Description
The striking thing about SpoonFed's concept is this: It’s open from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m., with three extensive menus for each meal. Plus there's “The Secret,” a happy-hour list of cocktails and small bites that changes every day. The menu riffs on the laundry list at a diner, but the food is a hell of a lot better. Nonna’s meatballs on a slider or in a braciola sauce are a solid bet, a moist and meaty combination of pork, veal, and beef ladeled with San Romano tomato sauce and garnished with basil leaves. The starter mussels are perfect for sharing: plump, pink mollusks in a shallow garlic, thyme, tomato, and wine broth. Though the coal oven turns out a nicely charred crust, the ingredients are standard fare. Lunch and dinner are for the most part family-friendly crowd pleasers. Breakfast is the most intriguing meal here. House-made corned beef and pastrami hash for $10, three-egg omelets, Belgian waffles, or four kinds of Benedict will sate big appetites. For folks on the go, Manfra assembles variations on boardwalk egg sandwiches on marble, wheat, challah, a kaiser roll, or bagel for less than a song. And SpoonFed's warm, polished dining room is a fishbowl for people-watching on Atlantic Avenue.
