First it was Smith Street in Carroll Gardens. Then Fifth Avenue in Park Slope. Which Brooklyn thoroughfare will become the borough’s next restaurant row?

I have a hunch it will be Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights. All the pieces are in place: a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, a commercial strip with plenty of cheap storefronts, and a paucity of decent dining options. And just as Patois got the ball rolling on Smith Street and Al Di La planted the flag on Fifth Avenue, Vanderbilt Avenue has Aliseo, the quirky Italian osteria that opened last year and, like all pioneering eateries, stuck out like a sore thumb in its benighted surroundings.

But things are beginning to change. In the past few months, there have been new signs of culinary life on Vanderbilt. One is the recently opened Beast (638 Bergen St., 718-399-6855), a restaurant that sits in an attractively renovated shot-and-a-beer joint at the corner of Vanderbilt and Bergen. The chef is Megan Fisk, formerly the chef at Rose Water in Park Slope – further evidence that the gustatory balance of power may be shifting to this neighborhood.

Beast is being called a tapas restaurant, and the menu includes a few standards, such as marinated olives ($6) and sliced chorizo ($11). For the most part, however, the fare isn’t really Spanish, and the serving sizes and prices go beyond conventional tapas boundaries – this isn’t the kind of place where three people share half a dozen small plates and a bottle of wine. It’s more like a pub with hearty, filling fare.

The problem, at least for now, is that a lot of it sounds better than it tastes. Case in point: the Guinness-braised short ribs ($12). Mouth-watering concept, right? Right. The result is singularly tasteless, however. Tender, yes, but utterly devoid of any flavor – beef, Guinness, or otherwise.

Salsa-topped lamb kabobs ($11) have a bit more character, but not enough to be memorable. Shrimp and peppers ($11) with a bracing sprinkle of lime, are better.

But it’s rather telling that Beast’s biggest winner is the burger ($11), a tasty half-pounder served with a potato and blue-cheese salad. And for all of Beast’s arty pretenses (the menu sections are annoyingly labeled, “Earth,” “Ocean,” and “Land and Sky”), the burger shows the place for what it is: a pleasant neighborhood hangout. Indeed, on my visits it seemed to be doing more business at the bar than in the dining room. And for now, that’s enough – chalk up the rest of the menu to growing pains.

A few blocks south is another newcomer: Amorina (624 Vanderbilt Ave., 718-230-3030), which serves artisinal specialty pizzas and more straightforward Italian fare. Amorina is across the street from Aliseo and has the same owner, Albano Ballerini. It was slated to open last fall, but the opening was pushed back to this spring by a series of logistical hassles. (When I was writing an article about pizza last November and called Mr. Ballerini to check on the new restaurant’s status, he said, “Oh, don’t ask.”)

It’s a fun little space, decorated with Italian soda pop posters and vintage billing invoices. Mismatched tables and chairs lend an air of playful ness. But contrary to last year’s advance reports, Amorina does not have a wood-burning oven. It uses a standard gas pizza oven, left behind by the storefront’s previous tenant, which was a conventional slice joint.

So although some observers have described Amorina as a direct challenge to the much-hyped wood burning pizzeria Franny’s, just a few blocks away, it’s not really a natural rivalry, because the different ovens result in two very distinct kinds of pizza.

And, unfortunately, that distinction does not play in Amorina’s favor. The crusts are uniformly leaden – so much so that I literally ended up with a sore jaw after chewing my way through several of Amorina’s pies. Remember the basic rule about pizza crust: It should be good enough to be eaten by itself as bread. Amorina’s crust – dense to the point of being impenetrable – doesn’t come close to meeting that standard.

And that’s a shame, because many of the toppings are inspired. In addition to standard renditions like margherita ($9.50 for a personal-size pie), there’s a spicy formulation of sun-dried tomato pesto, hot soppressata sausage, and crushed red pepper ($12), a briny puttanesca combo of black olives, capers, and anchovies ($11.50), and several interesting pies involving things like figs, mint, and orange zest.

During the afternoon you can also get slices ($2.75), the best of which features sliced potatoes, caramelized onions, and rosemary. Unfortunately, all of these are undermined by the crust, which kept reminding me of day-old Stouffer’s french bread pizza – again, growing pains. Happily, there’s also a selection panini ($6.50-$7.50), some very good lasagna ($11), and a fine, mousse-like tiramisu ($6), all of which may be enough to keep Amorina going until it gets its crust issues settled.

I hope so – the staff here is extremely friendly and accommodating, much as it is at Beast, which makes both places easy to root for. There’s also a can-do spirit of community that makes me think both restaurants have a good chance to overcome their early stumbles. Smith Street, after all, wasn’t built in a day.