Antica Pesa

Welcome to the new, new Williamsburg. Say goodbye to hipster chic farm-to-table establishments, and hello to ultra posh hangout of Madonna and Morgan Freeman, roaring fireplace, mustachioed Italian men, and sometimes Jazz band.

The above scene describes the relatively new "modern Roman" restaurant, Antica Pesa that opened a few months back on Berry Street in Williamsburg.  The original Antica, located in Rome, has been run by 4 generations of the same Italian family and has a reputation for delicious Italian food and a celebrity clientele. 


I can't speak for their Italian counterpart, but here in Brooklyn Antica Pesa seems to be off to a good start. I like the ambience. It's fun. A large dark room (hence the terrible dark photos) with an awesome lounge area filled with overstuffed sofas is offset with white mod lighting and wood tables  giving it a rustic yet modern vibe. The crowd is a mix of young, cool people,  a lot from Brooklyn, with some Manhattanites and tourists thrown in for good measure. I read some reviews crying long waits and terrible service, but that was not my experience at all. Our waiter Alec, was a perfect gentleman; friendly, attentive, and well, adorable. Antica Pesa is perfect for a change of pace. Although I found the food to be good, not great,  it's not your typical neighborhood hang, and could be fun on the right night with the right crowd. 

After airing delightful bottle of rich red wine, a wooden chest arrives at the table with a selection of warm bread. This is always a good start. The food comes out in 3 courses. Autumn Salad with figs and artichokes, a Cheese Plate accompanied with honey and orange bitters and a Vegetable tasting (including beets, fried phyllo, and some interesting yet delicious hummus). Everything is tasty, if not mind blowing.

 Next up,  Cacio e Pepe, their signature dish. Wow. Creamy and buttery but not too overwhelming or heavy. Spot on. Best dish of the night. The Ravioli filled with potatoes and a leek cream, though presented beautifully, is hard and undercooked. Risotto with mushrooms topped with goat cheese is creamy and excellent. 

 Looking back, we probably should've stopped here. A selection of Mushrooms, roasted and fried, and the waiter recommended Bacala comes next. We liked the shrooms. They're tasty, the roasted ones more so than the fried which felt overwhelmed with breading. Bacala was just okay, the fish was small and somewhat bland. 

 Undecided for dessert, we went for the off the menu Homemade Gelatos. Tonight's included amaretto, white chocolate and pistachio. White chocolate was the best of the bunch if you have that sweet tooth craving. 

You'll have a good time at Antica Pesa. The atmosphere, attentive service, and cool vibe make up for some of the food shortcomings. And that cacio e pepe was really really good. 

Neighborhood: Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Bite Mark: *** & a half

Good For: Date Night, Fun Night Out, Entertaining Out of Towners 

Antica Pesa, 115 Berry Street bet 7th & 8th St  www.anticapesa.com 

Zizi Limona

Great name, great place.
There's a lot of good things happening at Zizi Limona, the newish Mediterranean / Middle Eastern spot in Williamsburg. First off, a couple of things to note. It's only wine and beer, but the wine spritzer, sangria-like, minty cocktail that I had the other night was a so pretty and refreshing, it hit the spot. There's outdoor seating, so add this to your spring al-fresco dining list. Also, it's really casual. I know plenty of Williamsburg restaurants can be described like Zizi as "cute and casual", but this place really is. From the little old world touches, to the "Pereg" spices for sale, or the graffiti  bathroom wall, and the waitress with the sexy-adorable Brittany accent, the whole thing just works.

 Zizi is Middle Eastern food, elevated to that next level. It's not strictly Israeli fare though, there are definitely influences here from Egypt, Morocco and that part of the world. We go way beyond falafel and tahini at Zizi (though their falafel was pretty awesome). I love that they do some interesting takes on the usual boring stuff, as in using a croisseant instead of pita bread or stuffing a cigar with cheese and honey instead of ground meat. For the most part, these variations work, and are precisely what makes Zizi not your average hummus bar. They don't take reservations, but as of now it doesn't seem to be too much of an issue getting in. The service is cheerful and pretty attentive, and overall the food was above average. We ordered a lot (of course), and I have to say that it was really pretty damn cheap too!

