Aliseo Osterio Del Borgo
667 Vanderbilt Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11238
718 783 3400
Food 6
Ambiance 6
Service 4
Overall 17
Good for romantic simple Italian cuisine for couple or very small group
So having lived in the Prospect Heights area a few years ago, I had always passed by this restaurant with intrigue. Last night, Saturday, finding too many of the funky new Prospect Heights establishements packed and not allowing reservations, I ventured forth in the cold night for some proper Italian comfort food. When you enter Aliseo,you feel you are coming home. Home to a cozy small dining room that your Uncle from Italy happens to open daily to strangers. Faded rose gold gilded wallpaper. Flickering candles. Soft sheltered lighbulbs. Murmurs of soft jazz background music. This is the kind of place that becomes your Sunday night dinner go to. The kind of place where you spend a 3 hour meal with friends and the owner ends up sharing a bottle of wine with you. In other words my kind of place. Now to have this kind of atmosphere , you must be intimate and truly small. The restaurant has maybe 8 tables total, all cheek to cheek. The food menu is as small as the restaurant, with many mains doing double duty as appetizers. Prices are reasonable, most appetizers in the 9-10 dollar range and mains in the mid teens to early twenties.Where Aliseo is not small is its fairly comprehensive Italian wine list, with an excellent representation of wines from most of the important wine regions.
After consultation with the owner, we settled for a $38 Montepulciano from Marche. A well balanced fruit forward wine which complemented our meal and mood fantastically.
We opted to start our meal with the $9 squid fennel salad. The fennel was refreshing and mildly sweet. The squid was not ultrafresh and a bit too salty. Overall, an adequate salad. For mains, I opted for the $21 braised short rib with grilled polenta and my husband for the $25 special branzino and monkfish. We also ordered an extra $8.50 side of mixed sauteed vegetables. My short rib came , a tender mildy seasoned piece of meat with a pan grilled portion of creamy polenta. The plate also had some lovely charred endive. The beef could have been better caramelized and the polenta more grilled, but the overall flavor was simple home cooking. It reminded me of some of the inexpensive Italian places in Marche I have visited . My husband's fish, also not ultrafresh ,was served in a deliciously fragrant saffron broth. Unfortunately the heady perfume of the broth did not have a chance to permeate the fish. In addition, his fish was not served with anything, vegetables or starch, which I thought was odd for a 25 dollar special. We moved onward to desserts. I ordered the chocalate tart and my husband the ricotta and coffee cake dessert. Both $8.50. My tart arrived , pieshell dangerously close to burnt, dancing on a semisweet orange sauce. The tart was a light not too sweet creamy chocalate. If the pieshell was less burnt it would have a been a perfect light dessert ending. My husband's ricotta and coffe cake turned out to be flavored ricotta served in a pie shell. Our waiter forgot to let us know they were out of coffee cake. Unfortunately, the flavored ricotta tasted odd with the pieshell and was really not a welcome dessert ending.
Our waiter was not very present most of our meal.
Overall, although there were some misses in the food and service, I would venture forth here again and focus on pastas and meats.
The Quest continues..............
Showing posts with label Prospect Heights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prospect Heights. Show all posts
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Spot
The Spot
417 Prospect Place
Brooklyn,NY
718 638 1733
Food 6
Ambiance 7
Service 6
Overall 20
Good for drinks and appetizers, if needed a basic cheap dinner
I went to the Spot this past Halloween Saturday for dinner with my mother and husband to check out this fairly new American Bistro in Prospect Heights. It is a really sweet small cozy space with touches of red and brown highlighted by candelit tables. There are odd artistic touches thrown in as well, like a withered brown tree painted on a white main wall. We got there at almost 10 pm and the place was almost empty, although this is a part of Prospect Heights that is just developing its restaurant row. We were seated promptly and since we were real hungry eagerly perused the menu which had a American Deli feel because of the abundace of so many cuisines represented. Appetizer ranged from lots of fried seafood to ceviches in Mexican or Peruvian style while mains included various pastas and basic grilled meats and fishes. They have an fairly small wine menu and focus more on potent cocktail combinations. We settled on sharing the $9 Mexican ceviche as a starter. My husband opted for the $11.95 grilled pork chop with mashed potatoes and asparagus, I had the $14.95 short ribs with spinach and rice and my mother had the $15.95 grilled shrimp with plantains and spianch. My husband and I both opted for 2 strong cocktails ,both of which were cheap, sweet ,strong and tasty- in other words my kind of drink! Our ceviche came out a heaping portion of fresh seafood - a mix of shrimp, squid, scallops, and fish swimming in a spicy tomatoe sauce peppered with cilantro, lime and tobasco sauce. I was surprised at the size of the ceviche and was thankful we had not ordered another appetizer. This single serving gave us each an ample well flavored appetizer portion. Although the ceviche was a bit vinegary to my taste and the sauce was a bit too ample, it had nice taste and overall flavor for the pricepoint. Our mains were less impressive. My husband's pork was seasoned with simple salt and pepper. Though moist, it was a bit overcooked and looked more fried than grilled. His asparagus were nicely sauted with basic flavorings although a very skimpy portion of only 4 asparagus. The mashed potatoes were pasty and unappetizing, reminding me of store bought box rehyrdated potatoes. My short ribs were tender with moderate seasoning of a little garlic, maybe some parsley and salt and pepper. I found them too tomatoey in taste and stringey in texture. The rice was basic diner rice. The spinach was lightly seasoned and beautifully cooked. Probably the best part of the meal. Which is not faint praise since many places know how to kill some lovely spinach. Of all the mains, my mother's was the best. Her grilled shrimp were seasoned with a distant taste of cajun with nice even char. They were moist and not over cooked. The plantatins were not too greasy , and were nich thick chunks of sweetness. By the time dessert rolled around, we were just too full and a bit tipsy to order anything more.
