Eat to Blog » windsor terrace

Double Windsor

Donny — Wed, 05 May 2010 15:35:49 +0000

I love how me, Howard and Matt all hate this bar, well I don’t really hate it as much as they do. On the weekends before 5pm it’s basically baby town. Parents bring their kids while they have a refreshing beer. One time we even saw a kids party with 10 or so kids running/crawling around. Now the manager decided to put up a sign that said “No one under 21 after 5pm” thaaaaaaank goodness. But that still doesn’t make Howard and Matt like the place any better. For some reason this place gets REALLY LOUD AND WE KINDA HAVE TO YELL. Since this is the only hip looking bar in the area (Farrell’s at the corner is anti-hip) this place gets full quick. And now that they started serving food, hot damn, its harder to get seats.

Matt had been to Double Windsor for brunch couple times and was delighted to enjoy the food both times. So after many months of serving food, I finally made it to have a meal.

I met up with Matt on a Sunday afternoon before watching the new Doctor Who on his dvr. Matt took care of our drinks and I went to get our lunch. What you do is you go up to the kitchen window and place you order. The lady will give you a number and you take a seat and you wait for your food to come out. They mostly served sandwiches and burgers and sides. Fries with a side of mayo was $2, the burger and pulled pork sandwiches were $11 and the grilled cheese was $8. All the bread were from Balthazar and the food menu were created by the owner of Egg in Williamsburg.

Matt got the grilled cheese, I took a bite and it was good and cheesy.

I was debating about the burger or the pulled pork sandwich and as you can see I went with the pork. Topped with pickled onions served with super soft buns (thought the buns were too soft to handle the pork and the juices) this was one amazing sandwich. As I ate the sandwich chunks of pork and pork juices fell into the pile of fries. No biggie because now I have fries with pork juice!

Is it wrong to wish to have a bar thats quiet and has no kids running around? When we went around 1:15pm it was great. It was quiet, people were chilled and there weren’t billions of babies crawling around.

- The Double Windsor 210 Prospect Park West Brooklyn

Le P’tit Paris Bistro

Donny — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:08:37 +0000

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!

I met up with Phae, Matt and Chris on a chilly Sunday night. We walked in and were seated by the windows. It was a little quiet in the restaurant on a Sunday night but it was alright for me. Looking at the daily special section of the menu, Matt was hoping to be the Boeuf Bourguignon beef cheek simmered in red wine, mushroom risotto night but sadly that was Saturdays. On Sundays it was Poulet Roti roasted half chicken with french fries. As good as it sounded it wasn’t beef cheek in red wine with risotto. I ended up getting the onion soup, of course, and the coq au vin. Why didn’t I get the duck dish? I have no answer for that. The dish was Demi Canard A La Sangria, Roquette Et Champignons roasted duck breast, sangria sauce, sauteed mushrooms and potatoes duck leg confit, served with arugula salad. That sound pretty awesome right now but that night I went with the coq au vin. Maybe it was the bacon from the chicken dish that grabbed onto me or maybe because I never had a proper coq au vin before.

2 of us got the onion soup while the other 2 got the goat cheese tart. I’m not a too big of a stinky cheese fan but the bite of the goat cheese tart was pretty damn good. The onion soup. Well I think it had stole the spot for being the best damn cup of onion soup ever. I hate to say it but it was even better than the cup I had from Balthazar, my all time favorite French bistro. The problem I have with Balthazar is consistency. The first time I had it was frakkin delicious but the second time it was half-ass. The soup was salty and 3/4 of the cup was cheese. The onion soup from Le P’tit was delicious and had the right ratio of soup, cheese and bread. Go Soup!

Matt and Chris both got the hanger steak, medium rare and Phae got the monkfish special. While staring into his plate, Matt asked “Is the amount of food getting bigger?” Both steaks were perfectly medium rare and the piece of monkfish I had was sooo good. Oh and the monkfish came with a really good wasabi mashed potatoes. Hello!

As for my coq au vin, just 1 word, AMAZING. It was everything that I love in 1 dish. Chicken, bacon, pasta, fat, comfort, strong flavors, and etc. UMAMI! Some people might find the pasta to be tough but I liked it that way. When I took a bite of the hen I was amazed at how strong the flavors from the wine was. Oh I can eat this all Winter long.

Somehow we got into a conversation about Chris loving custard and that his favorite dessert is panna cotta. Oh well no panna cottas at a French restaurant. Instead he got the creme brulee, for a dollar more I got the creme brulee with seasonal fruit, Phae got the poached pear and Matt got the dessert but……….I DON’T REMEMBER WHAT IT WAS UGH! It was an apple something.

As you can see my creme brulee is not the regular kind. The waiter had informed me that this is like a deconstructed creme brulee. Blackberries topped with a cookie and vanilla custard. The vanilla custard is the same from creme brulee. There was also a thin layer of burnt sugar on top so I was able to “crack” the top just like regular creme brulee. Nice touch!

I had a bite of the poached pear. I never had poached pear before because I always go for the heavier desserts. My my but I after that 1 bite I think I’ll start ordering it. It was damn good.

I hope I’m not over hyping this place but it can’t be helped. Everything I ate and the service from Le P’tit was excellent. I seriously hope they do well and be around for a long time. Oh and nothing on the menu was over $20. WIN!

- Le P’tit Paris Bistro 256 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn

FME: Windsor Terrace Greenmarket

Howard — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:00:57 +0000

Over on Farmer’s Market Examiner I talk about the limited time left for the Windsor Terrace Greenmarket.

Toby’s Public House

Donny — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:42:47 +0000

I’ve been wanting to visit Toby’s Public House for a while now, ever since it was featured on Serious Eats about their nutella ricotta calzone. But the idea of going to this pizza place was overshadowed by other new pizzerias and for some reason crossing over the BQE seemed a bit far.
It’s nice to set goals for yourself once in a while. After starting this blog Howard and I started to have goals, foodie goals. Goals to try this place and that place. Since he’s a big pizza fan and recently few of our friends were having a pizza debate, I suggested going to Toby’s for dinner after our visit to good old Beer Table. We stumbled over, crossed the BQE and found ourselves standing in front of what I thought looked more like an old school firehouse. We walked in and found the place to be packed so we decided to sit at the bar. We looked over the menu and decided to get a good old margherita and a spinach pie. I thought it would be good to compare this spinach pie with the one I had at Co.

The pizza served at Toby’s is the smaller-ish style, the personal pie style. When my pie came it was a bit of a let down. Just look at the photo and compare the one I had at Co. How exciting is raw spinach? Jim Lahey’s version of this pie, the spinach gets cooked along with the pie which cooks the spinach. So you get a nice texture of wilted and crispy spinach. I wished Toby’s had done something more with the spinach than just drizzling olive oil over them. First 2 slices weren’t that bad and were quite enjoyable. As I reached for the last slice of my spinach pie I realized another reason why Co.’s Popeye pizza is better. The longer the last slice sat the chewier the crust got. I’m not saying it was a bad pizza but I think I will get something else next time.
Toby’s Public House as a whole was quite enjoyable. It was fun sitting at the bar and the bartender gave Howard and I a free beer. They have really great beer on draft. The Racer 5 IPA I had was quite good and Howard was all drooling over his Old Speckled Hen. Howard later told me that he had found his new favorite bar. Nice!

- Toby’s Public House 686 6th Ave at 21st St, South Slope Brooklyn