APPLEWOOD
501 11th St., Park Slope, Brooklyn
718-768-2044

There are many husband-and-wife teams working restaurants in the city, but to be a true mom-and-pop joint, you need a real live baby. That's what you get at Applewood, in Park Slope, where this winter, Laura Shea worked the front of this elegant, neighborly restaurant with her happy, fat-cheeked daughter, Tatum, nestled on her chest in a sling. Her husband, David, mans the range back in the kitchen, and he isn't turning out warmed-over bricks of baked ziti, either. Specialties at Applewood include a rich, smooth cauliflower gratin, sautéed skate spritzed with brown butter, and little bricks of braised pork belly glazed with apple cider. There's a crackling open hearth in the restaurant, and as befits any proper family feed in this new, hyper-health-conscious era, all the grub is rigorously hormone-free.