Romancing the beet in Bay Ridge

An unassuming new dining spot in Bay Ridge is already making a mark utilizing seasonal, local ingredients in innovative ways.

Beets & Carrots, which opened in June on upper Third Avenue, is the brainchild of Russian-born Viacheslav Khetagurov, whose love of fresh, seasonal produce was born in childhood when the family garden provided the basis for daily meals, and who learned his trade in the kitchens of such renowned eateries as the Rainbow Room and Daniel Boulud’s Restaurant Daniel.

The result is a cuisine that is both simple and elegant, reflective of what is most gloriously in season.

On our visit, my companion and I tried a cornucopia of the eatery’s dishes, and found them fresh and appetizing, and arranged to be as pleasing to the eye as to the palate.

From the separate bowls of deeply colored and intensely flavored carrot and beet hummus which opened our meal ($8) to the Beet and Carrot Cake with walnuts and raisins  ($6.50) that was its coda, everything we tasted was exceptional, with the essence of the ingredients singing through.

Highlights included the Asparagus and Quinoa appetizer ($9.50), which featured crisp-tender spears of the vegetable perched atop a bed of fluffy grains, under slices of thin, salty prosciutto and shavings of parmesan cheese, and a perfectly poached egg ($2 additional).

Also mind-blowingly delicious was the house-made Fettuccine Bolognese ($15), which was rich and seductive, as well as deeply satisfying between its long-cooked meat sauce, the toothsome pasta and the shavings of parmesan on top.

Khetagurov’s signature dish, the Baby Beet and Carrot Cappelletti ($15), also housemade, showcased pillowy little pasta purses stuffed with a puree of beets and goat cheese, artfully presented with thin slices of green, pink and white watermelon radishes.

The Risotto ($13.50) came to the table studded with corn and peas and and topped with finely grated parmesan and bits of fresh mint. It was luxuriously creamy and rich.

Beets & Carrots’ French fries, skin-on and dusted with tiny crystals of sea salt,  were a delight, subtly truffle-inflected, with a haunting flavor that was not immediately identifiable but satisfying and addictive.

“I always liked vegetables,” Khetagurov recalled, adding that his “dream” was to create his own cuisine “using seasonal ingredients, how it was when I was a child living in the mountains.”

The response, he added, has been enthusiastic. “People love the food,” he said. “When they come, they always come back.”

 

BEETS & CARROTS

9905 Third Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11209

718-333-5011

Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-11 p.m.

Saturday-Sunday, noon-11 p.m.