Miranda and Fortunato Brothers

An evening in Brooklyn with friends.  What could be better?

Michael and I went with Jill and Lenny to Miranda (http://www.mirandarestaurant.com/).  The food is a mix of Latin and Italian.  The decor is warm and woody.  The wine list is plentiful.  The fresh bread served tableside continuously is wonderful, with choices of foccacia, whole wheat and Tuscan.  The service is good, no rushing, no screw-ups.  We had called for a same-day reservation and they were able to accommodate us to within a half hour of our preferred time.  The ONLY draw back:  Their sangria was grosser than gross with mushy fruit, pits and some funky spice I could not place.  Michael and I sent ours back and ordered a bottle of organic red Tempranillo instead. 

For appetizers we shared:  Market Green salad with spiced beets, ricotta salata, marinated mushrooms in a sherry vinaigrette; Grilled baby octopus salad with arugula, avocado, cucumber, pickled shallots and jalapenos; and a three cheese plate - Garrotxa which is a goat's milk cheese from Spain, Salva Cremasco  which is a cow's milk cheese from Italy and Pecorino Ginepro which is a sheep's milk cheese from Italy.  The plate comes with fig spread. Way yummy all around.

For dinner Jill had Medialuna - wild mushroom and ricotta half moons with white truffle oil (great).  Lenny had Pappardelle with a ragu of mole-braised leg of lamb and parmigiano reggiano (yummy).  Michael had Grilled Churrasco - Angus skirt steak with roasted carrots and fingerling potatoes with shallots and chimmichurri (very good).  I had Arancini -  which were supposed to be small rice balls with chorizo and spinach (yucky and no flavor). But the tomato fonduta (thick sauce) that they came on was really good.

We decided to have dessert at Fortunato Brothers on Manhattan Avenue.  We parked, got a table for four and had a cat jump up on Michael's lap :) It was great.  Cappucino, espresso, cannolis, lobster tails and chocolate gelato.  Need I say more?!