Midwood: My Favorite Pizza Ever at Di Fara Pizza

Di Fara Pizza looks delicious, smells delicious and tastes delicious.  Owner Dominico DeMarco makes every pie and you can really tell that his pizzas are made with love.  Watching him make each pie is an experience in itself.

T and I decided on our first trip to Di Fara to order the regular pie.  After the pizza comes out of the oven, fresh basil leaves are cut from the stem onto the pizza, extra virgin olive oil is drizzled in a swirl-like motion and grated parmesan cheese is sprinkled on.  The ingredients are fresh and high in quality.  The smell is intoxicating.  The crust is thin.  The tomato sauce is delicious.  Overall, this is one of the best pizzas you'll ever have.  We plan to come back many, many times.

Regular Pie ★★★★★

Update: T and I came back to Di Fara recently to try the Classic Pie, which is a Regular Pie topped with sausage, peppers, onions and mushrooms.  If you like the feeling of fresh vegetables on top of your pizza, this would be a great pie for you.  The freshness of the toppings is amazing.  I personally like the Regular Pie better because you can taste the salty, cheesy, basily flavor of the pizza a little better, but the Classic Pie is also excellent.

Classic Pie ★★★★☆

DiFara's is my favorite pizza place and I can't wait to try even more of their pies.

Kensington: Decent Japanese Food at Sake Sushi

T and I haven't tried too many sushi places in Brooklyn.  So when we recently moved to Kensington, we thought it would be nice to try out a place in the neighborhood we found, Sake Sushi.

We started off with a classic Japanese appetizer, Seaweed Salad.  We were surprised at how light and refreshing it was.  Sake's Seaweed Salad is not too salty like so many Japanese restaurants and really allows you to taste the sweetness of the seaweed.

Seaweed Salad ★★★★☆

We were really hungry so we ordered another appetizer, the Shrimp and Tempura Appetizer.  This was also well done and the dipping sauce was particularly tasty.

Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura ★★★★☆

Now, on to the sushi.  The first thing we tried was the Spicy Lobster Roll.  This was made with lobster salad, avocado, mango, tobiko and tempura flakes wrapped with soy bean and the chef's special sauce.  This was not very good.  The lobster salad was too mushy and there was way too much sauce on it.

Next, we ate the Fancy Roll, which contained shrimp tempura, unagi and avocado.  This was pretty good.  The shrimp was crunchy and the sauce was very good, making the roll very tasty overall.

Last, we had the Sushi Roll Combo, which consisted of a spicy tuna roll, and tuna, salmon and yellowtail sushi.  The fish was good quality so we enjoyed the combo very much.

Top to Bottom:
Spicy Lobster Roll ★★★☆☆
Fancy Roll ★★★★☆
Sushi Roll Special ★★★★☆

Overall, Sake Sushi is a good place to go if you are need of a sushi fix.  Most of the things they make are pretty good.  Just stay away from the Spicy Lobster Roll.

Battle of the Bagels: Bagel Hole v. Terrace Bagels

One of the things I love to do in Brooklyn on the weekends is get fresh, warm New York style bagels.  Two of the best bagel places I know of are located just a couple of minutes from each other in Brooklyn, Bagel Hole and Terrace Bagels.  One day, I decided to get bagels from both places and compare them.

One of the first things you notice about the bagels at Bagel Hole and Terrace Bagels is the difference in size.  The bagels at Terrace Bagels are much larger.

Left: Terrace Bagels
Right: Bagel Hole

In terms of texture, Bagel Hole's bagels are dense and chewy with a very crisp outside.  The crispness of the bagels is rather unique and understandably, the reason why Bagel Hole has a legion of fans.

Bagel Hole: Bagels ★★★★☆

The bagels at Terrace Bagels are completely different.  The outside of their bagels is still crispy, although not as crisp as Bagel Hole bagels. Terrace's bagels, however, are much fluffier, softer and not nearly as dense and chewy as the bagels at Bagel Hole.  It is the softness and fluffiness of the bagels that makes Terrace Bagels taste so fresh and satisfying.

Terrace Bagels: Bagels ★★★★★

In summary, both Terrace Bagels and Bagel Hole make excellent bagels.  The bagels at both places taste equally delicious.  I could easily understand a person liking either of them better than the other.  But I like my bagels soft and fluffy.  In my mind, that's what a classic New York style bagel should be.

Therefore, in this Battle of the Bagels, the winner is Terrace Bagels!

