<< previous review   next review >>

reviews

“Roman's”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	New American	Brooklyn	Moderate	Don't Bother

made woolen hats. A couple of Ivory-faced girls in long blanket sweaters over jeans so skinny they bordered on anorexic were chatting with a couple of guys in shrunken vintage jackets, and those same skinny jeans paired up with torn Chuck Taylors.

I didn’t exactly fit in with my Target t-shirt and ordinary straight leg jeans (though my brown boots were from Italy), but it was fine. While I may not have looked like the crowd, we were made to feel quite welcome by the bartender. He helped us choose an unusual bottle of white from France and waited, just a few moments, for a table to open up. We were seated next to a couple with a baby just a few months old, which was fine by me. I felt very much at home and several times throughout the meal wanted to reach out and hold their son. I could barely restrain myself.

The menu at Roman’s is hand-printed daily. The dinner offerings (all very reasonably priced) includes a collection of four snacks, a few pastas, two entrees, and two sides written by hand in blue ballpoint pen over graph paper on the left side, while the pre-printed cocktail and wine list take up the right. A doodle of an ancient Roman, one that looks like it was done by a fifth grader who was bored in a history class, occupies some empty space to the right of the house cocktails.  (The restaurant is named for Tarlow’s son who may in fact be the artist in question.) The doodle is kind of an original little detail and a bit quirky, and fits with the personality of the restaurant.

The brevity of the menu doesn’t leave too much room for lengthy decisions and we quickly decided on what to order. We started with two snacks: the spicy roast beets and oranges ($7), and a salad of raw Hubbard squash, with olives, currants and almonds ($6). The former was wonderful in theory but hard to eat in practice because of excessive heat. I felt like I was eating atomic wings. Someone in that kitchen has no idea of how to balance flavors because this dish was all heat, no nuance or softness. What a bummer. Not so of the squash salad which had great texture from the raw shaved squash and almonds and lovely contrasting notes of flavor from the olives and currants. Terrific.

For the next course we ordered two pastas: a chitarra with spicy tomato and sheep’s cheese ($10), and the cappelletti en brodo ($10)—what was described as small hat-shaped ravioli filled with pork and beef. When we asked t ... [more, click below]

Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  

 Make a reservation

<< previous review   next review >>

Posted: January 21, 2010

Other restaurants in Brooklyn :
+ Chickenbone Cafe-- Closed   + Pier 116-- Closed   + Chestnut   + Lunch at Peter Luger's   + 360   + Palo Santo   + The Good Fork   + Porchetta-- Closed Now   + Bocca Lupo   + Flatbush Farm   + DuMont Burger   + Dressler   + Farm on Adderley   + The Grocery   + Saul   + Black Mountain Wine House   + The General Greene   + Char No. 4   + James   + Chestnut   + No. 7   + Vinegar Hill House   + Motorino   + Buttermilk Channel   + Buttermilk Channel   + Vutera   + Watty & Meg    + Prime Meats   + Aqualis Grill   + Jack the Horse Tavern   + Roman's   + Fatty 'Cue   + Thistle Hill Tavern   + Broken English   + Trix, by Dara Pollak   + An Ode to New Orleans in Williamsburg: Maison Premiere, By Dara Pollak   + Brooklyn Wok Shop by Dara Pollak   + Arthur on Smith   + La Vara   + Gran Electrica   + Pok Pok Ny   + Ganso    + Reynard   

Share ! Post a comment