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12/09/2005 Archived Entry: "Tempo Restaurant, Brooklyn"

I know you all know that I live in Park Slope, in Brooklyn. As I am a third generation Brooklynite (one grandparent was born in Russia), and a Brooklyn lover even while the borough was down and out and I was living in Manhattan for nearly 25 years, I keep saying “I’m back where I belong.” Indeed, when I would drag my Manhattan friends to Brooklyn in the 1970s through the mid ‘90s – to eat, to play, to tour, and to just visit -- they would say “Oh, Arthur is taking us to the holy land.”

Who knew when I moved back that Brooklyn would become home to some of New York City’s most exciting and accessible restaurants? Many young chefs and restaurateurs are opening here because it has become so expensive and risky to open in Manhattan, and because certain areas of Brooklyn now have a good audience for restaurants. Affluent young families have been moving here in recent years because we have some good public schools, great housing, and the residential neighborhood services and amenities that Manhattan now lacks.

Affordable restaurants are one of those amenities. I hear Brooklynites complain that restaurant prices here have become “Manhattan prices.” I answer “That’s only because you haven’t eaten in Manhattan in five years.” Twenty-something dollar entrees are typical all over the country now – in stylish restaurants, at any rate. In Manhattan, those same plates in equivalently stylish places are inching toward $40.

So, speaking of stylish restaurants, I want to share the review of Tempo that I wrote some months ago for BKLYN magazine, for which I am the restaurant critic. BKLYN is a quarterly – four issues a year – and costs only $12 a year for a subscription. That’s less than a movie and a soda. If you would like to read me regularly (in a venue other than this), as well as the other wonderful writers that editor Joseph Steuer has gathered between the covers, you can subscribe on line by going to BKLYNmagazine.com

Tempo, I feel, doesn’t get its due in the Manhattan-based New York media. But, I guarantee you it has classy and very delicious food, classy and attentive service, and a great wine list and bar menu. While in Italy this fall, I was very proud to see that it was prominently featured in DOVE magazine, the Italian equivalent of Travel and Leisure, in a big spread on my home borough. (“Dove” – pronounced dove-ay -- means “Where.”)

Tempo’s menu has changed somewhat since I wrote the following review. Chef Michael Fiore is mindful of the seasons. I know this restaurant very well, much better than I do most others in my neighborhood, because Tempo is the restaurant I go to most often. Certainly, if I have to entertain someone in a restaurant, that’s my pick. The tables are widely spaced and the noise level is gentle – great for conversation. Certainly, if I am celebrating something, it’s my choice. The rooms are elegantly contemporary. It is the most adult and civilized place around here

But … read on and see what I wrote in BKLYN.

TEMPO RESTAURANT
256 Fifth Ave., near Carroll St., Park Slope, Brooklyn; (718) 636-202-0718

Park Slope held its breath when Cucina finally closed in late spring after several years of ups and downs. It was the first stylish restaurant on what has become the neighborhood’s Miracle Half Mile, the stretch of Fifth Avenue from Bergen Street to about Sixth Street that has mushroomed into an upscale restaurant row – Blue Ribbon, al di la, Osteria Convivium, Belleville … just to name the most prominent. But Cucina, on Fifth and Carroll, ended badly. Founding chef-owner Michael Ayoub was long gone (he now operates, Fornino, an upscale pizzeria-restaurant in Williamsburg), after a feud with landlord-host Anthony Scichitano (of AS Pork Stores), who is now in contented retirement from the restaurant business. After Ayoub left, the food had its ups and downs. A couple of famous chefs came and went. So did a few anonymous ones. One could only hope that Tempo would at least replace some dignity to the space.

It has done more than that. Opened by three Manhattan-weary restaurant professionals ready to return to their home borough, Tempo was as well-oiled as a Maserati the minute it opened. I hope that metaphor doesn’t lead you to believe the menu is all Italian or terribly expensive. It’s not. Entrees are $17 to $24, and there are plenty of light-meal alternatives that cost under $14. On the other hand, the big dining rooms are very sleek, done-up in neutral tones and geometric patterns – on the wall coverings, upholstery, and minimalist paintings. It looks as cool and contemporary as a racing car, but the friendly service takes the chill away.

Chef Michael Fiore makes wonderful Italian dishes, but he is titillated by Moroccan flavors, and you won’t want him to abandon this fascination after you’ve eaten his pastilla rolls, a sort of spring roll made with the thickish Moroccan version of phyllo, crisp pastry filled with sweetly spiced, succulent shredded duck and toasted almonds, and served, standing on their ends, with a smear of “Moroccan barbeque glaze” on the plate. His pan-roasted chicken has another North African touch: It’s seasoned with preserved lemon and saffron. Contemporary America comes into play, too, with a plate of grilled pork chops, pecan bread pudding and apricot chutney. These are the only pork chops I ever dare order, as almost every pork chop these days is as dry as, well, pork chops can be.

What I can’t resist, however, is the very Italian porchetta. This is a whole, boned pig filled and filled out with a well-seasoned ground pork stuffing that it is so juicy and so flavorful that even when served in paper thin slices, as it is as an appetizer (with a dandelion green salad), it is a revelation in pork.

Pastas, served in Italian-style first-course portions (but ample) and priced accordingly, are rightly proving a big hit. Crushed pistachios and fried breadcrumbs make bucatini tossed with thin green beans an almost must-have dish. I think Michael considers it one of his signature dishes, in that it is so popular he could never take it off the menu. Wonderfully delicate paparedelle, the widest pasta before lasagna, are dressed with a rich and deeply meaty wild boar ragu. Actually, I’ve never met a pasta here I didn’t like.

Some of the appetizers can double as light main courses – the grilled king salmon with a fennel and apple salad, or, not only for vegetarians, the farro salad – that’s a primitive variety of wheat – with thinly shaved slices of cacciocavalo (cheese). For a first course, however, it is hard to do better than Fiore’s homey lentil soup, based on a ham hock broth and full of chunky vegetables.

The grilled sandwiches, now known everywhere as panini, offer a lighter choice than one of the big main courses. The slow-roasted pulled lamb with arugula and mint pesto is sensational. (In fact, since this BKLYN review was published, Tempo has opened a carry-away sandwich shop and gelateria next door to the restaurant.)

There’s a wonderful selection of artisinal cheeses, a well-considered and reasonably priced wine list, and at least one dessert that is not to be missed: The hot beignets served with coffee gelato.