On to the food. From the "small zi's" section, we love the Shishito Peppers, with white bean sage and preserved lemon. Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar, is another awesome one. Stuffed with almonds, mozzarella cheese, basil and honey, it's just a big bite of deliciousness. I also love the Aunt Trippo's Falafels with charred onion and curry tahini sauce. The falafel here is bite size, freshly fried, and perfectly crisp. The Crazy Baba was just okay. Gravalax with curry yogurt sauce and fried cauliflower was kinda interesting though I don't know if I'd get it again, and the Grilled Eggplant, feta, arugula salad was light and refreshing. 

Order the Fattoush Salad for sure. I love a good salad and this one comes with cherry tomatoes, grilled pita, olive tapenade, bulgarian feta cheese and za'atar spices. Perfect, just perfect. Zizi Hummus with grilled onions is worth getting and mixing with some of the other items, but I would probably pass on the Shakshuka (though it's quite possible I was just busting at this point and couldn't properly appreciate it). The Whole Grilled Fish, was memorable and excellent. Fresh grilled with some spices and fresh lemon, exactly how I like a good piece of fish. 

I didn't find the desserts to be exceptional, and would probably stick with the food here. There was a take on Baklava, and something with Halva in it, and a special Chocolate Mousse, but nothing really stood out.  

All in all, Zizi is a good find and amongst some of the more pretentious (annoying) spots in B-burg, this is definitely a winner. I liked it a lot. I probably won't run back in the very near future, but it's definitely a great addition to the area, and a nice solid spin on classic Middle Eastern cuisine.


Neighborhood: Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Bite Mark: ***and a half

Good For: Brunch, Casual Date Night, Something a bit Different 

Zizi Limona, 129 Havermeyer Street 347-763-1463 www.zizilimona.com

Momo Sushi Shack

I wanted to love Momo's. The hipster Williamsburg "I'm a restaurant in a garage" vibe works for me, as does the communal tables and low lighting. I'm also cool with how Philip (the manager I assume?) comes over personally and promises an incredible experience. I love that the service was great all night, (although some extra deodorant would certainly not hurt), and the vibe was very chilled. Alas I almost feel bad saying but the sushi was underwhelming. And for the price we paid (over $200 for a couple including 2 beers), I just don't know. Some things are really exceptional here, and maybe I've become a bit of a sushi snob, but it's just not GREAT sushi. 

As a side note, although it's not really fair to compare, I should mention that the other day I experienced the Omakasa $50 lunch special at the sushi counter at Sushi of Gari 46 (see photo). That's a review in and of itself, but in short I was BLOWN AWAY... and Momo just didn't do that for me. 

But now back to the review at hand....

I love the surprise of doing a tasting. Phil said he would take care of us and that we were in good hands. I was psyched. The 1st course came and it was pretty solid. The Tofu / Avocado Salad was plated beautifully and tasted great. We were smiling ear to ear with the wonderful Carrot Shiso Soup and the made from scratch delicious Miso Soup.

The next couple of dishes unfortunately, did not fare as well. First came an assortment of "sushi bombs" (balls of rice with a thin slice of fish and some sort of sauce over it). We were given 3 pieces of Spicy Mc Low Bomb (tuna, avocado, wasabi cream), 3 pieces of Pink Bomb (salmon, scallions), and 6 pieces of Yellowtail (hamachi, daikon, ponzu). I don't know what's up with their rice, but it doesn't taste like sushi rice at all. It was hard, but not crunchy in a good way. Kinda weird. It also felt like too much rice to fish ratio. I didn't love it. Next was the Sashimi Tasting including 2 pieces of Kanpachi, Thai Red Snapper, Striped Bass, Sea Bass, Hamachi and Mackerel that we're told came straight from Japan. Not my thing. I don't know why, maybe I'm not hardcore enough, but it fell flat. Phil felt terrible and we felt embarrassed as we silently promised to finish whatever else came out of the kitchen no matter what. He immediately sent over this unbelievable bite of Salmon Belly with burnt onion and mayo, and I was back in heaven. The Toro Scallion Handroll was also really excellent. Great quality, perfectly rolled and delicious. I could have ate 3 more.

 Lastly we got 2 pieces of cooked fish, a Salmon with crispy skin, fish roe and greens that was delicious and perfectly cooked. And a Miso Cod that looked dry but was actually really flavorful and delicious as well.

