Watch out Toast, Minnow, and Cafe Steinhof, there’s a new kid in your neck of the nabe. Peter Meehan of the New York Times weighs in on the South Slope’s new mediterranean spot called Little Dishes:
Last month, Little Dishes opened on Seventh Avenue. The restaurant
is a joint venture of a husband-and-wife team, Colin Wright on the
stoves and Mira Friedlaender in the dining room. The room itself is
simply appointed in light wood and exposed brick; when spring
eventually arrives, the restaurant will add tables in a backyard
garden.
Little Dishes serves a roster of Mediterranean-leaning
American cuisine prepared with little fuss and few showy flourishes.
Grilled whole fish (market priced) is just that: a whole fish, dourade
the night I had it, assuredly grilled and seasoned with nothing more
than salt, pepper, thyme and lemon. Much of the food at Little Dishes
is characterized by such directness, such clarity of purpose. The
marinated sardine toasts are a good example of the kind of simple
alliances Mr. Wright makes work: grilled bread, faintly sweet grain
mustard and sardines that are closer in taste and appearance to the
Spanish marinated anchovies called boquerones than to anything that’s
ever come out of a King Oscar can. Oysters, served with mignonette and
cocktail sauces, are just about the definition of simplicity. And
although they’re budget busters, good ones can be hard to pass by:
Little Dishes had oysters from both coasts that were reliably briny,
bracingly cold and fresh, for $2 to $2.50 a pop…