I don’t get out much these days, for dinner at least. You may find me at the playground, or at a Music Together class, or in the aisles of Trader Joe’s, and on rare occasions even in a spin class, but in terms of nighttime activity, mostly I am on my couch reading (The Girl Who Played with Fire, most recently) or watching a movie (500 Days of Summer, LOVED), while Emily sleeps in her room.

Since I don’t eat out as much, I’ve become much more of a home cook, with a collection of quick recipes that Craig and I share with a few glasses of wine after we put Emily to bed. It’s nothing like my former dining out life used to be, but little of my current life resembles my pre-Emily life. The change was hard to adjust to at first, but I’m pretty good with it now. I'm totally in love with my daughter. She's such a hilarious, adorable, funny and loving little person. But I'm still interested in eating out, so every week or so my mom will usually babysit, and I do manage to make it out to a new restaurant. This week I made plans to see Kathy and Julie for dinner at Roman’s in Fort Greene.

I was very excited to try Roman’s, the new Fort Greene seasonal from Andrew Tarlow and Mark Firth of Diner and Marlow & Sons, with Marlow’s former chef Dave Gould behind the stoves. The guys from Diner, et al, are a solid bunch, and I was hopeful that Roman’s would offer the same bold farm-to-table fare, but closer to home (for me at least, Williamsburg is a hike). The evening started off well. The room is lovely—with a warm and laid back Brooklyn vibe, a kind of old New York public house meets American bistro décor, with cool white subway tiles, thin wood panels white washing the ceiling, and the sort of hard wood floors you might find at an old Inn.

Julie, Kathy and I met at the bar, a worn wooden slab that runs almost the length of the room that’s dotted with tools of the trade—a tiny grater, a weathered muddler, a stirring spoon, and the like, all gathered in a neat circle in front of the bartender who offered us the daily cocktail specials: a sour and a bitter, and some friendly advice on wine. We started with a white, a Chenin Blanc from Charles Joguet ($34) that we loved.

The restaurant’s crowd is made up of an impeccable collection of Brooklyn hipsters. Several twenty-somethings congregated on the swivel stools at the bar wearing handmade 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 the waiter about the broth (the brodo) he said it was just a shallow broth, and the dish was really about the pasta. Sounded great to us, but how wrong he was. It was a bowl of chicken soup with little coin-sized dumplings. If I had wanted chicken soup with kreplach, I would have been pleased, but I was hoping for ravioli. I guess it was a matter of expectation but in truth it was also a bit bland and not particularly interesting or satisfying. However, the chitarra—a hand cut pasta that resembles spaghetti—had a great texture, and the simplicity of the sauce was lovely. But the menu indicated the sauce would have some heat and the spice was like a phantom, nowhere to be found.  

By this time we had finished our bottle of white and got the bartender to help us with some red. We chose a biodynamic red from Axel Prufer ($36), which was interesting with a bit of effervescence at first. While we liked the wine, disappointment continued with the pork roast with sausage and kraut ($24).

We had ordered this dish to share as our entree after the waiter had said the portion was large enough for three to share. I don’t know what kind of appetite most people who eat at Roman’s have, but this was not a plate hearty enough for three. (Granted I can’t fit into skinny jeans so maybe I should change my appetite.) But when I think of a pig dish big enough to share I think of something like the maialino (roast suckling pig) for two at Mailalino which certainly is, but this plate of pork was barely enough for one. The plate contained one fat and fantastic pork sausage and a very generous pile of crunchy and appropriately vinegary sauerkraut, but we were expecting a nice hunk of roast and what we were served instead amounted to three thin slices of pale, fatty loin, what resembled undercooked bacon. Was someone asleep at the wheel? What was happening in the kitchen? How disappointing. The side of tatsoi ($7), sautéed with garlic, olive oil and lemon, was delicious, but it wasn’t enough to rescue the meal.

We were pretty hungry by the end of dinner and excited for dessert, which the waiter explained included two sorbets: apple or chocolate, and a cookie plate, none of which sounded particularly satisfying on a cold winter night.  

As I said at the beginning of this review, I rarely get out to restaurants these days, what with babysitting at $80 a night. So when I do go out, and I am disappointed in a meal, it hurts that much more. What is perplexing is that Roman’s has the makings of a successful neighborhood restaurant: a seasoned team in the front of the house and in the kitchen, a good vibe, nice décor, and a wallet-friendly selection of wines and food. But it has to work on the delivery; otherwise I’d rather cook and eat at home.  

Roman’s is located at 243 Dekalb Avenue, near Vanderbilt, 718-622-5300. No reservations.

Andrea Strong