Rose’s Bar & Grill
295 Flatbush Ave, Park Slope

It’s odd to think that the now-shuttered Marco’s was too upscale for Park Slope. It’s Park Slope! Home to the very same potential patrons, who’ve never thought twice about spending 20 bucks on pizzas at Franny’s (most of the entrées at Marco’s were mere dollars more; the pastas, dollars less), or stocking their pantries with $30-pound wheels of cheese, $15 logs of salami, and $8 packets of crackers at Bklyn Larder, all owned by the same couple, Francine Stephens and Andrew Feinberg. So perhaps, the real problem was that the year-old, rustic trattoria simply didn’t stand out enough from its siblings (although, in many aspects, it was our favorite of the three) leading to its lack of profitability, which was the ultimate reason given for recently transforming it into Rose’s Bar and Grill. (more…)

Streets BK
53 Broadway, Williamsburg

We’ve always been wary of restaurants purporting to be all things to all people, and thus, have long avoided Chinese eateries selling french fries and Greek spots serving spaghetti. But in more recent years, the steady blurring of culinary borders and ensuing decriminalization of the term “fusion” has caused us to drop our guard just a tad, so that we no longer recoil at the thought of matzoh ball ramen, or tacos stuffed with Korean bulgogi. (more…)

East Wind Snack Shop
471 16th Street, Windsor Terrace

4 Ls

Chris Cheung has been a fixture in New York’s restaurant scene for many years now, serving on the opening staff of both Nobu and Jean-Georges, heading up the kitchens at Ruby Foo’s and the Monkey Bar, and racking up a number of stars and glowing accolades along the way. So it’s easy enough to forgive a more recent string of misfires, including stints at the Brooklyn and Staten Island branches of Fushimi, and the launches of the short-lived Walle, a “Chinoiserie chic” lounge in Midtown, as well as Cherrywood Kitchen in sparsely trafficked Hudson Square, which ended up closing after only six months. (more…)

Bricolage
162 5th Ave., Park Slope

When Charles Phan first opened San Francisco’s Slanted Door in 1995, his goal was to expose the city to the sweet-sour-salty-spicy wonders of Vietnamese food, popularizing dishes like clay pot catfish and shaking beef by making them with quality, California-approved ingredients, such as farm-grown vegetables, Niman Ranch meat, and Dungeness crab. His mission proved wildly successful: Not only did he increase local interest in Vietnamese fare tenfold, but he made Slanted Door one of the most iconic, consistently profitable restaurants in the United States.

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