As far as Brooklyn's self-pro-claimed "gastronomic ambassador" Michael Ayoub is concerned, Manhattan is the outer borough. Regulars to his Park Slope restaurant, Cucina, agree, and they would just as soon keep Manhattanites across the river, so they can keep Ayoub's splendid Italian cooking all for themselves. These days, though, they may be having a hard time keeping the other islanders out. The word is out. Even including exhibits at the Brooklyn museum, Cucina is, as radio food critic Bob Lape put it, "the most compelling reason to visit Brooklyn since the Dodgers went West."

Ayoub cut his teeth at Manhattan's Claude's, learning the ropes from top toque Claude Bailles. He cooked up a storm in Queens as executive chef at Water's Edge in Long Island City. Since 1991, though, Cucina has been the toast of New York's largest borough justly celebrated for the "deliciously cluttered thin, crisp pizzas" that New York's Gael Greene loved, and osso buco that "will bring you to your knees," according to The New York Times' Bryan Miller. "Manhattan's loss," Miller wrote, "is Brooklyn's delight." Lape agreed, calling Cucina an "outstanding dining experience."

Because there isn't room for everyone in Brooklyn at Cucina, Ayoub has expanded, creating his own mini version of Restaurant Row. Next door is Small Feast/Cucina, a catering company that has exclusive contracts with Brooklyn Brewery and the Brooklyn Academy of Music; and across the street is Mike & Tony's, a classic steak and seafood grill where Ayoub's hand-blown-glass light fixtures-yes, he's an expert glassblower too-adorn the bar.

But Cucina is the crown jewel, and since we realize many Manhattanites are near phobic when it comes to crossing water, we've invited Ayoub to bring the best of Brooklyn's culinary offerings to us.