One of the worlds foremost opera experts, Fred Plotkin is also the greatest living writer about Italy in English. He’s also someone I’m lucky enough to call a friend. His best-selling book, Italy for the Gourmet Traveler, now in its sixth edition, is not just a gastronomic guide but a cultural and historical one, too. Take it from me, you will never pick up a more unputdownable book about Italy. It is delicious in every sense.
But Fred’s no Italophile snob. A proud, native New Yorker, he’s a man with an impeccable palate and a champion of good food, no matter what kind of food it is or where he finds it. So when he recently suggested a tour of Greenpoint, Brooklyn where he once lived but had not re-visited for many year I leapt at the opportunity.
We started our day of discovery at the well-established Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop on Manhattan Avenue, the commercial artery that crosses Greenpoint from north to south on a gentle diagonal. A sea of Formica and red-topped bar tools that snake through the shop in a key pattern, the family-owned Peter Pan has been in business for more than 60 years. I was torn between a fresh or white cream-filled doughnut or a custardy, Bavarian one, finally opting for the white cream. Heavily dusted with confectioner’s sugar a hazard for dark clothing the doughnut had a pleasing, faintly gummy chew, while the cream filling, sweetened with powdered sugar and given heft I suspect with a touch of cornstarch, was dense and intense.
Fred set out on the savory route, starting his day with an egg and cheese sandwich, in which he said the eggs were fluffy with no telltale smell or taste of sulphur. He also bought six doughnuts to go there was a line at the takeout counter the entire time we were sitting later reporting back on the blueberry buttermilk doughnut, describing the good blueberry flavor and the pronounced and gratifying buttermilk notes. He said the Old-Fashioned doughnut went perfectly with his milky coffee and declared the raspberry jelly doughnut firm and resilient, with a generous amount of raspberry jam.
We walked along the avenue and ducked into side streets named alphabetically from Ash to Oak, where the alphabetization abruptly stops looking at menus in the windows of the Korean, Thai, Italian, but mostly Polish, restaurants and coffee shops. We also admired the local architecture, like the United Baptist Church on Noble Street, one of Greenpoint’s most handsome streets. The church dates from 1847, the oldest church building in Greenpoint. Directly opposite, we chatted with sommelier Miles Meltz, whose new Mediterranean small plates restaurant, Noble, will open shortly on the sunny corner site.
By now it was lunchtime, which coincided with our arrival at Paulie Gee’s Slice Shop, one of two Paulie Gee’s outlets in Greenpoint, offering some of its most highly-regarded pizza. This was something of a volte face, surely, from the master who taught me many years ago that Italians don’t eat pizza at midday and never with wine only beer. But even fastidious Fred acknowledged that in Italy, too, for better or worse, the times, they are a-changin. As for what we ate, Fred eschewed his namesake slice a Freddie Prinze pizza (named for the American comedian and actor) with mozzarella, pecorino and tomato and instead opted for a simple mozzarella and tomato slice. My choice was a Mootz mozzarella, pecorino and garlic tomato-free.
We meandered in Transmitter Park, with its panoramic view of Manhattan across the East River and looked up and admired the Beaux-Arts Polish Slavic Federal Credit Union and the kitsch faade of the Polonaise Terrace, a longtime event space now earmarked for redevelopment. We also took in a pair of Polish-American pharmacies, a Polish travel agency and, of course, the Polish grocery store, where seven kinds of kielbasa (meat sausage) competed with tinned sprats and pickled sorrel for our attention, before making our way to Pierozek, which specializes in pierogi (Polish dumplings).
In contrast to the older-established cafs and restaurants we had visited, 3-year-old Pierozek was a slick, up-to-the-minute operation, with attractive brick walls, good lighting, an open kitchen and food served on eye-catching Polish ceramic plates. The dumplings here are prepared by an all-women team, and while it isn’t necessarily in pierogis DNA to be light, these were. We gave the thumbs up to nicely crimped, airy dough with Murray’s cheese filling, as well as the weekends-only lemon ricotta special, which through Fred’s powers of persuasion we were able to enjoy on a Monday.
With its Michelin Bib Gourmand, Pierozek claims to be the only Michelin-rated Polish restaurant in America. The only restaurant in Greenpoint with a fully-fledged Michelin star, however, is the Mexican-flavored Oxomoco, known for its wood-fired tacos. Although we didn’t eat here, it was certainly appealing, with its long bar, potted palms, hanging baskets and heated outdoor terrace.
You can’t eat all Greenpoint in a day, or even in a week, but I’d gladly come back to try Oxomoco. I’d return, too, for Syrena, a Polish bakery known for its cheese babka and poppy-seed strudel; the breakfast kasha or a sublime-looking French tartine at Bakeri; and the hand-ripped biang biang noodles and dumplings at the local branch of Xians Famous Foods.
Polish, Italian, Mediterranean, Mexican, you name it you’ll eat well in Greenpoint. Just head here hungry and remember the old Polish proverb: A good appetite needs no sauce.
For more on Greenpoint’s eateries, visit peterpandonuts.com; pauliegee.com; pierozekbrooklyn.com; oxomoconyc.com; bakeribrooklyn.com; xianfoods.com; syrenabakery.com.
For more on Fred Plotkin, visit fredplotkintours.com.
