Well i first encountered John at Compass, at first we did not really get along; i suppose im just not that great with dry humor... However over the course of a year or so, i guess we developed more of a business relationship, with him as well as his sous at the time Matt Corbett, who is now running Punch and Wined up on Broadway and 23rd i think...

Anyhoo I ate at Compass once while he was cooking there (for restaurant week, i was broke at the time!), instantly i feel in love with his food. His pedigree is not unlike many of the great up and commings of the day, here is an excerpt from the James Beard house.

"If anyone can turn Compass around, it’s Fraser. At just 29 years old, he has worked in some of the world’s most renowned kitchens, including Coco Pazzo and L’Hermitage in Los Angeles, La Maison Blanche and Taillevent in Paris, and Napa Valley’s French Laundry, where he was chef de partie for two years. After traveling throughout Spain and France, Fraser returned to the United States and landed at New York City’s Snack Taverna. Though Greek cuisine was not Fraser’s specialty, the marriage was clearly favorable, and he quickly began racking up praise. “Snack Taverna has effectively deconstructed the classic flavors of Greek cooking and reintegrated them in stylish dishes that are presented with an almost French elegance,” wrote Eric Asimov of the New York Times. Fraser left the tiny Taverna for the much larger stage of Compass in April 2005, prompting Bruni to proclaim the latter’s kitchen “alive and cooking.” "

Now mind you it was opening day, I arrived 6 minutes late with my date already waiting with a glass of champagne. We were seated immideatly, the space was a little crammed, but not as much so as other restaurants. The space was warm with nice wood paneling, with a very sleek design. The whole room was a clutter with people walking back and forth, avoiding crashing into the next person while still trying to squeeze by like rush hour on the N train.

The meal started with our sever walking up and suggesting i have either the processco or some other wine that i missed... In all the confusion of opening day, i had no idea why she had offered me wine without me looking at a list... It took a few more minutes after the drinks arrived that I had to ask what was actually going on. The waitress explained to me that there was a special promotional offer going on, that was a 75$ Prie Fix menu with wine pairings. The menu with 6 items consisted of:
Apps;
A brussles sprout salad, A Gnocchi with oxtail, and a scallop dish

Entrees were:
A beef "lasagna", i think monkfish, and duck.

They offered 2 types of bread as well, a cornbread and some white loaf that everyone has... The cornbread an option taken from Compass im sure. Was Excellent and addictive as usual, i ate 3... i noticed they would run out later that night and i like to think that i contributed to that. Hording the cornbread for myself!

The meal started off with some canapes: A lobster canape, Oysters with mingnoette, and "ahi" tuna with parm.
The lobster canape was the shining star of the bunch, excellent bright flavor, and very light, something i could eat a huge bowl of, which seemed to me like a trend of the restaurant. Oysters were delicious as well, however the tuna good as it may be as a huge chunck of bright red tuna on a skewer with excellent flavor nice fattiness to it, (mah tuna!!) it just felt alittle uninspired, like all the other dishes were...

The next course was a rabbit terrine with candied kumquats. Now let me tell you, ive had rabbit quite a few times, but never did it have such a great flavor. I could taste that there was little to no fat in the terrine, yet it was scrumcious... especially when eaten with a bite of the sliced candied kumquats, the dish elevated to a new level.

The third course was a hazen blue with some chutney, the chutney's cut right through the blue yet the mold shining through, im not a bigggg fan of blue and i thought it was alittle to sharp. Then i realized Why the hell am i eating cheese at a third course.... I thought maybe they were trying something new, but i would find out later that the blue would come before the desert, over and over and over again, ill explain further down.

Finially the course i wanted arrived, the Gnocchi. This dish is beyond words, the oxtail was etheral, the gnocchi the perfect embodiment of christ. I actually had to stop eating this dish just so i wouldent run out. I later took some more cornbread to sop up what was left of the oxtail sauce. I could die here and be happy. My date had the same.

The next, our entrees. The beef came 2 ways, sliced rare (might have been fillet i wasnt sure i dident take enough time to study the menu...) the lasagna was a play on pasta, instead of, they used turnip sliced thin. With once again braised rib as the filling (maybe... im guessin here) It was accompanied with pearl onions wilted basil, and ...... i forgot. There was ALOT OF WINE!!! Leave me alone!

The misses had the duck, cooked medium rare (/sigh) but ah well it was tasty none the less, I love duck, dont get me wrong, but duck tastes like duck... It was accompanied with what looked like sataued chopped fennel, and a braised endive. She did not like the endive... i thought it tasted like an apple... but like all endive, once you chew it enough it got very bitter... Im sure it would have been better eaten with the rest of the dish.... but ah well, the duck was the whole point.

