The Park Slope Gastronome

Back in Park Slope.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Tonight's Dinner: Bar Toto

Met up with a co-worker and her friend at this mid-Slope restaurant/bar which I had never been to, much less heard of before Friday. Not much to say about Bar Toto except it was "eh." The menu presented so many tasty-sounding options, we made the waitress come back twice to take our orders. There were panini combinations involving ingredients like sopressata, garlic mayo and smoked mozzarella; braised short ribs; homey pastas. In the end spaghetti and meatballs won out. It didn't hurt that my eyes just happened to wander towards someone else's plate of pasketti and meatbulbs when I first walked in.

Pasta with meat usually always wins out for a carbo-carnoholic like myself. I shoulda gone with the panini or the panini burger which came with a mound of shoestring fries. The meatballs were pretty heavy and the pasta way oversauced and too salty for my tastes. The pasta thankfully was not overcooked (definitely not al dente perfection, but also not mushy at all). Hey, where was the bread? Oh, never mind, it was probably a good thing there was no bread since I would have eaten the entire basket. The prices were pretty reasonable (pasta and a glass of white wine for $20 with tax and tip) and the interior reminded me of Cafe Steinhof a few blocks south, so I would probably find myself back here again to try some other menu items.

No photo because I seem to have misplaced the charger for the camera.

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6 Comments:

Blogger Jack said...

Yeah, Bar Toto isn't bad. And well, most places have their "thing" and you didn't order it. Their paninis are definitely the thing they do right. I opt for the meatball one. Haven't been since last summer, but I remember sitting outside doesn't suck either. YL, have you been to Bogota? I avoided it for months, but it's our new favorite place.

June 26, 2006 9:19 AM  
Blogger youthlarge said...

Haven't been to Bogota, but the Listmaker has and loved it, beeing able to eat a dish with double plantains. I totally understand what you mean by avoiding it.

June 26, 2006 10:41 AM  
Blogger Jack said...

Well, I'm also half Columbian (people don't believe me), so there was that too. That said, they had all my mom's faves: San Cocho, Arroz Con Pollo, and my new current favorite: Patacon Con Todo, which is nearly the equivalent of nachos with shredded beef and chicken, but instead of chips, it's fried plantains as the base. Comes with a chimmichuri sauce, too. And it was cheap. They had no issues with people splitting dishes and even though we went batshit with the watermelon mojitos, we got out cheap. Wanna go?

June 26, 2006 2:43 PM  
Blogger youthlarge said...

yes please, but not right now since bar toto has left me kind of incapacitated.

June 26, 2006 4:11 PM  
Blogger China-Latina Chowhound said...

I want to go to Bogota too!

June 26, 2006 7:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bogota has become my new favorite brunch place as well!

July 30, 2006 8:53 AM  

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