Apps Only: Lot 2

Editor's note: In "Apps Only," Ben Fishner will be eating his way through New York's appetizer, bar, and lounge menus as your guide to fine dining on a budget. He blogs at Ben Cooks Everything.

Yellow pepper toast from Lot 2. [Photos: Ben Fishner]

Lot 2 is a small, low key restaurant on the southern edge of Park Slope, serving New American fare with a focus on local and seasonal ingredients. What else is new, right? While Lot 2 certainly isn't the only joint in the city with this kind of menu, they are a particularly successful example of the genre with a number of small plates that are perfect for a light bite or even a whole meal.

The kitchen was offering two special appetizers on the night I visited, and both were too tempting to pass up. The Yellow Pepper Toast ($5) was topped with hard cooked egg and anchovy. The anchovy lit up the sweetness of the caramelized pepper, while the bread was perfectly crispy and doused in just enough olive oil.

Melon with prosciutto.

The other special appetizer was Melon with Prosciutto ($5), wedges of market-fresh cantaloupe draped with slices of salty, fatty prosciutto and topped with a few leaves of basil. Ham and melon isn't a new combination, but when the ingredients are this fresh and this good, you see why everyone does it. Five bucks is a nice price, to boot.

Candied bacon with fennel and pickled watermelon.

Next up was the Candied Bacon ($8), a thick, sugar-coated slab of bacon served over a salad of fennel pickled watermelon. As we've been learning in this space, bacon as an appetizer is not always the slam-dunk you'd think; a piece of bacon on a plate often feels like a bit of a rip off. Not so at Lot 2. The slab is plentiful and full of flavor, as salty battles it out with the sweet, syrupy exterior. But the real revelation comes with the pickled watermelon, which cuts the rich, fatty meat with a sweet vinegar tang that makes this a standout bacon appetizer.

Fried green tomatoes.

Finally, we tried the Fried Green Tomatoes ($7), coated in a crispy cornmeal batter and served with a spicy aioli flavored with pimenton. Crunchy on the outside, soft and juicy on the inside, these too were an ideal dish to share, if not the same value as the dishes that preceded it—seven bucks for just a few slices of tomato seemed a bit steep, although we weren't exactly complaining.

The two of us ended up spending only $25 at Lot 2 before tax and tip; that's $5 below the $30 target price of our meal. While this is a fine place to eat Apps Only-style, it's reasonably priced all around, to the point that it wouldn't be too hard to eat an entree for not much more money. The menu may be short, but there doesn't appear to be a miss on there. If you're in the neighborhood, let's face it, you already know about Lot 2. But the low-key vibe, friendly and efficient service, and terrific yet reasonably priced food mean that it's probably worth a trip either way.

Lot 2

687 6th Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11215 (map) 718-499-5623
lot2restaurant.com

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