Taquitos de Jabalí (wild boar tacos w/ guacamole)

by Celia Sin-Tien Cheng
August 7, 2007

PALO SANTO
652 Union St
(4th & 5th Aves)
Brooklyn, NY 11215
718-636-6311

Dinner at Palo Santo was one of the most pleasant dining experiences I’ve had in New York City. The décor both inside and out is striking and cozy, the service is phenomenally pleasant and the food is both inventive and comforting. Oh, and to top it all off, it’s exceedingly reasonable — an added bonus as it’s so rare to find high quality price ratio in the City.

Chef-owner Jacques Gautier creates eclectic Latin (South American and some Caribbean) cuisine at this wonderfully home-style eatery located on Union Street between 4th and 5th Avenues in Park Slope. With the help of some local artisans, Gautier transformed the unassuming brownstone where the restaurant dwells into a little Latin haven for comfort food. From the artful, organic curvatures of the hand railing along the front steps, to the mosaics on the wall in the kitchen, everything about the restaurant is ornate but not fussy.

From the front of the restaurant — at the tables or counter seats — diners can see the chefs at work in the open kitchen. There is also a corner table for larger parties on the same level past the kitchen. In the back, down a flight of wooden stairs, tables boast a garden view where herbs grow around a rock-sculpted fountain. Besides the sight of Gautier and his crew lovingly cooking, every detail of the restaurant speaks to his passion for this creative neighborhood venture.

The menu changes daily. Appetizers generally range from $6 to $14 and entrées from $17 to $24. However, from Sunday through Thursday, there is a three-course prix-fixe dinner (appetizer, entrée and dessert) for just $25. An absolute steal!

My friends and I started with a chayote (squash-like vegetable in the gourd family) salad with jicama, grapefruit and avocado, a light and endearing summer appetizer. Then we continued with the taquitos de jabalí (wild boar – braised in a sofrito containing beer and chilies — and guacamole tacos), which were so delicious I could have had rounds of these for dinner. The plantano relleno, a slender baked plantain boat stuffed with bacalao (cod), cooked in a tomato-heavy sauce, and topped with Manchego cheese, was both beautiful and mouth-wateringly delicious. The chorizo casero (homemade pork liver sausage) with beets, radicchio and pork cracklings was another meaty but rewarding dish as the loose pork liver sausage played well with the different textures of the sliced beets, crisp radicchio and crunchy pork cracklings.

For mains, first, the clams asopado (soupy rice) really hit the spot. There’s something about soupy rice that is just comforting, and the brininess of the clam juice mixed with butter made it slightly richer but not heavy. While the kingfish a la plancha (grilled on a metal plate) sounded more appealing than the pan-roasted barracuda, it was actually rather disappointing. Served with purple potato, olive and radish, the fish was dry and the starch of the purple potato weighed the dish down further. The olive and radish didn’t add any flair either. The barracuda, on the other hand, turned out to be a knock out. The sweetness of the plantain and the slightly sour hot slaw melded adoringly with this tropical fish.

For dessert, the cool, refreshing papaya sorbet was the ideal antidote to a hot summer night. We also tried the peach crisp with peanut topping and vanilla ice cream, which would be ideal for peanut lovers, but for me the peanut flavor overpowered the peaches.

Palo Santo is wonderful on so many levels. The food while eclectic is not heavy-handed in terms of flavor, but rather carefully comprised of ingredients that work together. As I spend more time in Park Slope, I am delighted to learn that there are so many wonderful neighborhood restaurants with tasty food, no attitude and fair prices. Yay for Brooklyn!

Also in Meat, Park Slope, South American, Tacos