FORK PLAY October 29, 2008
Dovetail Thrills. Almond Arrives. BarBao at Last.The Upper West Side Heats Up.
Dear Friends and Family,
With Obama and McCain endlessly hashing away and the stock market swooning at least twice a day, it's easy to lose focus on our town's brave new feeding ventures. But heading toward November, even the pokiest are near opening. How painful it must be. A restaurant imagined when New York was riding a balloon of exuberance is  born into this strange new reality. Should one tough it out with $40 entrees? Having spent millions on the look and cellar, does one lose face scaling down? Would adding breakfast or staying open later help?
You know how they send a canary into a coal mine to see if the air is safe? Dovetail could be that little bird. Three star raves from the critics flamed a demand for tables that quickly overwhelmed the small space. The house was forced into that hated defense, booking a month ahead. Some people surely gave up trying. Now tables are easier to claim. At least they were last Monday. With appetizers as high as $32 when truffles are involved, and an $88 tasting prix fixe ($70 on the weekend when there is also a munificent $38 three course "suppa"), will Dovetail ride out the tide of people scaling down and eating home?
John Fraser's food at Dovetail can be brilliant and delicious. At a small private party last week it struck me as even more exciting than I remembered. Dinner opened with a bold foreplay of Brussel sprout leaves with pears, Serrano ham and manchego cheese and a shot of "fino" to sip with it. The richly decadent caramelized potato gnocchi with veal short ribs and a few cranberry beans that followed had me moaning. Exquisitely grilled lobster followed by a remarkably succulent square of confit'd halibut with butternut squash, saffron and chanterelles made me want to kidnap the cook. At that point, the prime rib that didn't quite work scarcely mattered. I revived with the creamy acidity of Greek yogurt against chocolate caramel fondant.
Only those who kept their riches in emeralds are not feeling the hit by now, but for those who've only lost a few million, an exceptional dinner for under $200 will always be an essential distraction.
103 West 77th Street near Columbus. 212 363 3800
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Bringing Summer Home
Host Eric Lemonides, squatting on his heels beside your chair while you study the menu, bursting with energy and focused as if only you matter, has been a summer luxury of the Hamptons till now. Persuaded by Jeffrey Chodorow to replicate the easy-going Frenchified ways of Almond in the sprawling room on East 22d Street where Rocco flamed out on camera and Caviar and Bananas barely blinked, Lemonides and his chef-partner Jason Weiner have put a flea market sofa in the entry way and created a menu for the times. The room is pleasant and casual, unremarkable, which, considering ghosts of enterprises past, is a relief.
Not everything that came out of the kitchen last week was prime time. And a whole row of lights went out midway through dinner. But with four versions of croques gratin and a passel of generous-sized appetizers, including a whole duck leg confit with delicious lentils spiked with vinaigre de banyuls at just $12, options are ripe for budgeters making do. Le grand mac 'n cheese - penne with proscuitto and chopped truffles in a sticky cheese melt - makes me happy. Thank heaven the etiquette of reviewing dinner requires me to share. With a menu almost as vast as David Bouley's at Secession, Almond, like Secession, needs time.
12 East 22nd Street between Park Avenue South and Broadway. 212 228 7557
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The Prodigal Bunster
"Isn't Rain open yet?" I think the Road Food Warrior has been asking since Labor Day. We both love Michael Huynh's Vietnamese food and new world riffs on his  memories of growing up in Saigon. We've followed him from first discovery at Bao 111 in Alphabet City, to Drew Nieporent's Mai House when Huynh abandoned his partners downtown, to Bun/Soho, where I thought his food was the most his own, and we watched him cheffing it as his newly imported wife lovingly shaped summer rolls in the open kitchen beside him.
The men who ran Rain for 15 years shut it down to redo the space as BarBao. The designers are still pasting up collages after hours, but on the second night Michael's food was already wonderful and we came back for dinner the next day. To read what we ate and what I liked, click here and go to InsatiableCritic.com
BarBao 100 West 82nd near Columbus Avenue.
212 501 0776
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The West Side Heats Up
The Upper West Side is ripening. Tom Valenti's West
Branch finally opens this Friday on Broadway at 77th Street. Jeffrey Chodorow's ambitious steak house, Center Cut, in the Empire Hotel on West 63rd will open too. (Each invited the other to a Friends and Family tasting last night.) Cesare Casella promises that Salumeria Rosi will open November 6 next door to Jacques Torres on Amsterdam near 73rd Street. And Chef David Ruggiero has just opened Lansky's Old World Deli at 225 Columbus Ave, between 70th and 71st. Early tasters report egg creams, a burger with cheddar and crispy pastrami bits, and ice cream sundae with matzo buttercrunch chocolate topping. I wouldn't put anything past Ruggiero. Some people can become Jewish by osmosis just living in New York.
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Good for the Neighborhood
 Vai slipped into a small space at 225 West 77th, almost cater-cornered from West Branch, with no fanfare at all, but has already won the locals. Mostly a wine bar with some haute kitchen ambitions, its free range menu still lets one eat very well without maxing the credit card. Click here to read what I loved at Vai on Insatiable Critic.com.
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Aureole Marks Its Twentieth
Charlie Palmer celebrates the 20th anniversary of Aureole with a special eight course tasting menu of Twenty Bites covering favorite dishes of two decades Friday, October 31 and Saturday, November 1. Each guest will receive a take-home bottle of Charlie & Clay Pinot Noir, Charlie's own wine, just released, in partnership with Mauritson's vineyard. They will also be given special invitations to tastings at the new Aureole space at One Bryant Park when it opens in late spring, 2009. The special dinner with wine pairings is $300 a person excluding tax and tip. To reserve: 212 319 1660.
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Photos of Dovetail's venison, Almond's el grande macaroni, Chef Michael Huynh, the duck egg hash at BarBao and Vai's chicken may not be used without permission from Steven Richter
Fork Play copyright Gael Greene 2008
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