Page 633 - Demo

Looking at Living from Brown stone BrooklynDecisionlessDiningT h e E a s yW a y O u tBY PETER HALEYScene: a rapid turnover of paying customers who, elbow to elbow, scan a boggling listing of the proverbial %u201c soup to nuts.%u201d Place: any successful restaurant.But now, several eateries are reversing the formula, giving the chef, not the customer, control.%u201c It may be a bit fascistic,%u201d jokes Fred Rothenburg, owner and chef of Atlantic Avenue%u2019s Pate Vite, %u201c but it%u2019s really the only sensible way to prepare food.%u201dRothenburg is talking about the %u201c prix fixe%u201d meal. (For you non-Francophiles, that means %u201cfixed price%u201d in English.) Family dining around a menu set virtually at the time of making a reservation%u2014and paying one price for it%u2014has landed in Brooklyn.Park Slope%u2019s Villa Storica (nee Casa Storica) began the invasion two years ago and before you could say %u201c Lafayette, we are here,%u201d several restaurants%u2014Pate Vite, Boreum Hill%u2019s Hubert%u2019s, Cobble Hill%u2019s Verandah, and Atlantic Avenue%u2019s Delices de Saigon%u2014had joined the west Brooklyn ranks.Most Americans follow their democratic heritage right to the dinner table, insisting on freedom of choice. Only, says Rothenburg, quality often gets left behind.%u201c Ii is beiier liiai the peopie wail for the food, rather than have the food wait for the people,%u201d he declares. %u201c In restaurants where you have so many choices of entrees, the food is usually alreadyNovember 16.1978, THE PHOENIX, Page 9