Scottadito

Brooklyn restaurant week is a genius invention. It means you can get a three course meal at any number of fantastic places for a reasonable $21.12. The only flaw is that it does not include wine or dessert, which we know must come with every meal.

My charming party was a bit late for our dinner at Scottadito, osteria Toscana, but that gave me some serendipitous time at the bar to eavesdrop for a moment...The lovely and very pregnant bartender and a man that appeared to be a neighborhood regular were having an agreeable exchange in Italian. I have no idea what they were saying, but it was something about good food and life, I'm sure.

Turns out the restaurant is new to the neighborhood, though I was so sure it had been around forever - it looks comfortably settled in, with sturdy butcher block tables, worn brick walls and low, heavy wood beams. Like a homey cave of good food and nice, mellow tunes - anywhere from Dean Martin to Brazilian bossa nova. My friends and I sat by the front window, which is huge and looks out onto Union St in Park Slope.

Delicious food, of course. For antipasti, a vegetable souffle in a pool of tomato and basil coulis. For primi, an orecchiette with beets, arugula, black olives and ricotta salata. Orecchiette is a thin, ear-shaped pasta named for it's shape - orecchio is "ear" in Italian (both vocabulary and stomach grow). For secondi, a nice tilapia coated with dry herbs, along with steamed greens. We drank a delightful Montepulciano and for dulci, a heavenly tort of rich dark chocolate and some creamy chocolate gelato, with our steamy lattes and cappucinos.

Also for dessert we had a deeply involved and intense discussion about the concept of the moustache - what it symbolizes, it's shifting power dynamic, and the female equivalant. Everyone had an impassioned opinion on this topic, and by the end we were no closer to consensus. The Italianness of Scottadito must have rubbed off on us!

Scottadito
788 Union St (between 6th and 7th Aves)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
New York
718-636-4800
http://www.scottadito.com/