While it seems like every two or three months a new restaurant pops-up in the South Slope–in a former bodega here, in a defunct shoe store there–8th Avenue is still by and large a culinary waste land. \u00c2\u00a0So I was excited to see a restaurant in the works just\u00c2\u00a0two blocks from my\u00c2\u00a0apartment and waited with anticipation as it filled in a store front that has been vacant since I moved in to the neighborhood well over a year ago.<\/p>\n
Then, one morning, on my way to the train, I saw that Giovanni’s Brooklyn Eats, complete with its shinny new neon sign, was open. \u00c2\u00a0I excitedly grabbed a menu. \u00c2\u00a0As I walked my excitement grew when I realized this new establishment was sporting a prefix brunch menu with all you can drink mimosas or bloody marrys. \u00c2\u00a0But I could swear I’d seen it before. \u00c2\u00a0As I scanned I realized that the menu was the same as Sette’s. \u00c2\u00a0The same\u00c2\u00a0Sette at which I had a uniquely\u00c2\u00a0disappointing brunch experience several months ago<\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0Some internet researching revealed that this is in fact a reincarnation of the now closed Sette.<\/p>\n But this last weekend I was on the hunt for a brunch spot and thought I would give this Sette 2.0 a second chance. \u00c2\u00a0It won’t be getting a third. \u00c2\u00a0Giovanni’s presents a charming modern\u00c2\u00a0rustic interior. \u00c2\u00a0But, as with the food, the appearance is where my appreciation ends.<\/p>\n As with Sette, the brunch food at Giovanni’s is remarkable only for its ability pack so little flavor into a\u00c2\u00a0beautifully presented plate. \u00c2\u00a0I again tried the eggs\u00c2\u00a0Benedict. \u00c2\u00a0This is a basic brunch dish, if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wrong it’s usually a sign the rest of menu will struggle. \u00c2\u00a0None of the previous problems with this dish are solved in the new location. \u00c2\u00a0The\u00c2\u00a0Hollandaise sauce<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0is nothing more than a smear of\u00c2\u00a0orange on top of an admittedly well poached egg. \u00c2\u00a0The ham acts as a salty condom ensuring that the\u00c2\u00a0delicious egg yolk \u00c2\u00a0and sparse sauce doesn’t\u00c2\u00a0accidentally contact the hard bread base. \u00c2\u00a0Though I did managed to get enough liquid under the ham to make one piece of bread\u00c2\u00a0edible.<\/p>\n The uovo al forno, an oven baked egg over polenta, tomato, and riccatt, was an\u00c2\u00a0uninspired, greasy, salty\u00c2\u00a0disappointment. Both who ordered this dish received over cooked eggs. \u00c2\u00a0The real problem is that the tomato presented no flavor or freshness and nor did any other element to the dish.<\/p>\n On my visit to Sette I ran into serious server troubles–some of the worst service I’ve even encountered. \u00c2\u00a0And, while the service was better at Giovanni’s, it still leaves much to be desire. \u00c2\u00a0Our server wasn’t hostile or evasive, but it did at times take significant work to grab his attention and he never checked in on the table of his own accord. \u00c2\u00a0My biggest\u00c2\u00a0disappointment\u00c2\u00a0was that, on exiting, I saw a sign outside describing the brunch and listing free coffee or tea as an element. \u00c2\u00a0A fact that our server neglected to mention to this\u00c2\u00a0poor caffeine addicted soul.<\/p>\n I had strong hopes for Giovanni\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.\u00c2\u00a0 Nothing would make me happier than having an awesome brunch place such a lazy distance from my front door.\u00c2\u00a0 But it looks like the brunch gods want me to travel far and walk off my morning indulgences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While it seems like every two or three months a new restaurant pops-up in the South Slope–in a former bodega here, in a defunct shoe store there–8th Avenue is still by and large a culinary waste land. \u00c2\u00a0So I was excited to see a restaurant in the works just\u00c2\u00a0two blocks from my\u00c2\u00a0apartment and waited with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dining-out","tag-brunch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eatcooklive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}