Before my parents boarded their plane to hit the islands, i met up with them for dinner. I always want to have these little bon voyage dinners with them… because, well, you never know what can happen.
That, and mom had a butt load of groupons that I made myself familiar with… there were some serious choices but Mom wanted to save the REALLY good ones for when she got back.
Fine.
I chose an Italian Bistro called Anima. Anima is located in what used to be a crappy neighborhood in Brooklyn. And as I walked through the neighborhood, my mother and I were amazed by how much everything has changed! In a good way of course.
we got to Anima Italian Bistro a little before the dinner service started. The wait staff, adorable by the way, seated us in the empty dining room. The decor was awesome! Bright colors! Exposed brick! I was in love!
They were firing up the brick oven as we entered. The fire was crackling and dancing before my eyes and i was mesmerized by it.
Anyone else love watching fire dance?
The bread basket came out…
Warm focaccia! yums. with olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip.
We ordered two salads to split. The first one: Mixed greens with roasted beets and pistachio crusted goat cheese. Deelish! Wish there were more beets though!!
the 2nd salad was a baby spinach salad with shaved pears, walnuts, dried cranberries and goat cheese. Wish there was more goat cheese in this one too. 
It was soo good though!
Mom ordered the lamb Shank! her favorite! and i was surprised she did so because it came with risotto and mom hates risotto. This risotto was al dente and pretty freakin tasty! She loved it. I scored a few bites (luckily) and can concur- it was delicious!
Dad had the homemade spaghetti with jalapeno tomato sauce topped with calamari, clams and mussels. Hes a big fan of fra diavlo dishes and he said this one hit the spot. I tasted the dish and thought it was awesome… spicy but awesome! Its rare to find fresh homemade pasta these days. And it done right!
i had the salmon filet. A roasted salmon filet on top of a bed of spinach with a tomato caper sauce. this dish was really good but it was really missing a starch. It was $18 and while i was full towards the end of my meal, consider the spoonfuls of the risotto i stole from my moms plate…
This place was awesome! They have a $12 brunch special that is BEGGING me to go back! I will definitely return.
Brooklyn has definitely changed a LOT recently…all for the better! This restaurant sounds super delicious…a fun excuse to get me off this island and into the outer boroughs!