Scalino - New Restaurant on 7th Av/10th St.

tject

I think they just opened a week or two ago.

Just went there for dinner (have mom visiting). I was disappointed that they didn't have the baby artichokes that are on the appetizer menu, but the owner said that for two days he's been searching all over town for artichokes and there is some sort of shortage.

Fair enough.

I had argula and parmesan salad. It was good. Decent size, plenty o'cheese. Needed to be tossed a bit more to distribute the dressing. Mom had endive and yellow beet salad, which she liked.

I had pappardelle and with tomato cream and bacon, which was tasty. My mom had spinach and ricotta (I think) ravioli, which I tried - it was tasty too, although a bit greasy.

The best part was the BYOB.

That entire dinner was $37 - 2 salads, 2 pastas and our bottle of wine. I didn't notice a corkage fee added to the bill.

Not a bad place. Still very new. I would have loved to try the artihcokes, which I had been focusing on all day, but what can you do?


Disclaimer: all of the irregulars will know that I have no financial stake in this restaurant.....this disclaimer is for the newbies.

clementine

I should say that dinner was $37 + tip ...still a bargain

reader

I was there last night, the baby artichoke appetizer was very good.

The anitpasto toscano was good, with some spicy olives, salami and procieutto along with some pecorino cheese. I didn't get to try the
meatball appetizer, since by the time I wanted one they were all gone.

We tried the lamb shanks with lentils, spinach & cheese ravioli,
pappadelle with bacon/creme sauce, and something with ground turkey in the sauce, which was my least favorite.

Given the limitations of space in the kitchen they are probably wise not to have a huge menu and concentrate on doing a few things well. I hope they add a special or two to keep us interested, and eventually add coffee and a desert or two to their menu.

Overall, it was a very decent meal for a very reasonable price.

jcshad

Damn, I still want those artichokes!

veets

veets

I am gonna try this place!!


Flexi.. Go back for the artichokes..

I have afew eateries where I realize what the stand out dishes are.. after many a visit... So I go in and order (for example) the best salad on the menu and that is it... add a nice glass of wine.. leave a generous tip .. and everyone is happy!!

gretel

We just had a lovely dinner there.
Sat outside.
Had the amazing wonderful artichoke.
the bread on the table was served with a top notch olive oil.
My husband had the rigotini with turkey sausage ( he seemed happy)
I had the ravoili spinach and ricotta in a sage sauce....it was the best ravoli I have had in the slope!
Our bill came out to $36. ( we also had 2 sodas)

I can't wait to go back!!!
I hope they stick around~

torisoaw

I went the other night with a big group, and we ordered practically every pasta on the menu (all delicious), several appetizers (awesome) and dessert, which was a very, very good lemon torte. I will definitely go back -- and PS, for 7 people, it was like $130, including tip, which is pretty much unheard of. Gotta love the BYOB!

rose

I had dinner there this week. It was really delicious. There is only one entree that a vegetarian could eat -- the spinach/cheese ravioli. It would be nice if they would add another meatless pasta or two, but the ravioli was great, and you could easily put together a nice veggie meal with two or three appetizers. Everything we tried was good -- the artichokes and beet salad were especially yummy. The only small complaint I have is that everything was really liberally doused in olive oil. I love olive oil as much as anyone, but it was a bit much. The prices were quite reasonable -- I think dinner for four was around $100, and we ate a lot -- multiple apps and salads plus entrees. This is a great addition to the South Slope.

back to brooklyn

I'm dying for those artichokes!

Rose, I thought the ravioli had too much oil on it, as did my mom. Delicious, but greasy.

I hope they stay BYOB because it's really a bargain.

brooklyn dodger

If you BYOB, will they open it for you>????

torisoaw

yep, they'll open it.

reader

I was there again last night, they didn't have the artichokes, which apparently have been hard to come by in the market.