Borough Park: Tasty Banh Mi Sandwiches at Ba Xuyen

For those of you who don't know, a banh mi is a Vietnamese sandwich that usually consists of a fresh cilantro, pickled veggies and various types of meats on a crisp baguette.  Ba Xuyen is known to have the best banh mi in New York City and I completely agree.

Last Saturday, I decided to stop by Ba Xuyen for a sandwich.  I ordered the Number 1, the Pate Thit Nguoi.  The Number 1 consists of ham, pork and pate and is the most traditional type of banh mi.

Pate Thit Nguoi ★★★★★

First of all, the bread is perfectly toasted and better than any bread I have had on a bahn mi.  The middle is a perfect blend of meaty, pickly, herby, sweet, creamy flavors.  This is the best banh mi I have ever had.  It's the best.  There's nothing left to say.

Prospect Heights: Yummy Plaintains and Shrimp Tacos at Pequeno

Vanderbilt Street in Prospect Heights is home to a number of good restaurants.  We were in the mood for Mexican the other night so we decided to try Pequeno, a festive-looking place on the corner of Vandberbilt and St. Marks Avenue.

We started off with the Side Sampler, which consisted of chips, salsa, guacamole, black beans and plaintains.  The salsa was pretty good.  It had nice flavor although the tomatoes were a little too soggy.  The guacamole and the black bean were only okay and the chips were a little stale.  The one part of this appetizer that was really outstanding was the plaintains, which were slightly sweet and went perfectly with the sour cream and Mexican cheese toppings.  I would definitely go back to Pequeno just for the plaintains.

Side Sampler ★★★☆☆

For entrees, T and I each ordered tacos.  She ordered the fish tacos, which were not very flavorful.

Fish Tacos ★★★☆☆

I ordered the shrimp tacos, which were excellent.  The sauce that the shrimp was cooked in was awesome!   It was a slightly sweet tomatoey flavor that I just wanted to slurp up.  I would have given this a 5 star rating if the veggie toppings were a little better.

 

Shrimp Tacos ★★★★☆

Pequeno is a fun place to go if you have a craving for Mexican.  The standouts as far as I can tell are the plaintains and the shrimp tacos.

Cobble Hill: Tasty Thai Mussels at Joya

T is on the hunt for a great pad thai in Brooklyn and so far, no luck.  After reading about Joya on Yelp, which has over 500 reviews and garnered 4 stars, we decided to check the place out.  Joya is located right on Court Street and has a nice, modern decor.

T and I were both really hungry so we ordered 1 appetizer each.  I ordered the Mussels in Chili Sauce.  The sauce was really tasty!  The dish had a nice combination of sweet and spicy and the sauteed veggies were an unexpectedly nice touch, especially the onions which were super sweet.  I slurped up all the sauce when I got my entree and rice.  A great appetizer.

Mussels in Chili Sauce ★★★★☆

T ordered the Salmon Fresh Spring Roll as her appetizer.  When the app came out, it looked amazing.  Unfortunately, there was way too much fish sauce on the roll, which made it unbearably salty.  I took one bite and couldn't eat anymore.

Salmon Fresh Spring Roll ★★☆☆☆

Next, the entrees.  I ordered the Gai Kaprow, which is essentially sliced chicken and vegetables in a chili basil sauce.  It was really good.  The sauce was very flavorful and the portion was nice.  I ate every last bit of it.

Gai Kaprow ★★★★☆

T, of course, ordered the Pad Thai.  It was just okay, unfortunately.  It didn't have the nice sweetness to it that a good pad thai has.  The noodles were also a bit undercooked.

Pad Thai ★★★☆☆

All in all, Joya has some very tasty offerings and others that are not so good.

Prospect Heights: Creative Ice Cream at Ample Hills

If you're in Prospect Heights and in the mood for some ice cream, Ample Hills Creamery is a great place to go.  This is more than your typical ice cream place.  Ample Hills strives to create really unique flavors by mixing together all sorts of ingredients that you wouldn't think go together.

T and I went to Ample Hills the other night for an after-dinner treat.  She ordered the Honey Doodle (honey vanilla ice cream with snickerdoodle cookies).  I love snickerdoodles so the soft cinnamony cookies mixed in with the delicious ice cream was a welcome treat.  I ordered the Ooey Gooey Butter Cake (vanilla ice cream with gobs of St. Louis butter cake pieces).  It was delicious!  The vanilla ice cream was extra creamy and the chunks of St. Louis butter cake were really gooey and tasty.  I don't normally like gooey sticky stuff in my ice cream but the Ooey Gooey Butter Cake was surprisingly excellent! 

Honey Doodle ★★★★☆

Oogey Butter Cake ★★★★★