Bay Ridge: Divine Eggplant Napolean at Tanoreen

Tanoreen is what I consider a Middle Eastern/Mediterranean hybrid restaurant.  It has a very wide selection of appetizers and entrees.  The fare is varied, from light vegetarian fare to heavy cuts of meat and savory seafood.  On our first trip to Tanoreen, T and I decided to start off with a couple of appetizers.

First, we started off with a little hummus. Tanoreen's hummus is very distinctive.  It has a strong lemony flavor and is creamy and delicious.  I highly recommend it.

Hummus ★★★★★

Second, we ordered the Eggplant Napolean, which gets rave reviews on Yelp.  And now I know why.  It is delicious!  The Eggplant Napolean is crispy breaded eggplant layered with baba ghanouge and served with hummus and a tomato basil salad.  The textures are perfect.  When you bite into it, the juicy eggplant bursts from its crispy shell and the creamy hummus in the middle mixes perfectly with the tomato basil salad and baba ghanouge.  This is one incredible dish, something that is a must-have everytime anyone goes to Tanoreen.

Eggplant Napolean ★★★★★

Now, on to the entrees.  T ordered the Grilled Combo, which is platter of grilled chicken, grilled lamb and lamb sausage.  The chicken was delicious, which a great lemony flavor.  The grilled lamb, however, was kind of gamey and the ground lamb had a very strong but unusual flavor that I could not quite pinpoint.  Overall, I didn't really enjoy this dish.

Grilled Combo ★★★☆☆

I ordered a dish called Leaves, which consisted of shredded chicken and a green leafy vegetable (I'm not sure which vegetable it was).  This dish was not very flavorful and I probably would not get it again.

Leaves ★★★☆☆

Lastly, we decided to order dessert because we heard so much about Tanoreen's Knafeh.  This did not disappoint.  In fact, it is one of the most unusually delicious desserts I have ever had.  The outside is a phyllo dough that has the texture of shredded wheat.  The dessert is served warm and the inside is filled with two types of sweet white cheeses that ooze out of the middle.  The cheese sort of has the consistency of mozzarella.  The whole thing is drizzled with rosewater syrup and topped with crumbled pistachios.  A truly outstanding dessert that you must try!

Knafeh ★★★★★

Overally, Tanoreen had really delicious appetizers and an exquisite dessert.  The entrees, however, did not impress.  Since the apps and dessert were so good though, we plan to come back and see if there are some entrees that would make a completely superb meal.

Williamsburg: Pretty Good Brisket at Smorgasburg

Went to Smorgasburg today for the first time this summer.  The new location is nice and big and there seem to be a whole bunch of new vendors.   I only had time for a quick bite though so I decided to try Lonestar Empire, a vendor that specializes in one thing, Texas style brisket sandwiches.

The Low Smoked Texas Style Brisket Sandwich is really tiny, more like a slider.  The meat is tender but not that tasty by itself.  When you add the sweet pickles, jalapenos and onions, however, the sandwich actually becomes pretty good.  It is a nice mix of sweet and spicy and the veggies are very crunchy, giving the sandwich a nice mix of textures.  The Texas Style Mustard Potato Salad is a nice side and has tons of flavor.  It is a little sour, somewhat spicy and very tangy.  It wasn't my favorite but definitely had a lot of flavor.

Brisket Sandwich from Lonestar Empire ★★★★☆
Texas Style Mustard Potato Salad ★★★☆☆

Brooklyn Food Sentinal Rating System

T and I want our readers to know, when they go somewhere to eat, not just what our favorite restaurants are but the exact dishes we love.  To that end we developed the following rating system:

★★★★★  Awesomely Delicious
★★★★☆  Enjoyably Tasty
★★★☆☆  Just Okay
★★☆☆☆  Not Good
★☆☆☆☆  Awful

Williamsburg: Tasty Comfort Food at Dumont

T and I really like tasty, juicy hamburgers.  I had read about the burger at Dumont, which some had said was among the best in the country.  So when my sister-in-law and nephew came for a visit recently, we decided to head to Dumont for lunch.

We started off with an bowl of little doughnuts as an appetizer.  The doughnuts were nice and warm, small like munchkins and sprinkled with a little sugar.  Compared to other doughnuts, these were not very sweet.  They were also kind of chewy, not fluffy at all.  The doughnuts had a simply doughy flavor with a subtle sweetness.  Not bad, but unlike most other doughnuts.

