Fine Bushwick dining on the cheap
The electric glow of an ATM illuminates the entrance to Roberta's, a converted Brooklyn garage dispensing culinary magic with Wagyu beef, black truffles and $3 cans of Budweiser beer.
Inside, a wood-burning oven keeps the room hot. Waitresses wear plaid, bartenders sport tattoos and bearded men too young to be balding don wool caps for no good reason. I was the only diner wearing a tie.
Check in with the host. The wait for three bar seats is 90 minutes; for a picnic bench, two hours. The wait for a tasting menu, a few months. In a hurry? Pizzas are tossed, charred and boxed in 10 minutes. They're among the city's best.
SEASONAL & LOCAL
Roberta's is one of New York's most deeply satisfying Italian-American restaurants. In the summer, chef Carlo Mirarchi throws a handful of trucidi noodles into the piquant juice of Sun Gold tomatoes; shavings of Mediterranean bottarga pump up the flavor. In the fall, he blends tomatoes with aged squab breast, heart and foie gras, resulting in a musty, musky stew for garganelli.
And throughout the year, Roberta's margherita pie shows off the tang of good pomodori with no soupiness. In summertime, basil leaves come from Roberta's rooftop greenhouse.
Things aren't entirely local. I had California caviar -- a pile of firm sturgeon eggs sat atop fatty Kansas Wagyu, a Le Bernardin-quality surf-and-turf that would carry a $45 supplement at that high-end venue. The dish is just $13 at Roberta's, a restaurant whose prices brazenly defy the inflationary trend.
Only two entrees rise above the $20 mark -- a skirt steak ($22) and a pork chop ($28), both massively flavorful.
ORANGE WINES
Cleanse the palate with a soft wheat beer from Cooperstown's Ommegang brewery, or keep the digestive process moving with a Hudson Valley Bourbon Manhattan. Reds by the glass veer too much toward room temperature and Lambrusco lives up to its pizza-cola stereotype with too much sugar, too little fizz.
Wiser oenophiles will order the excellent orange wines by the bottle, a fun little class of vino where the white grapes spend some happy time macerating with their skins. So when you commit $48 for the Cantina Giardino, you're getting Cabernet-like tannins to match Riesling-like acid.
SMALL PLATES
Stick with elegant small plates or personal pizzas. A sampler of cured meats argues that Iowa's prosciutto is just as good as Parma's. Never, ever order the smoked vanilla gelato.
Take home the Axl Rosenberg pie, Roberta's best pizza. It's a brash blend of jalapeños, spicy sopressanata and double garlic. So much for restraint -- and good breath.
Roberta's
WHERE 261 Moore St., Brooklyn
INFO 718-417-1118, robertaspizza.com
PRICE Most dishes under $20
INSIDE TIP Dense, satisfying pumpkin doughnuts
SPECIAL FEATURE Some of the city's best pizzas
