me over. For the first few weeks they were giving away Sake to celebrate their opening and getting their liquor license. What's not to love?

The food was great, and came super-fast, too. Fresh, tasty and beautifully presented. Spicy Yellowtail Maki, soft-shell crab Dragon Rolls, and appetizers that were creative, yet balanced, such as the Seared Tuna with Ponzu Sauce. They have special fish listed daily as well. We've tried the special Tuna and Agi (which is a kind of Mackeral) and both were amazing. The special Giant Clam was not my thing, tasting really salty and fishy.

They also prepare steak at Koto, but I haven't tried that. I'm trying to stick to my sort-of New Year's Resolution to eat only well-raised, grass-fed, organic meat, and I don't think the steak at Koto is.

I'll soon create a list of restaurants in Brooklyn that do serve well-raised and local meat, so be on the lookout!