CONVIVIUM
OSTERIA 68 5th Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11217
Cross Street: Bergen Street and St. Mark's Avenue
These Mediterranean cuisines have got the rustic Mediterranean
look down cold. Unless you're up on your culinary Spanish,
Italian and Portuguese, servers are happy to cater. well
executed dishes like artichokes stewed with guanciale
(cured hog jowl), a casserole of bacalhau (salt cod) and
potatoes, and flavorful shepherd's pie.
IL
BUCO 47 Bond St. New York, NY 10012
Cross Street: Lafayette Street
(212) 533-1932
Opened in 1994, its hidden kitchen quickly became a favorite.
Artisanal Italian ingredients, stellar wines and professional
service service steadily raised its rank among foodies,
while romantics flocked to dine in the 200-year-old candlelit
cantina. The charming rooms upstairs, decorated with chandeliers
and farmhouse furniture is packed with dinners waiting
to sample culinary creations prepared by worldly Welsh
chef in New York's most romantic Italian restaurant. Chef
Jeremy Griffiths--a Welshman who's cooked in some of Europe's
finest kitchens--arrived in the summer of 2001, bringing
with him his well deigned Mediterranean menu. Start with
the slivers of house-cured lonza (pork loin) or wood-grilled
sardines, sweet with pickled radishes. Inventive risottos,
like summery scallop-fennel-red pepper plumped with carnaroli
rice, are among the best. Pastas, from rich black truffle-flecked
short rib ravioli to tagliatelle in sprightly pea-shell
ragu, are well prepared. Main dishes change nightly keeps
dinners coming back for more.
MED'
CAFE 99
Second Avenue (bet 5th & 6th)
New York, NY 10003
(212) 477-8427
Highly recommend Cafe, busy on a Saturday night, The space
is beautiful, the food is perfect, and the cocktails such
as the El Camino, all the Martinis and the Raspberry Margarita
are out of this world.