I'm kind of torn. I love the passion and hands on approach to the place, and some items were really really delicious (soups, tofu salad, toro, salmon belly and cooked fish), but major points are deducted when the actual sushi (or sushi bombs in this case) and sashimi don't measure up. They also ran out of dessert which was kinda disappointing.
Momo Sushi Shack is a decent spot. I probably would not go out of my way to go back but if I lived in the hood or if the wait at Roberta's got too crazy (it's around the corner) I would give it one more shot. Thanks for the love Phil, good service is always appreciated.

Note that Momo's is Cash Only. Also, they only take reservations for tastings, but those can start as low as $40 per person. They also are very vegetarian and Kosher friendly, so extra points for that as well.


Neighborhood: East Williamsburg / Bushwick, Brooklyn

Bite Mark: *** (extra star for the good service & veggie friendly kitchen) 

Good For: First Date, Neighborhood Sushi 

Momo Sushi Shack, 43 Bogart St 718-418-6666 www.momosushishack.com

Gwynnett St.

First Williamsburg review, Yoo-hoo! And it's about time.
I don't know what scares me about Williamsburg, but for one reason or another I'm never here. There's a ton of good restaurants I should be reviewing and exploring, and really it's not as far as I thought. I think I had this preconceived generalizations about mean, condescending hipsters and tons of traffic. 
Ok fine, Gwynnett St, maybe Billyburg ain't all bad...

Gwynnett St is the brainchild of WD-50 alum Justin Hilbert and general manager Carl McCoy, who I met last night floating around the restaurant, and was extremely cordial and super-friendly (and no, I did not mention the blog). It is labeled "creative modern american" and each dish we sampled is full of complex flavors and interesting and fresh ingredients. It's an inviting space with dim lights and a casual yet romantic feel. 

Gwynnett St has a lot of good going for it. The good is really good, but I'm still kinda torn writing this review. I'm breaking it down into the good, and the not great as really I did enjoy my expereince, some things were just, well, "not great". 

The Good: 
1. The service is really wonderful. They couldn't have been further from the pretentious vibe I'd wrongly imagined. Everyone is super and overly friendly and accommodating. They are so helpful navigating the menu and go above and beyond in this category.    
2. Presentation. Everything was so beautifully presented. You can tell the chef has worked with Wylie, as everything is so interesting to look at and colorfully vivid. 
3. Whiskey Bread. Wow. Please order this (we ordered 2). It is a super crusty fantastic loaf of some sort of brioche / biscuit / irish soda bread served with cultured butter. WOW. 
Gwynnett St also make some mean cocktails. They all have great names and the one we tried include the Whatever Dude, Mr. Pink, and Wadsworth. Besides for the bread, the dishes I most enjoy is the Cashew (tofu), cauliflower, black garlic and tumeric and the Cod with egg yolk, leek, and potato. The tofu was delicious and the waiter rightly suggested we get 2 for 4 people. I can't really tell you what they do to it, I can just say GET THIS. The Cod is another winner, and I'm not really a huge cod fan. I loved the runny egg on it (of course) and the flavors melded nicely. 

The not Great:
Portions are kinda tiny. We went 4 people and shared everything, and a lot of that sharing meant literally one bite each. Some of the dishes were over stylized and more pretty than substantial. They were these beautiful tiny works of art, but not all that much food. Some like eating like this, I personally do not. I felt this way about both the Sunchokes with hazelnuts and alpine cheese, and the Puntarella with olive, pitachio and blood orange. Both were good, but small, I didn't get enough and hence didn't really enjoy. The Mahi Mahi with bok choy, turnips and dulse (no, i have no idea what dulse means) was just fair. Again, pretty to look at but I didn't love. 

Dessert:
We're still hungry. Let's go for 3 (!) desserts. In order that I enjoyed:
1. Chocolate - rose hips, bulls blood. So pretty but also so good.
2. Coconut - really good and creamy.
3. Orange - chicory and cream. Kinda like a creamsicle

Overall, I like Gwynnett St, and I would recommend it. I don't know if I agree with Esquire magazine who rated it Best New Restaurant of 2012, but it is definitely worth the trip. The warm service, great cocktails, and relaxed vibe helps. 


Neighborhood: Williamsburg, Brookyn

Bite Mark: ***

Good For: Special Occasion, Romantic, Fancy Food 

Gwynnett St, 312 Graham St.  347-889-7002  www.gwynnettst.com