For the non meat eaters, they had a fish special of roasted salmon on a bed of spinach, which was excellent.

kitster

Subject: awful pasta, decent fish

My buddy and I ate here tonight. She had the chicory salad and grilled salmon, which were very good. I had pasta with "meat" sauce. I put quotes around the word "meat" because, since I'm over the age of 50, I had to put on my glasses to find the tiny bits of meat that were in the sauce. It didn't taste of meat at all and the homemade pasta that the owner had raved about was overcooked and limp. Reminded me of Chef Boy-Ar-Dee in a can that I had years ago. Just to top it off, I asked the owner how business was and he bored my friend and I for 15 minutes with every detail, including startup costs, landlord difficulties, etc. We could not get rid of him. My friend might go back; but, I won't.

raw

Flexichick wrote: I'm dying for those artichokes!

Rose, I thought the ravioli had too much oil on it, as did my mom. Delicious, but greasy.

I hope they stay BYOB because it's really a bargain.

Why isn't this place on www.menupages.com?

What's so great about these damn artichokes? How are they prepared?

Did Flexichick ever get to eat the artichokes or did they magically vanish every time she entered the restaurant?

rose

Subject: Re: awful pasta, decent fish

kitster wrote: My buddy and I ate here tonight. She had the chicory salad and grilled salmon, which were very good. I had pasta with "meat" sauce. I put quotes around the word "meat" because, since I'm over the age of 50, I had to put on my glasses to find the tiny bits of meat that were in the sauce. It didn't taste of meat at all and the homemade pasta that the owner had raved about was overcooked and limp. Reminded me of Chef Boy-Ar-Dee in a can that I had years ago. Just to top it off, I asked the owner how business was and he bored my friend and I for 15 minutes with every detail, including startup costs, landlord difficulties, etc. We could not get rid of him. My friend might go back; but, I won't.

Didn't your original post say that you're the owner of Sage? I guess it was naive of me to be surprised that a massage therapist would be so, well, negative. Why did you ask the owner how business was if you didn't want him to talk to you?

catalogenvelopes

raw wrote: [quote=Flexichick]I'm dying for those artichokes!

Rose, I thought the ravioli had too much oil on it, as did my mom. Delicious, but greasy.

I hope they stay BYOB because it's really a bargain.

Why isn't this place on www.menupages.com?

What's so great about these damn artichokes? How are they prepared?

Did Flexichick ever get to eat the artichokes or did they magically vanish every time she entered the restaurant?


Yes, I did have them, and they were good. I think they took them off the main menu and just put them as a special when they have them (which seems to be fairly often as I wak by a lot)

veets

Subject: Re: awful pasta, decent fish

Rose wrote: [quote=kitster]My buddy and I ate here tonight. She had the chicory salad and grilled salmon, which were very good. I had pasta with "meat" sauce. I put quotes around the word "meat" because, since I'm over the age of 50, I had to put on my glasses to find the tiny bits of meat that were in the sauce. It didn't taste of meat at all and the homemade pasta that the owner had raved about was overcooked and limp. Reminded me of Chef Boy-Ar-Dee in a can that I had years ago. Just to top it off, I asked the owner how business was and he bored my friend and I for 15 minutes with every detail, including startup costs, landlord difficulties, etc. We could not get rid of him. My friend might go back; but, I won't.

Didn't your original post say that you're the owner of Sage? I guess it was naive of me to be surprised that a massage therapist would be so, well, negative. Why did you ask the owner how business was if you didn't want him to talk to you?

