DailyHeights

sje writes in the mad hot Daily Heights message boards: “I heard the lease was signed today for a new Korean restaurant on Vanderbilt Ave. from a very reliable source. Very excited about it! … It’s supposed to open September, October at the latest … Corner of Vanderbilt and St. Marks. I heard tonight that it’s going to be Korean/Asian cuisine.”

crunkyteen adds: “I hear it’s a Korean bbq joint from the guy from Soda and the gal from Le Gamin [who is Korean-ed].”

ana.log says, “let’s hope it’s better than the Indian place. I was excited about those guys too.”

Link: Korean on Vanderbilt! [sje on “the boards”]
[photo: Korean football fans celebrate World Cup quarter-finals win]

PAUL LUKAS writes in the New York Sun: “Which Brooklyn thoroughfare will become the borough’s next restaurant row? I have a hunch it will be Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights. All the pieces are in place: a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, a commercial strip with plenty of cheap storefronts, and a paucity of decent dining options. And just as … Al Di La planted the flag on Fifth Avenue, Vanderbilt Avenue has Aliseo, the quirky Italian osteria that opened last year and, like all pioneering eateries, stuck out like a sore thumb in its benighted surroundings.”

BEAST: “Beast is being called a tapas restaurant … (but) It’s more like a pub with hearty, filling fare. The problem, at least for now, is that a lot of it sounds better than it tastes … the Guinness-braised short ribs (are) singularly tasteless … salsa-topped lamb kabobs have a bit more character … But it’s rather telling that Beast’s biggest winner is the burger, a tasty half-pounder served with a potato and blue-cheese salad. And for all of Beast’s arty pretenses (the menu sections are annoyingly labeled, “Earth,” “Ocean,” and “Land and Sky”), the burger shows the place for what it is: a pleasant neighborhood hangout.”

AMORINA (“Cucina Rustica”):“It’s a fun little space … But … Amorina does not have a wood-burning oven … observers have described Amorina as a direct challenge to the much-hyped wood burning pizzeria Franny’s (but) it’s not really a natural rivalry, because the different ovens result in two very distinct kinds of pizza.”

“And, unfortunately, that distinction does not play in Amorina’s favor. The crusts are uniformly leaden – so much so that I literally ended up with a sore jaw after chewing my way through several of Amorina’s pies. Remember the basic rule about pizza crust: It should be good enough to be eaten by itself as bread. Amorina’s crust – dense to the point of being impenetrable – doesn’t come close to meeting that standard. And that’s a shame, because many of the toppings are inspired …”

Link: Next Stop, Prospect Heights [New York Sun]

PHOTOS:BEAST pre-opening glamour shots, posted on The NYC Gay Hockey Association message boards