A Clinton Hill Resident Eats

Olea - By Tra B:

When I first moved to Clinton Hill about eight years ago, there was a nice little restaurant named “A Table” – the phrase French mothers use to call their families to the dinner table – about three blocks from my apartment. We went there a few times and thought the food decent enough to explain its being full most of the time. When it suddenly closed about three years later, we were more than a little surprised and felt like we’d lost an acquaintance; there was brief period of reflection followed not long after by acceptance. I’d always hoped that a quality produce shop would open up in its place but when I learned that it would be another restaurant, I quickly lost all interest. Even though I’ve passed it at least three times a week since it opened a few years ago, I never checked the menu or gave it much thought.

So on roughly my two-hundredth pass-by last week, I was desperately in the mood for some soup and very short on time. I actually walked past before deciding that it was really my only option. One cup of butternut squash soup later and I was suggesting to my wife that we make a point of grabbing a meal there.

Enter Brooklyn Restaurant Week. Three courses for $23 per person ($38 with wine service). The pre fixe menu:

Appetizer - Serrano ham with frisee and bleu cheese or crab meat with? (forget the details b/c crab meat generally turns my stomach)

Main Course – Lamb Shank with mashed turnip and wilted escarole or Rock Shrimp Risotto

Dessert – Blueberry Lemon Tart with Raspberry Sorbet or Assorted Cheese plate

I not so much asked my wife if she’d like to go as told her she’d need to make reservations. When she hesitated – would’ve done it myself but I was cooking at the time – I reminded her again. She was on the phone a little later and we were all set. Fast forward to the other night.

Surprisingly for Restaurant Week, the whole menu was on offer in addition to the pre fixe choices – not always the case - so we added a myrtleberry margarita and some herbed goat cheese croquettes to our tab. Both were fine choices, especially the croquettes. As for the rest of the meal, I opted for the ham, lamb, and tart; my wife the ham, shrimp, and cheese plate. The Serrano ham was, well, Serrano ham - salty, pungent, and um, good. Frisee is nasty any which way you cut it and should remain rooted firmly in the ground for animals to graze on. The tender, buttery lamb shank in either a wine or balsamic glaze was delectable; perhaps they’d tapped Big D for his newly perfected braising technique. Both the escarole and turnip were just a little too salty and sweet, respectively, for my taste buds but not enough by any stretch to ruin the meal. As excellent as the tart was, the raspberry sorbet was better and the perfect end to an extremely satisfying meal.

I tasted a bit of my wife’s risotto, which was pretty good as well, but by the time she offered up some cheese from her dessert plate, I’d just appreciated the last spoonful of my raspberry sorbet and there was absolutely no way I was ending the culinary portion of my evening any other way.

Olea - www.oleabrooklyn.com - is located on the corner or Lafayette and Adelphi Avenues (171 Lafayette Avenue) in the Clinton Hill/Fort Greene section of Brooklyn.