Lorenzo’s, Faro, [Kyoya, Contra, Junmen Ramen]

Posted on Nov 21, 2015 in Hiroko's Blog

PorgyAre you visiting NY city during holiday seasons? Don’t miss the following restauarnts. They are in the hot neighbourhood, Bushwick, Brooklyn. It is only 20 minutes subway ride to Bushwick on L train from Union Square Station in NYC.

Lorenzo’s: I was lured by good smelling rotisserie chicken cooked over charcoal fire; the price of the dish was also appealing – half a chicken at $12 and whole at $20. (How can you do that?) The chicken dish comes with one (1) side dish and two (2) sauces (a kind of Mexican, Spanish….inspired.) The rotisserie chicken was hot, juicy and flavorful.

The Lorenzo’s kitchen is led by a talented chef who worked at Fatty Crab and Fatty Cue. I could tell the quality of dishes from the start of our meal.

We also ordered today’s whole cooked fish. Fish was not the typical, disappointing farmed fish like branzino, but was locally caught porgy from Blue Moon fish, my dearest fishmonger. Serving grilled whole porgy is quite challenging to the restaurant, because fish has lots of bones.  Even with this issue, according to the restaurant, Lorenzo’s sells about twenty (20) porgy dish a night. The fish was perfectly cooked. There was one downside of t his dish. The blood clotted to the center bone was not cleanly rinsed before cooking. The fish had a bit off flavor especially on the belly side.

Faro: Chef Kevin prepares the dishes, which is very creative but not strange-creative, and produces the dishes which respect the flavor of each ingredients in the prepared dishes. Wood Fired Octopus, Squid Ink Strozzapreti (must a try), Local Grain Porridge (do not think of conventional porridge; delicious grain dish), Rigatono Mezzi (goat), dry aged duck breast ….I look forward to tasting seasonally changing dishes at Faro in the future.

Anyone looking for restaurants in Manhattan? Here you are my favorite List: Kyoya, Contra and Junmen Ramen