Ger-Nis INTERNATIONAL, LLC

Fill your Belly up at a Brooklyn Bar

Over the years, Park Slope has become a huge contender in the food scene and has grown vastly providing the community with a bevy of restaurants delivering diverse, creative and exciting new food.   Anyone that has lived in the city or a borough for that matter knows kitchens are small and can be brutally hot in the summer so every now and again eating a delicious meal out is a deserved alternative.    But, dining alone can sometimes be intimidating.  As urbanites with crazy schedules, the bar can be our friend on a moment’s notice, even on our walk home after a busy day at work.  Ger-Nis asked three young locals to hit the streets to find the perfect solo bar dining spots and what they found was a few good things.

Applewood
501 11th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 788-1810

One gem in the neighborhood is Applewood, an established local treasure since 2004.  Tucked away from the busy street of 7th Avenue, but still nearby to be convenient for its locals, Applewood leaves the glitz and flashy signs to their neighbors, preferring a subtle country-like appearance for themselves.  Once inside, a quiet, quaint and cozy space awaits you, particularly the bar.

After a hard day, Applewood is a wonderful retreat where the staff is exceptionally friendly and inviting.  Once safely inside, I saddled up and took one of the few stools at the bar, where shortly thereafter a drink menu was promptly placed in front of me.  The cocktails are made by mixologist Justin Briggs, who clearly likes flavor and herbaceous infusions.  Upon the walls, shelves are used to store a large selection of mason jars filled with alcohol and assorted ingredients combinations.  Many cocktails are muddled with fresh herbs, one of which caught my eye, the Puebla cocktail. It’s a spicy tequila with grassy cilantro and lime, think liquid guacamole.  There were a bevy of cocktails, wines and beers to choose from, so hopefully you like to dabble in an after-work drink or three. 

After enjoying a couple of sips of my intense cocktail, I decided to take a gander at the menu, which changes daily.   For a menu that changes daily, there were quite a few items to choose from, which is not usually the case with spontaneity.  I decided on a warm beet salad with tender arugula leaves, an entrée of wreckfish drizzled with just the right amount of bright citrus acidity and to finish my meal a creamy panna cotta enhanced with lemon, lovage and garnished with an earthy herb salad to cut some of the sweetness. On any given day, I wouldn’t normally eat a three course meal for dinner, but found it hard to resist when presented with these options.

al di la vino
607 Carroll St
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 783-4565

I have always loved food, and have been lucky enough to live in the New York City area where food is a way of life for most people that live here.  Growing up, my family always took my brother and me out to restaurants, which is probably where my desire to eat and learn about good food all started. Through the years, Zagat, has been my “bible” for where to eat, along with suggestions from friends.  I first remember when an old coworker who lived in Park Slope mentioned al di la.  At the mention of this Italian gastronomic destination, it was added to my “must eat at” list.  Unfortunately, several years later I had yet to enjoy all of the hype, until now.  On the way home from work I walked a few blocks away and stumbled upon al di la vino, which is a literally around the corner from al di la.  It’s a small space with a bar and only a few tables, so since I was solo, I made my way to a perfect corner bar seat, where I was the only diner at that time.

My eye immediately zoomed in on a menu placed on the wall which had a bunch of nibbles and bar snacks, where everything sounded better than the next—fried chickpeas, rosemary scented nuts, oh my.  Since I’m only one person, there are only so many snacks I can eat and decided to head straight into a meal.  The bar is tiny, but still comes equipped with a trusty sommelier, which I spoke to about my love of Rosé wines and quickly suggested a Nebbiolo, that was perfectly pink, vibrant and crisp.  I have a particular affinity for Italian food since it takes me back to many meals shared around my grandmother’s kitchen table.  I could eat pasta, any and every night of the week, so presented with a slew of pasta choices, I think, “why not, I’ll run an extra mile tomorrow.”  But to be fair to my body, I chose an appetizer of raw summer squash and zucchini with floral mint followed by a pasta special of cavatelli and sautéed beet greens finished with a lemon cream.

As I sat at the bar, a few people popped in and out, drinking, eating, and talking.  Against many New Yorkers better judgment; I decided to leave my phone in my purse and any reading materials at home, choosing to just enjoy the moment.  My salad showed up soon thereafter and I took a look before I did the usual tear right-in, it was a pretty haphazard presentation.  The texture was good, but could have been sliced a bit thinner to reveal the tender side of the summer vegetable.  My new love these days is spice, just a small trace of this warmth that lingers on your tongue, it’s quite a pleasure.   And this salad provided just that for me, so even with my one gripe, I still very much enjoyed this dish.

I lingered over my glass of wine while I waited for my pasta to arrive.  If there was a time lapse I didn’t feel it, because the staff let me leisurely sit there at the bar without any fleck of rush.   Before my rather large portion of homemade cavatelli came out from the kitchen and landed in front of me, I could smell garlic loveliness wafting through the air which is always a good sign.  Overwhelmed from the amazing smells coming from this dish, I sat there waving my hand trying to take every last scent into my nose.   It was also pretty hot, so I was cooling it down.   Cavatelli is one of my favorite pastas, and while I lived on the West coast, it was nowhere to be found, so when I moved back East, I bought bags of the pasta in abundance to be used at a later date.  After the pasta had a proper cool down, I dug in and couldn’t stop shoveling the creamy, perfectly cooked al dente pasta, with the addition of my new love, spice.  Needless to say, I finished the pasta and was utterly stuffed.  So stuffed, that dessert was not an option, even with affogato on the menu.   I decided to pack it up and leave, still in my pasta coma.

Franny’s
295 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(718) 230-0221

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the phrase, “You have to go to Franny’s, their pizza is the best!”  Now, mind you I’ve been eating pizza my whole life and enjoy it greatly, but it’s kinda been there, done that these days in New York—meaning it’s everywhere.  Recently, a friend suggested I check out the bar scene at Franny’s, for the drinks and small plates and not the pizza.  Shocking!

I strolled over to Flatbush Avenue on a Tuesday evening and found the place to be already bustling with a house full of people of all ages.  Up front, I took a seat at the bar, which again was pretty full, but I managed to sneak in and grab a spot with a nice view of the entire restaurant.  I ordered Prosecco with lovage syrup, a refreshingly sweet bubbly cocktail.

Among all the chatter, I made eye contact with the bartender, letting him know I was feeling a bit famished and wanted to place my food order.  I took an extra minute, gave the menu a once over and decided on four small plates for myself.  The bartender explained that they were tiny and I wouldn’t look like a pig.

I swear I took a sip of my cocktail and my food started to arrive.  One right after the other; marinated cabbage with Calabrian chili and torn parsley leaves, sautéed sugar snap peas with garlic and chilies, wood-roasted zucchini with pine nuts, Parmigiano Reggiano  and a sprinkling of mint and lastly some meaty pork sausage with roasted turnips.  Whew, that was a mouthful.  My fork dove from plate-to-plate savoring one magnificent bite after another.  Each dish was bursting with copious amounts of flavor, so much so, I could barely distinguish all the ingredients involved.  The dishes weren’t complex, but the flavors were, which is a little frustrating if I wanted to recreate these plates in my home.  I guess that means I just have to come back to Franny’s.  Since I passed on the pizza, I settled on panna cotta.  Again, I was told it was a dessert they are famous for, so I got it.  A white, creamy and wobbly mass lied before me waiting to be spooned up, so I did just that.  The texture was velvety and rich, but tasted too much like eating vanilla ice cream for my taste.  If I wanted gelato, I would have ordered just that.  It was an almost perfect meal, but then again I’m a hard critic.