It’s been a long journey for Chef Nate Smith from after leaving The Spotted Pig to being the owner of his own restaurant, Allswell. Lucky for me I’ve sort of been tagging along. I first met Nate Smith in 2010 at one of the Pie for Dinner events at 4 & 20 Blackbirds, it was also how I met the Elsen sisters. He told me that he was preparing to open his own place but in the meantime he was cooking at Roman’s which gave me an excuse to try the place. Then in early 2011 he helped open Dean St on Underhill and we all know how that turned out. Though I did go there for a delicious brunch before he left. Then in the Spring time he started doing pop up dinners at Veronica People’s Club and Pinkerton. And so now fast forward to late 2011 with the opening of Allswell.

I’ve had many meals here already and everything so far has been damn damn good (and I’m not the only one to think so). Even picky eater, Howard, approves it (HA!).

Check out what I’ve eaten at Allswell so far after the jump.

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Long time ago (2010) my friends and I started a steak frites club where we go to restaurants and eat…..steak frites. The last time we did this (and also our first time) was at Moutarde in Park Slope. Well yes it took us till 2012 to have our 2nd meating (definitely my fault) and thanks to Corrine for scoring a table at Steak Frites during Restaurant Week.

Few months ago a friend had suggested getting dinner at Steak Frites but when I told her about reading mixed reviews we ended up going somewhere else. So I found myself having not too high expectations when I agreed to have dinner there for our steak frites club. But if you’re going to have a steak frites club, eventually you’ll have to go to Steak Frites.

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When my younger sister said she was visiting, I knew exactly where to take her for a weekday lunch. Though yes it was more about me wanting to go to Prime Meats than actually trying to find a restaurant she may actually like. Luckily she’s a meat eater like I am, I was pretty sure she’ll find something good on the menu. And I think I pretty much guessed what sort of restaurant she prefers.

Anyways, ever since I got laid off in December 2010, I had a plan to try the restaurants in my neighborhood that are always busy during dinner and brunch hours. Sadly I still haven’t started that plan yet, hopefully this trip to Prime Meats will trigger it.

My sister ended up getting the steak (rare) and eggs plus a side of avocado while I got wild mushrooms with a poached egg and Hofbrau House bratwurst plus a side of thick cut bacon (oohh yeah!). After taking a bite of the mushroom, I was surprised by my dish and Prime Meats overall.

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My friends and I started a club, a steak frites club! I don’t remember the details of how we started this nor how the conversation started but who cares. I love this kind of club. Seem like my friend had this pretty much planned out in her head. She already had a list of possible places we should hit up. The first place we were going to try was Convivium Osteria in Park Slope. Sadly it was closed on the Sunday we wanted to go and wouldn’t open on Sundays until after Labor Day Weekend. So then we decided to go to the new Moutarde, Le Bistro de la Rue. It’s sort of the old Moutarde except they re-did the whole interior, which everyone complained to be uglier than the old interior.

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I’m old. I’m not a kid anymore so by now I should know better than to judge everything by its cover. I have learned many times in the past that I have been wrong about many things when I judge without learning, trying to or getting to know. So few months ago when Howard and I walked by what used to be Da Vincenzo, an Italian restaurant, we saw a piece of paper taped up on one of the door. It was the menu for Le P’tit. Yay I love French food. But seeing where it was I didn’t have much high expectations. If you know that area you should know that Prospect Park West isn’t much of a destination for foodies. Though it seems like things are changing with the addition of Double Windsor.

After briefly looking at the menu I thought I’ll give this place a try but I wasn’t in a hurry. Not until I started hearing and reading how frakkin’ good this place was. So it seems the owner of Le P’tit is a real Frenchman and not just some guy that wanted to open a random French restaurant. Sweet!

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