Throughout, our waitresses were very attentive and helpful.
For the price, its not a bad deal. Nothing extraordinary but a good place for cheap good drinks and maybe seafood appetizers. If you must get a cheap dinner here. But there are so many places so close that can give you a great dinner experiance, really why bother
The Quest continues.................
417 Prospect Place
Brooklyn,NY
718 638 1733
Food 6
Ambiance 7
Service 6
Overall 20
Good for drinks and appetizers, if needed a basic cheap dinner
I went to the Spot this past Halloween Saturday for dinner with my mother and husband to check out this fairly new American Bistro in Prospect Heights. It is a really sweet small cozy space with touches of red and brown highlighted by candelit tables. There are odd artistic touches thrown in as well, like a withered brown tree painted on a white main wall. We got there at almost 10 pm and the place was almost empty, although this is a part of Prospect Heights that is just developing its restaurant row. We were seated promptly and since we were real hungry eagerly perused the menu which had a American Deli feel because of the abundace of so many cuisines represented. Appetizer ranged from lots of fried seafood to ceviches in Mexican or Peruvian style while mains included various pastas and basic grilled meats and fishes. They have an fairly small wine menu and focus more on potent cocktail combinations. We settled on sharing the $9 Mexican ceviche as a starter. My husband opted for the $11.95 grilled pork chop with mashed potatoes and asparagus, I had the $14.95 short ribs with spinach and rice and my mother had the $15.95 grilled shrimp with plantains and spianch. My husband and I both opted for 2 strong cocktails ,both of which were cheap, sweet ,strong and tasty- in other words my kind of drink! Our ceviche came out a heaping portion of fresh seafood - a mix of shrimp, squid, scallops, and fish swimming in a spicy tomatoe sauce peppered with cilantro, lime and tobasco sauce. I was surprised at the size of the ceviche and was thankful we had not ordered another appetizer. This single serving gave us each an ample well flavored appetizer portion. Although the ceviche was a bit vinegary to my taste and the sauce was a bit too ample, it had nice taste and overall flavor for the pricepoint. Our mains were less impressive. My husband's pork was seasoned with simple salt and pepper. Though moist, it was a bit overcooked and looked more fried than grilled. His asparagus were nicely sauted with basic flavorings although a very skimpy portion of only 4 asparagus. The mashed potatoes were pasty and unappetizing, reminding me of store bought box rehyrdated potatoes. My short ribs were tender with moderate seasoning of a little garlic, maybe some parsley and salt and pepper. I found them too tomatoey in taste and stringey in texture. The rice was basic diner rice. The spinach was lightly seasoned and beautifully cooked. Probably the best part of the meal. Which is not faint praise since many places know how to kill some lovely spinach. Of all the mains, my mother's was the best. Her grilled shrimp were seasoned with a distant taste of cajun with nice even char. They were moist and not over cooked. The plantatins were not too greasy , and were nich thick chunks of sweetness. By the time dessert rolled around, we were just too full and a bit tipsy to order anything more.
Throughout, our waitresses were very attentive and helpful.
For the price, its not a bad deal. Nothing extraordinary but a good place for cheap good drinks and maybe seafood appetizers. If you must get a cheap dinner here. But there are so many places so close that can give you a great dinner experiance, really why bother
The Quest continues.................
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