Mable's Smokehouse

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: If you serve your food on trays, can we get like place mat that you can color in?

Mable’s Smokehouse is right by Brooklyn Brewery and I could think of not place better to eat at, if you did the beer tour and was hungry. Mable’s is part of the ever growing number of respectable barbecue joints in New York and specifically in Brooklyn. Give it a few more years and Brooklyn will have its own barbecue style eventually. I like eating at barbecue places because it is straight forward. Order how much meat you want, sit down, eat. You can eat a meal here at Mable’s in under 20 minutes, depending on how much you chew and do dinner afterwards. Wait, you mean eating two dinners is not a thing? Meat After the Jump!

Di Fara Pizza

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: If you napkin dab a slice of pizza from Di Fara’s, you are dead to me.

“Place looks like a dump, you would think they would fix up the place.” This was the first words uttered by a bunch of Long Island residents that I just met in line, getting some pies to go after a night in Atlantic City. If it were not for its reputation, Di Fara’s would look like any other corner pizza place. Though I would rather use the words, “rustic” and “homey” (but I guess it is like telling a fat person that he is just “big boned”)it is what is going on inside that makes Di Fara pizza worth the trek all the way out to Avenue J. Inside Dominic DeMarco is quietly and methodically making pies. He works at a steady pace, not slow, not fast but all his moves are intentional and unfaltered as more and more people show up and orders keep piling in. He just quietly snips some fresh basil and drizzles olive oil over each finished pie and goes about making more pies. 

This is what a New York slice of pizza is. This is New York Neo-Neapolitan. This is not just food: it is edible art and history. Dom DeMarco makes me feel like a piece of shit, the dude is old and if I was his age, I would most likely be watching day time television sitting comfortably in my house. This man is cranking out pizzas everyday and doing it well. Though you can get toppings on your pies, it really needs nothing and the plain slice is all that I need. Actually, I am wrong, the peppers in oil they have in a little crock on the side is all I need with it. I burned the crap out of the roof of my mouth eating this but it was worth it, the cheese was salty and a nice pull and the tomatoes sweet. Pizza after the Jump!

Artichoke Basille’s Pizza

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Apparently, sobriety may playa a pivotal role in pizza deliciousness

I am going to come straight out and say it: I do not get Artichoke Basille’s Pizza. After rave reviews, seeing throngs of people waiting outside and reading that it is a must eat, I eventually had my chance to stop and see what the fuss was all about here. The place is basically takeout only with a small ledge that you could barely fit a plate. I tired the grandma slice and their Margarita slice. 

The Grandma slice was half burnt. Not charred or anything, but the edges of the crust was just burnt, simple as that. If this was a person’s skin, I would be pretty sure they would have been diagnosed with cancer. The parts that were not burnt and edible were crunchy, oily and airy. This pizza was all crunch and cracker-like and the sauce was really acidic. The cheese did not really add anything to the slice, it was not horrible, but it was not that good either. The Margarita slice fared a bit better, lacking any outrageous dark stops but it overall, tasted the same as the Grandma slice except the addition of basil balanced out the acidic sauce. The slices here are nothing to rave about and I feel bad for tourists that come here, with guidebook in hand trying the pizza here. If time permitted, I would rather jump on the L train and go to BEST Pizza in Williamsburg. Maybe if I was a drunk NYU student on a Thursday night, I would understand the appeal of the pies here but sober, I’ll take a street gyro. Though people swear by Artichoke and that the square slice is the best there is on a good day, I do not have time and guru power to figure out and get a slice on a good day. So tourists, here is the warning, I suggest you bank your stomach on something a bit more consistent.

328 East 14th Street
New York, NY
http://www.artichokepizza.com/ 

Diner

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Good penmanship is a requirement with hand written menus

Diner is located in a pretty desolate part of Williamsburg and does not look like much from the outside. Yet, come here around noon on a Saturday, it is packed. Before Brooklyn became its own dining genre, there was Diner at the forefront and what all eateries if they know it or not, somehow replicate what they have been doing. The menu has some core items, but it changes depending on what is available and of course, it is handwritten and to add the hipster kicker, it is written on receipt paper, so it is just one long looking menu. Though they had some really interesting dishes, I was craving red meat in a carnivorous way and Diner makes a good one. 

Menu

The burger, is composed of dry aged grass fed beef which even you do not know what the combination of all of those words mean, you know it is going to be good and it was. Cooked to temp, this burger hit all the right notes of meaty and gaminess. The burger to bun ratio was perfect and dare I say that this burger is probably one of best (Minetta still reigns supreme) and has a hell of a price tag on it, for about 15 bucks. The fries accompanying it were fine but nothing to write home about and like that there was a side of fresh mayo. Call me a Francophile but I like eating my fries with mayo. The hipster vibe is strong here: some kind of indie rock is on and the dude is wearing really short shorts and suspenders, and I am pretty sure that ketchup is like, made in house. But you cannot deny the fact that there is some good food here that is worth checking out and a great tasting burger that rivals any in New York.

Damn fine burger

Diner

85 Broadway

Brooklyn, NY 
http://dinernyc.com/