Go Wanus Go, One Star for the Pines

We had a sneaking suspicion Pete Wells was going to review the Pines this week. With recent reviews of Costata, ABC Cocina, Uncle Boons, Alder, Lafayette, and Carbone, the Times critic has just about exhausted the white-hot (at least three-months-old) hits of late.

When Wells wrote about Danny Bowien's Mission Chinese Food on Orchard Street, he wove a Led Zepplin theme throughout the review. For the Pines, a looser, louder restaurant in a less-polished part of town, he goes for Television and the punk/new wave era of late 70s CBGB.

"None of my five meals at the Pines since its opening late last summer in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn has been in the “just awful” category," Wells writes of his early visits, "But two were so frustrating I swore I’d never return." "Three months later," he continues, "I was back. That night, the Pines and its chef, Angelo Romano, were in control of their chords and the tempo from start to finish."

Wells writes that chef Angelo Romano, "has a discerning eye for prime ingredients, but isn’t always as discerning about his ideas." Wells cites a few dishes that didn't work and calls out some early service blunders. Many of those kinds have been worked out, and a few of the restaurant's initial policies, i.e. cash only and no reservations, have since been changed, making a meal at the Pines that much more approachable. Wells awards one star.

Wells ate at the Pines five times and gave the restaurant almost a full year before filing his review (the restaurant opened on September 19th, 2012). This much time, and this many visits, have become a rarity it today's media driven food world, but the critic saw potential and wanted to give the young team time to get their Gowanus Canal sea legs.

In our opinion, each of our meals at the Pines have been two-star worthy. Romano's food, along with his knowledge and deft execution of unique ingredients, breathes a breath of fresh air into the city's foodmosphere. There's no doubt the one star is a bright one, and while two seems to be the trend, the solitary star gives Romano plenty of room to grow - which, according to an interview Romano did last week, sounds like it will be happening sooner than later. When asked, "What's next for you?" Romano's responsed, "We have a few projects we're working on this year that I can't really talk about yet. They're all Brooklyn-based." [NYTimes] [VV]