The Taste of 5th Ave is Totally a Good Thing

Just a few weeks back, at the Tea Lounge-hosted panel discussion Food Trucks and Restaurants: Can't We All Just Get Along?, Irene LoRe, co-owner of Aunt Suzie's and president of the Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District, suggested creating a "Taste of Fifth Avenue," an event similar to the monthly food truck rally in Grand Army Plaza.

From what I can tell, the rationale was that if food trucks get a special event one day a month, brick-and-mortar businesses, who are there all the time & simply need to serve good food & not suck to get customers, should get their special day too. Obviously.

It was either a well-placed plug or the people at Google Places, who brought you free Culture Yogurt, free Robicelli's cupcakes and a Nacho Party bus, were paying close attention. I'm just going to assume it was the latter since Google sees all.

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[WHAT YOU SHOULD ORDER AT...] Provini

Image via Park Slope Lens

WHAT YOU SHOULD ORDER AT... is a recurring column designed in kind for your opinionated asses and our lazy asses.  We're going to pick one Park Slope resto a week and recommend our favorite dish at each.  Are we right?  Are we wrong?  YOU KNOW YOU WANNA WEIGH IN.  

So, true: we may have said some shitty things about Provini.  Guess what?  We still stand by them.  But, just like you end up going to Dunkin Donuts because it's around the corner from your office instead of going to a coffee shop that serves that roast you love.  YOU'RE LAZY AND IT'S RIGHT THERE. Also, you don't have any principles, as your father would say.

Anyway, Provini (1302 8th Ave, at 13th St, 718-369-2154) is an Italian trattoria that serves a lot of solid homemade dishes, even if the service blows.

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GETTIN' IT RIGHT: Yamato

Photo: hilabean on Flickr

Gettin' It Right is our new semi-regularish column where we call out a Park Slope biz that deserves an online pat on the ass for doing something that's not totally fucking stupid. Today's nominee: Yamato!

OK, seriously: Yamato. I adore this place. I could legit go on for forty years on how nice the wait staff is alone, but what I'm really here to talk about? Shit's good. Always.

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[REVIEW'D]: Zito's Sandwich Shoppe

Around these parts, we’ve recently been giving a lot of love to Zito’s Sandwich Shoppe, the new Italian sandwich joint that opened up on 7th Ave this Wednesday. Personally, after getting a sneak preview of the space last month and hearing about what Marcello & Enzo (the co-owners) had in store for the place, I was excited to see how it all turned out.

On Tuesday evening, Zito’s invited a select group of superstars, including a number of FIPS staff and readers, to their soft opening so they could test out their dishes on us. Since I’m OBVIOUSLY a superstar, I was there.

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[WHAT YOU SHOULD ORDER AT...] Press 195

Image via Park Slope Lens

WHAT YOU SHOULD ORDER AT... is a recurring column designed in kind for your opinionated asses and our lazy asses.  We're going to pick one Park Slope resto a week and recommend our favorite dish at each.  Are we right?  Are we wrong?  YOU KNOW YOU WANNA WEIGH IN.  

Much like calling a drink a "Frappucino" instead of a "goddamned coffee," referring to a plain old sandwich as a "panini" makes everything a whole lot fancier.  A sandwich is BORING.  That's what the masses eat, packed in their metal lunchboxes by their overweight wives.  A panini has PIZAZZ.  It's flat and it burns your mouth!  What fun!

Press 195 (195 Fifth Ave at Berkeley Pl, 718-857-1950) literally has 40 panini combinations (all for around $10) to choose from, as well as a shit ton of salads and "cold press" sandwiches.  With so many options, how the eff do you choose?

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