Britt Marie - a real neighb...

Britt Marie's really feels like the kind of restaurant I would open if I was enough of a masochist to do so. The menu is eclectic, mediterranean-centric and vegetarian-friendly, and feels more like somebody's best dozen "company dishes" than a professional menu -- provided that person had spent a few years living hear the Mediterranean. The wine list is based on the 6-8 selections for the wine bar, which are transitory but usually pretty good. And the locals usually give us a curious, and not entirely friendly, stare whenever we are in.

We've been there several times, and almost every time build a meal out of the "apppetizers". Particularly, the spanacopita and the goat cheese pie are must-haves, and the beet and cucumber salads, as well as the Portuguese sandwich, are usually good. Someday we'll order an entree standard like the Hungarian goulash, but we haven't yet.

Dessert favorites include the yogurt cake, the bread pudding and the turtle pie.

Haute cuisine? No. Somewhere you could go every week if you lived nearby? Yes. And that's what makes a "neighborhood restaurant" in my opinion.