After the en tree's they brought us the hazen blue again, then again, then again, then the server came by the table to find out why we dident want it.... we told them that it had come earlier in the meal, just at that moment a runner came out again with more blue for the table. At that point my date said that the waitress makes the funniest faces... IT WAS THEIR FIRST DAY... Then the rabbit came out again... although i would have taken the rabbit, i was so full at that point, that i couldent eat any. It took about 30-40 minutes before the deserts arrived.

Next was Deserts:
There were 3 as well, a bread pudding with Bacon praline. A chocolate cake thing... i forgot sorry, and a chiffon cake.

I had the bread pudding, she had the chocolate. The bread pudding was fantastic, not really a pudding more like a cake with caramel sauce, but the bacon praline tasted very much like bacon, a little strange but it fit nicely with the carmel. The chocolate cake, i dont remember i was a bit off my chair at that point.

Im not a big drinker, however i was trained in wines... Some of the wines went very well, some went just ok. The most memorable pairing was the duck with ...... i dident even ask the name, it was mentioned but eh...

Last was the petifores a beet jelly, a truffle, and a pastichio macroon. The Macaroon was really tasty!!! i could have a whole bag to myself, the truffle equally tasty, the beet jelly, eh i dident think it was all too great, but my date loved it, she even finished mine... I guess im not a huge fan of eating beets in candy form...

The meal had some Very memorable parts, some parts not so. But overall John is my favorite chef in NYC, and im glad that he is finally selling his food again. I know the restaurant will be great! Now everyone! Go Eat his Gnocchi!!!

Wow, Sean Dirty. You go, boy! With prose like this, you should definitely be writing for the New York Times!

I think the world is ready for restaurantboy.com!

I'm sold! Seriously, I'm there.

Grrr are you being Sarcastic? Now i will be the first one to admit im gullible... Dick! hah

I've had a secret crush on Jon since he told me he thought Mark Andelbracht (Cru, Morimoto, Tao Vegas) was a douchebag. I concurred and a crush was born.

I had dinner here last week and thought the food was fine but overhyped - maybe because we're so starved for fine dining on the Upper West Side.

The salmon was perfectly cooked but not very flavorful. Best dish of the evening was the pork belly, deliciously gooey/melty, in an intense sherry broth. Striped bass was excellent too. The one dessert we sampled was too sweet and too fussy. Loved the macarons; the cherry/beet jellies were blech.

HUGE improvement over the old En Plo space, which was gloomy and claustrophobic. But despite visible attempts at noise control, the sound level is deafening.

I've been wanting to try it. But it sure is a long haul up to the boondocks!

i ate there maybe a month ago and liked it a lot. some service issues but some really good food too. more exciting than the new ducasse or boulud places, that's for sure. it was kinds empty but not ghost town, so noise wasn't an issue for us, although i'm sure they are busier now. hope they do well.

Ink, i think it's worth the trip - if you order well

Oh yeah, service issues. Not ONE plate was set in front of the person who ordered it. That drives me almost as batshit as menu typos.

But the staff are very sweet and personable, so hopefully they'll get it together.

That's exactly why I haven't made it yet, even though I keep meaning to go. I have to say though, I keep hearing conflicting reports.

I live in the boonies so Dovetail is just a short stroll away. I would not describe this as a destination restaurant.

still haven't made it to per se based on location alone........................................

Jeez, and I thought UWSers were provincial.

I've also heard conflicting reviews of Dovetail. Well it all makes sense now.

http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/mouthing-...he-Inside-Scoop

The Dovetail Review: The Inside Scoop
By Emily Kaiser, Associate Food Editor
Related Categories: News, Chefs

Food & Wine had an embedded reporter among the Dovetail crew last night when Frank Bruni's 3-star review in the New York Times came over the wire:

“The overall emotion was shock,” says Jane Sigal, F&W Contributing Editor. “Everybody was just stunned. And then everybody was scared.” Two stars they would have been happy with, Sigal says. But three stars raises the bar so high, they’re nervous they won’t be able to measure up to the expectations Bruni’s happy review (the first rave in weeks!) may bring them.

For the last two months, Sigal has held her first-ever restaurant job working as a hostess at Dovetail three nights a week. Part of the deal she worked out with chef John Fraser when he agreed to take her on was that she would spot any food writers that came in the door. She did not, however, recognize Bruni. “Oh no, I was no help there,” she laughs. “And it’s even my job to hand out the soignee tickets” – the 1-by-4 inch slips that restaurants all over New York use to alert the staff that a VIP is in the house. “It’s spelled with two e’s, no accent – don’t ask,” Sigal says, exasperatedly. “No, the only thing that I contribute to Dovetail is I make sure everything is spelled correctly on the menu. And even there I don’t have much influence."

Definite 3 Star

Food was imaginitive, service was more than attentive, and the room is small enough to create a cozy feeling.

Well done John












I LOVE THIS TOWN!!!