I’m trying to take advantage of my last nights of freedom before the new semester starts, so my long weekend was full of exciting restaurants! Friday night, Erik, Jose, and I headed to Camaradas (ok, so technically East Harlem is not part of my beloved Brooklyn, but Camaradas is so cool, I will let it share post-space with my ode to Brooklyn eating) after work so that I could finally order the jibaro about which I have been fantasizing for months!

The jibaro is composed of pulled pork sandwiched between … get this … two big slabs of fried green plantain:



Can you imagine anything more mind-blowing? Or romantically lit?



Saturday night, Erin Gunn Brennan and Mike came down to Brooklyn so that we could try the beer table at long last. This place opened a couple years ago literally steps from my apartment, but I’ve never been motivated to go because I don’t like beer. I’ve been trying to get my favorite beer lover down here for ages to try it, and we finally had the chance this weekend!



I had a little chat with the owner and explained that I did not like beer and wanted the least beer-y beer on the menu. Enter Harvest Ale ’99, the beer that motivated the owner to open beer table in the first place!



The tasting notes mentioned something about “hedonistic, figs, maple …” amongst other exciting descriptors, so I took the plunge and bought the $18 bottle.



And I loved it!



We needed nibbles to support the high alcoholic content of these beers, so we split the spinach salad with pear and Gruyere:



And the maple bacon with caramelized potatoes:



With our bellies full of expensive beer and miniature food, we took off for real dinner and football a few blocks away at Flipsters, the place where, according to the website, Brooklyn hipsters flip burgers:



I’m pretty sure I did not see any hipsters standing at the grill …

Anyway, I continued the beer theme by ordering a Blue Point Blueberry:





Proof that I drank my second beer of the night:



While Erin and I tossed ’em back, Erik and Mike had their eyes on a clearly very riveting playoffs game:







I was very excited when my salmon burger on whole wheat arrived:



I think this is the most beautiful salmon burger to ever exist:



Sandwiched:



I was feeling bold and slathered on a TON of mustard without realized that it was the spiciest horseradishiest mustard EVER. I literally had tears streaming down my cheeks through the whole meal. I was delicious, but I REALLY had to focus on my breathing!

Sunday morning, I headed out to meet the NYU girls minus one — Gina, Kate, JQ, and Di — at Buttermilk Channel. Sadly, Buttermilk Channel had an hour and a half wait, so Gina and I set out to do some reconn and found Le Petit Cafe. It looked like a little to-go cafe from the outside, but two people walking into the restaurant separately saw our contemplative expressions and told us it was excellent. The hostess informed me there was a 20 minute wait, so we summoned the rest of the crew over and were seated in no time … smack in the middle of this urban paradise!



You can’t even tell it’s Brooklyn! We were sitting right next to a little waterfall cascading the height of the wall. Kate and I agreed that the space and ambience, combined with the peaceful music playing, would make this an ideal spot for yoga classes. We all felt very zen.

I got complicated with the menu and ordered an egg white Huevos Rancheros over polenta instead of over a tortilla.



The colors were amazing, so I went nuts with the pictures.



And the polenta was perfectly crispy and cheesy:



Just one more:



Mmmmmmmm, sooooo good. I chopped it all up so I could mix it together and get every flavor in every bite.

It was a perfectly filling and relaxing meal, capped off by a few bites of Kate’s pumpkin pancakes 😛

Yayyyyyyyyyy Brooklyn, the best borough EVER!!!

Do you have a favorite borough!