Though Rose's reply might seem a little harsh I agree with the logic behind it. To me there is something a little off in communication when you ask a new business owner "How's business going." I would be more likely to engage the person by saying.. "Good luck in this new business. I wish you well." That seems more sincere and less likely to bring forth some negative tirade. It feels like you were too personal in the way you presented the question so it isn't suprising that the owner, for his own reasons on that particular day, gave you more personal information than you wanted. Hey... at any point during that 15 minutes you could have found a way to politely disengage by saying "Well I hope all these problems get solved soon...Nice chatting with you."

rose

You're always so nice, Veets. (no sarcasm) I guess I was a little harsh, but I was surprised by the harshness of Ms. Stratton's post. In this economy, with nice little Park Slope restaurants closing seemingly every day, I thought it was kind of awful for one small-business owner to be so hard on another one. I guess I was holding her to a different standard, and that's not really fair. But really, it's one thing to say she didn't like the food and another thing to complain about the owner talking to her, when she initiated the conversation.

I have a different feeling about Sage now than I did before I read that post, and I know that's not really fair either, but there you go.

veets

Rose,,, I think you and I should have a cyber hug and leave Kitster out.

Just a point on the sideline..On a forum such as this after a period of time some people who post will "out" themselves through the course of their participation and others will realize who they are in real life. THAT is different than someone who wants no anonymity to begin with and includes everything but their phone number in the profile when they sign up.

So given that... I understand why Kitster's posting made you rethink the business this person owns and it was honest and direct for you to say so.

kitster

Subject: this forum is scary; post re Scalino

Guys - If a new person is not allowed to be honest in their post without being attacked on all sides, they will not feel safe to say anything. I did say that my friend's experience was good, just not mine. And, it's not THAT the owner responded when I asked him how business was, it's that he WENT ON for so long. And he continued to bring up the topic when he brought out each course and we were just trying to enjoy our food. My friend agreed with me on this.

kitster

Subject: Goodbye

Upon reflection, I don't think I'm brave enough to part of this group. Take care.

raw

So what if kitster might own Sage? If she spent money on crappy pasta, doesn't she have the right to complain?

veets

raw wrote: So what if kitster might own Sage? If she spent money on crappy pasta, doesn't she have the right to complain?

I don't think my comments or Rose's were about critcizing the Pasta.

raw

veets wrote: [quote=raw]So what if kitster might own Sage? If she spent money on crappy pasta, doesn't she have the right to complain?

I don't think my comments or Rose's were about critcizing the Pasta.

I agree that Kitster was silly to confess that she volunteered conversation to the owner and then got mad when the owner gave Kitster a LOT of conversation after Kitster herself invited the conversation.

Yet, Kitster's potential ownership of Sage should be a separate issue.

Can't owners of local businesses be unhappy with service they receive from other local businesses?

If I own a shoe store and go to the dry cleaner and get angry with the dry cleaned because the dry cleaner burned a hole in my $60 shirt and then come here and write about it, will people attack me and say, "Well, since you own that shoe store, you should be sensitive to local business owners' needs. How dare you attack a business that's striving to succeed like yours!" If the dry cleaner burned my shirt and refused to pay for it, I'm going to want to inform others of the bad service. Sure, I might worry that someone might attack me and say, "oh yeah, well your shoes suck!" However, detailed, truthful customer feedback can be helpful. After all, if the customer is not happy, it's your loss

(For the record, I don't go to spas and don't know diddly about Sage. I also have not been to the restaurant, since I needed artichokes confirmation -- thank you Flexichick -- and prefer advanced online menu viewing. I would probably eat before getting a foot scrub).

rose

Raw, I don't really disagree with you and I already admitted that I was probably holding the owner of Sage to a double standard. It was more of an emotional reaction on my part. If she had just said she didn't like the food, I wouldn't have thought much of it. I was reacting more to what seemed like a gratuitous personal attack on the owner. I thought, the poor guy, maybe he was having a rough day and took the opportunity to vent to someone who seemed interested -- how humiliating for him if he ever read this thread.

And part of it was my perennial horror at discovering that behind the nicey-nicey, airy-fairy, new-agey facade of the average massage therapist or yoga teacher or midwife, there is often a person who just isn't very nice. I don't know why this always comes as a shock to me; someday I'll learn. :roll: