Applewood Restaurant

Restaurant Name: Applewood
Location: Brooklyn, New York

Applewood Restaurant (http://www.applewoodny.com/menus.html) is among Park Slope, Brooklyn's better dinner destinations. It has a quaint, small bistro feel to it (lots of soft yellows and browns) and a menu based around selections that incorporate organic, locally sourced ingredients.

I have eaten at Applewood three times (twice for dinner and once for brunch) and I recommend the place for dinner only (brunch was uninspired). The most recent visit was with three other members of the Foodie Family blogging here at Between Courses (see, in particular, The Maharaja's review).

I began my meal with the Creamy Lobster Broth - a thin, finely strained version of a more traditional bisque. Though the flavors were good (not too fishy and pleasingly sweet), I think this dish would have been better served with a thicker consistency.

My entree was great. It was their daily special, a grass-finished beef cut into square medallions from the strip steak and served atop a puree of winter squash (excellent - creamy and brightly flavored) with a veal glace. Roasted fingerling potatoes rounded things out. The beef was presented medium rare (their take on this is very rare - almost purple in the middle. This is just how I like it, but for those who prefer things less purple and more pink, medium might be the way to go).

Dessert was a take on coffee and donuts that was inventive but not wholly successful. A small mound of mini doughnut holes served with a whiskey ice cream (not strongly flavored enough), a "latte" flan (too much coffee flavor), and steamed milk. While I liked the idea and some of the individual pieces of the dish, overall there was too much going on and none of it was well enough executed.

Despite a few imperfections, Applewood is a great place to get a nice dinner on a special occasion (the bill runs to around $70 per person). Park Slope has few enough great restaurants, so I hope Applewood keeps the quality high and sticks around.