As the New York Times pointed out yesterday, “New York’s pizza moment is stretching into a pizza era.” Case in point: Olio, a new Neapolitan-style pizzeria in the West Village, which barely got any press when it opened. What press there has been has been mixed — my friend Jess (of We Heart New York) said there major flaws with the pizza, and yet she couldn’t wait to go back. We met for lunch there last week, and they must have been having a good day because my margherita was excellent.

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Way back when I did my tasting of pizza along the L train, I had a really good Neapolitan-style pizza at Fornino in Williamsburg. I was excited to hear that there was a Fornino opening near me, in Park Slope, a few months ago, and on a recent Friday night I met up with my friends Jeff & Eva to check it out.

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A couple of weeks ago my friends Jess & Garrett, of We Heart New York, invited me along to a lecture at Proteus Gowanus. When they suggested that we meet someplace beforehand for dinner, I thought of Sheep Station, which bills itself as “an Australian ‘local’ in Brooklyn”.

I went for the veggie burger (for a dollar extra, topped with Aussie cheddar). The patty itself was pretty standard fare (that is, it fell apart pretty quickly), but the toppings were interesting: beets, a slice of grilled pineapple, and a fried egg. There’s no reason that all of those things should work together, but somehow they combined to make something pretty good. The side salad left something to be desired, and the veggie burger wasn’t good enough to warrant a second trip, but if you find yourself down 4th Avenue you might want to give it a try.

Sheep Station — 149 4th Avenue, Brooklyn

I know it’s not really fair to judge a restaurant on the second day it’s open, but since I work a block away from the new Park Slope Eatery I figured I’d have lunch there. I walked into what was one step removed from chaos, aka the lunchtime rush. When I ordered the falafel, the guy behind the counter looked confused and ended up consulting the menu board behind him. I asked about stuffed grape leaves, and he said, “Grape what?” before directing me to ask someone else. I didn’t bother. My falafel was fine, though not quite hot or crispy enough. The best part about it was that it was topped with tzatziki, a yogurt sauce flecked with dill, rather than the standard sesame tahini.

I used to live on the corner of E 3rd St and Avenue A, and I loved the neighborhood. This was before this blog existed, but I still was excited about the many food options available to me: Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches, Mama’s, and a 24-hour Key Food, among others. I was not, however, aware of the existence of Perbacco, an Italian restaurant that blends tradition and the avant-garde. Lucky for me my friends Jess & Garrett knew about it, and the three of us met there for dinner last week. Lucky for you also, because their photos came out much better than mine (click the link to their blog if you don’t believe me).

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Sometimes you get so caught up in going to the newest, hippest, most happening restaurants in town — What’s got great buzz? What’s been reviewed recently? What’s the newest trend? — that you forget that there are plenty of restaurants that have been around for a while. It takes a visit to a real veteran restaurant to make you realize what it takes to run a successful restaurant in New York City. At a recent dinner at Po (after a few drinks at Vol de Nuit) with my friends Jeff & Eva, we had just such a revelation.

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