Doughnuts ★★★☆☆

Now, on to the entrees.  T had the Mac 'n' Cheese and it was excellent.  The crusty top was the best part.  It was so perfectly crispy and covered the steaming pasta and cheese perfectly.  The thick pieces of diced bacon contrasted nicely with the creamy pasta and overall, the dish was quite tasty.  If you're at Dumont, I would recommend getting the Mac 'n' Cheese.

Mac and Cheese ★★★★☆

My nephew ordered the Hanger Steak.  This was only okay.  Didn't love the flavor.

Hanger Steak ★★★☆☆

I ordered the Burger with Bacon and Gruyere Cheese.  I was really looking forward to it as it looked so good.  The patty was big and round and the fresh veggies on the side looked really appetizing.  Unfortunately, the Burger did not meet my expectations.  It was really tender, which was nice, but the flavor just wasn't that great.  I would even say it was bland.  Oh well, too bad.  The garlic parmesan fries, at least, were really tasty.

Burger with Bacon and Gruyere Cheese ★★★☆☆

The best thing that we ate was what my sister ordered, the Pork Tacos.  These were barely recognizable as tacos but if you can put aside your notions of what a taco should be, this dish was great.  The pork was tremendously juicy, tender and flavorful.  Adding the guacamole to the top of each taco added a nice level of creaminess and flavor as well.  I don't really consider this a real taco, as there were hardly any veggies on it and no salsa, but the meat was so delicious that I just had to give this dish 5 stars.

Pork Tacos ★★★★★

Overall, Dumont has pretty good food.  To me though, the Mac 'n' Cheese and the Pork Tacos were the standouts.

Sheepshead Bay: Satisfying Pho at Pho Hoai Restaurant

My wife T has been searching for good Vietnamese food in New York for over 2 years, with not much luck.  Recently, we went to Pho Hoai Restaurant on the border of Sheepshead Bay and Midwood.  Pho Hoai has another location in Bay Ridge too which we haven't tried yet.

My wife and I were both craving Pho, a beef noodle soup that is the national dish of Vietnam.  We got the Xe Lua, an extra big bowl with rice noodles, beef soup, six difference briskets, navel, frank, omosa, tendon and eye of round.  Most Vietnamese restaurants list this at the top of their Pho list.  This was one of the better phos I have had in New York City, although T would have liked more star anise in it.  Overall, however, the broth and the beef were good and it was a very satisfying bowl of noodles.

Xe Lua ★★★★☆

If you're looking to satisfy your pho craving, Pho Hoai Restaurant should do the trick.

Red Hook: Great Latin American Food Trucks at Red Hook Ballfields

If you're ever looking for simple, tasty Latin American food, head to Red Hook Ballfields on the weekends.  There, you will find 10-12 food trucks lined up right near each other serving a variety of delicious Latin American foods, including grilled corn, tamales, pupusas, tacos, cemitas, tostadas, ceviche, and huaraches.

T and I decided to head to Red Hook Ballfields on a nice, sunny day in May.  We started off at Vaquero, which specializes in refreshing drinks like mango and watermelon juice, as well as horchata and fruit teas.  Instead of fruit drinks though, we opted for the Elotes, a grilled Mexican corn. It was awesome.  The corn came topped with mayo, cheese and cayenne pepper.  What I loved about it was that this corn wasn't wet and dripping like a lot of other Mexican corns I have had.  When you bite into the corn, it is deliciously sweet and the cheese and cayenne pepper stay on your lips until you lick them off.  It was seriously delicious!  One of the best grilled corns I have ever had.

Elote from Vaquero ★★★★★

Next, we had Spicy Pork Huaraches from Country Boys.  This was delicious as well.  The ground pork was nicely flavored and the mix of meat, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, salsa, guacamole and picked jalapenos resulted in a great blend of different flavors.

Spicy Pork Huaraches from Country Boys ★★★★☆

The last thing we tried was the Pork and Cheese Pupusa from El Olomega, a Salvadoran food truck that often has long lines.  This was tasty too.  The best part was the pickled veggies on the side that contrasted perfectly with the starchy and cheesy pupusa.

Pork and Cheese Pupusa from El Olomega ★★★★☆

The Red Hook Ballfields is just a fun place to visit.  With tasty food all around, I plan to go back many many times.