I’d like to give a young couple (mid to late 20s) a gift certificate to a Brooklyn restaurant and need some suggestions in the Carroll Gardens or Park Slope neighborhoods.

Thanks!

Al di La is good.

http://www.aldilatrattoria.com/?page_id=102

Does it have to be brunch?

I find most brunch menus are not as interesting as dinner, or lunch.

Can you just give them the certificate and have them use it when they like? In that case, I like Battersby.

http://www.battersbybrooklyn.com/

Somehow I had brunch on my brain but the certificate could be for any time. I like the look of Battersby better than Aldila.

Battersby (open only for dinner) draws a younger crowd than Al Di La, and the food at Battersby is inventive, while Al diLa is more classic. I have had some very good dinners at Battersby. It is tiny and they would need to book well in advance.

I need to call and make sure that some of the courses are vegetarian. I'll wait until after the dinner crowd thins to make the call. He'll eat anything. She could have 2 first courses or Farrotto. I would think that these dishes would be vegetarian but I'll check first.

Some other possibilities worth considering...
On Court Street in Carroll Gardens (at the southern end of the street) you'll find Frankies Spuntino, Prime Meats and Buttermilk Channel. Names aside, all have some choices for vegetarians. Buttermilk Channel annoyed me a bit because they have a separate vegetarian menu that only comes if you ask, and has several dishes an omnivore like me can love.

Park Slope has some other good choices as well, including Stone Park Tavern, on 5th Avenue at 4th Street. It's even got a Michelin star. Talde, on 7th Avenue, doesn't (at least yet) but it's owned by a Top Chef winner.

Speaking of Michelin stars, Saul, which has one, relocated from Court Street to become the in-house restaurant of the Brooklyn Museum...combining brunch and museum could be a winner.

And there are more...

The Brooklyn Museum restaurant intrigued me as she has a membership to the museum but it doesn't look like there are any vegetarian items on the menu.

I'll investigate the others. Thanks for the suggestions!

I liked the look of Battersby and that's what I would have chosen for myself but I felt there were more choices and more vegetarian options at Buttermilk Channel so that's the restaurant I decided on.

I did want a nice gift card but I had to do an email and print out the paper card. I was disappointed that no one answers the phone (no matter how many times I called) and once I left a voice message but did not receive a call back even though the record message stated that calls would be returned after 3:30pm. I hope the food and service are better than their responsiveness.