Walden

I took some pictures this week of my friend Jamie Gray's new place Walden at 502 Lorimer Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It is a great place, with a fantastic wine selection, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. Go check it out asap. Call me first, I'll meet you there. Actually, I might be there already.

Five Leaves in Greenpoint

It's been a while since I said anything about food, but the burger tonight at Five Leaves, right at the top of McCarren Park made me very happy. This place has several things going for it, namely the huge buzz created by their now deceased financial partner named Heath Ledger and the lovely interior, designed by the same chaps in charge of Moto, another of my favorite spots. Luckily the food is also delicious, especially the burger. I judge a restaurant on three very simple catagories (maybe too simple, but I'm no food critic): service, hamburgers, and bathroom. If you have a fantastic restaurant with a disgusting unusable bathroom, chances are they won't be around forever. There are exceptions yes, but it makes a difference in the overall impression that a customer comes away with. The bathroom at Five Leaves has this crazy metal door that used to be on a ship. Very cool. It strikes me that this depression era decor is really becoming a major trend. Ironic! The lighting and old mirrors work. It's a nice place to sit and enjoy a nice long dinner with good friends. Besides the wonderful grass-fed burger, we had prawns with lemon and pistou. I can't remember the name of the wine, but it was good and $7 a glass, which is totally reasonable.

That being said, the most important thing is service, because I can make a pretty amazing meal if I don't say so myself, so when you go out you want to have a nice time and have your meal be brought to you with no attitude and in a timely fashion. The waitress tonight was the only dull spot on an otherwise spotless evening. But Jeni overheard her say she only worked Sunday nights, so that's an easy fix, just avoid Five Leaves on Sunday and you won't get a little speech about how they don't give bread and butter before it was begrudgingly served. I hate to cut someone down this way, seriously, but she hated us from the moment we walked in and we still left her a good tip. I have worked in tons of restaurants/coffee shops, etc and I always thought the fun part was getting to talk to people all night long. She seemed pissed to be working in a restaurant. I dunno.

Roberta's Pizza in Bushwick

went to a new wood-oven pizza joint called Robertas on Moore Street near the Morgan L stop last week with Sarah and Guillermo. twas delicious and I really enjoy the BYOWine policy. I like wine better than beer these days. The pizza was so good I obviously didn't think to take a picture until there was only crust, but I did snap the wood floor in the ladies room. Bathrooms are important folks.