Pomme de Terre
1301 Newkirk Ave., at Argyle Rd., Ditmas Park, Brooklyn; 718-284-0005
When the Farm on Adderley opened in the culinary wasteland of Ditmas Park a year and a half ago, the neighborhood rejoiced. Things are looking even brighter on the food front now that the Farm’s owners, Gary Jonas and his wife, Allison, have teamed up with Brooklyn gastropreneur Jim Mamary on their second venture, an unassuming French bistro named Pomme de Terre. The unswervingly Gallic menu, designed by Farm on Adderley chef Tom Kearney, sticks to standards like duck confit (pictured), skate in brown butter, tarte Tatin, and a croque monsieur. “Pretty straight- forward stuff,” says Kearney. Still, churning your own butter, making your own charcuterie, and dry-aging your own beef speak to something a little more ambitious. And if the twice-cooked fries are as crisp and delicious as they are at the Farm, Pomme de Terre will do its name proud.
Insomnia Cookies
50 W. 8th St., nr. Macdougal St. 212-228-2373
Five years ago, University of Pennsylvania undergrad Seth Berkowitz launched an on-campus late-night cookies-and-milk delivery program that has since expanded to a dozen colleges nationwide, including NYU. Until now, oversized Insomnia Cookies baked in a commercial West Village kitchen have been a phone call or mouse click away only between the hours of 8 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. But this week, the company opens a bricks-and-mortar retail shop, still in cookie-run distance of its target demographic, but conveniently open during regular business hours to satisfy daytime cravings. Prices range from 90 cents for basic flavors like white chocolate macadamia and double chocolate chunk, to $1.25 for variously topped brownies, but the “deluxe” triple chocolate chunk and chocolate peanut butter cup will run you two bucks a pop.