Recent Eats V

I like Red Hook for a lot of reasons: it's an easy bike ride; it's by the water; it's *not* an easy public-transport trip, which keeps the riff raff out... But it couldn't maintain its place in my affections without one other, crucial thing. If you've been paying attention, you know that said thing is, yes, FOOD.

Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pies
Accept no substitutes. And nothing against the regular pies, but why would you get a regular key lime pie when you could get a key lime pie dipped in chocolate and frozen? Answer: you wouldn't. Get a swingle. Start with the classic, and work your way down the list (spicy, white chocolate, raspberry). So far this summer I've introduced several new people to the swingle, and thus rocked their friggin worlds.

Seabourne
Nice drinks, relaxed atmosphere, free bar snacks. When you can't get in the door at Fort Defiance or Botanica, try heading down here instead.

Moving right along. Sometimes I can't make it back to Brooklyn, and end up eating in Harlem instead.

Ponty Bistro
Excellent steak sandwich.

Rejuvenate
Where my coworkers all get their vitamins. In a fast-lunch wasteland, this place is our savior.

The rest of Manhattan...

Mother of Pearl
Planned on meeting my parents at Death & Co for pre-dinner cocktails last week. Got there first, saw there was a crowd waiting outside, realized they were doing their incredibly annoying velvet-rope entry nonsense, decided I did not want to stand around on the sidewalk in 100F weather, no matter how good the cocktails were... Walked to the end of the block and this place, instead, where they had no problem letting me open the door and walk in all by myself, not to mention sit at a table and order a drink before the rest of my party arrived. Hallelujah.

Huertas
No tipping and a "chef's selection of on- and off-menu plates, served family style," all of which where excellent? Done. This was the aforementioned parental dinner, and it was a winner.

RECIPE: Creamy Tortellini. Never make it any other way again.