Melany - Dominican Food Made w/afición

Dave Thomas named his joint after his daughter Wendy. The good folks at K-Dog have a son by that nickname. Add to the pantheon Melany, the daughter of the owner of the #1 Dominican place within spittin' distance of The Q at Parkside.

To our brothers and sisters of "PARKSIDE" (if "SW Prospect Lefferts Gardens" is too much of a mouthful for you) - we really haven't any proper bourgeois restaurants, and this can be a pain when you want a bottle of wine, a cheese-plate and some roasted red pepper and warmed goat cheese over locally grown greens du jour. It's really not far to Park Slope though, and one could easily choke on its glut of braised vermont pork ragout. I'm teasing of course...I love a tasty overpriced meal as much as the next college grad.

What we DO have in PARKSIDE as far as restaurants go is really quite remarkable. Assuming you have an adventurous streak, you'll never go hungry. There are even a few places that make for a nice, albeit informal, sit-down experience. I'm tempted to focus on the Jamaican or Trinidadian places, oh, and I will, but what about the Dominican Republic? Last I checked it's in the Caribbean too! I'm a huge fan of the food, and you can do a lot worse than Melany at the corner of Lenox and Flatbush. The staff is super-friendly, and since its winter remodeling, it's really quite cozy. Takeout and Delivery available...I highly recommend the rotisserie chicken, though you might want to ask for the "most recent" bird, since the pollo has a tendency to dry out with time on the spit.

But there's lots more to Dominican cuisine than chicken and rice and beans. La Bandera, "the Flag," is sort of the national dish, though you won't see the word Bandera on the menu. It basically means meat stew (with rice and beans completing the Flag). Chicken, Pork and Goat are the Dominican staples, and you'll find these delicious stewed items under Especiales del Dia. If you want a cheap Sammy, Melany makes a decent Cubano (I know, it's Cuban, but screw the embargo), breakfast (Desayuno) comes in heaps, either Spanish or American, and we recently had the Mango Batido and let me tell you it's like smoothie in paradise (apologies to the soon-to-be-estate of Jimmy Buffet). Oh, and try the Mofongo if you love plantain sculpture. I love me some Mofongo.

The blasting Merengue can be a bit much at night, but you can drop by here for a beer, sangria or Batido anytime, even when you're not hungry. You might feel a bit out of place if you're used to Brasserie living. But hey, you're living in PARKSIDE - do you really have the dough for sauteed atlantic bluefish with red chard and celery root puree 7 nights a week? You do? Then why aren't you living in Ft. Greene? Snapf!

Clarkson