PARK SLOPE — A new cafe on Seventh Avenue is serving up seasonal American food with Moroccan and Mediterranean flourishes.
Gather, a cafe helmed by former personal chef Taided Betancourt, opened this week in the former Uncle Moe's spot at 341 Seventh Ave. and Ninth Street.
Betancourt said her goal is to cook up ultra-fresh food that's only served the day it's made. The cafe will be open from about 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and will sell a selection of entrees and vegetable-based sides at lunch, then another round for dinner.
"It's all prepared fresh for each [lunch and dinner] service," Betancourt said. "We don't hold it over for the next day like most prepared food places do."
Dishes are available a la carte, or customers can choose a combination of protein and two vegetable sides for $13.50, or three vegetable sides for $12.
For the cold winter months, Betancourt said she's focusing on warm "casserole-y" dishes like Swiss chard gratin, beef short rib stew with roasted tomatoes and olives, and pork, green chili and tomatillo stew. Sides on this week's menu included farro and curried cauliflower, and lentils with mustard herb butter and roasted tomatoes.
Customers can stop in at dinner time and take home sides to go with a main course prepared at home, Betancourt said.
"You can take a pound of mac and cheese and a pound of kale and you have dinner on the table," Betancourt said.
Gather also serves sandwiches like ham and brie with apple butter ($9.19) and sweet potato, poblano, avocado and black bean ($8.50).
Tea from Kusmi, coffee from Intelligentsia, chocolate by Askinosie and baked goods will be available throughout the day. Gather also sells bags of housemade granola and hot chocolate mix and plans to offer more retail goods in the future, Betancourt said.
