FORK PLAY March 3, 2010
Farewell Jamie. Dovetail Makeover. Picholine Ripens. Ze French. Waverly Inn Tenderized.
Dear Friends and Family,
Some of you knew Jamie Gillis, his sweet side, his maddening perversity, his hunger, that surprising vulnerability, my hopeless obsession for too many years to be
 considered totally sane. Others may remember him as a legend of adult films in the golden era of porn when erotic movies had story lines and production values and he was the dashing sexologist Seymour Love in the opening of Misty Beethoven, a hardcore borrow of My Fair Lady.
I had never met anyone quite that pleased with himself and his life. His small flat across from the Martin Beck Theater on West 45th Street was a rat's nest of clutter and garbage. He saw my shock. "I like it this way. It feels cozy to me," he said.
"How can you live in such chaos?" I asked.
"At least it's my chaos," he said.
I was fascinated by him - and so was he. He wove tales of his life for the book I planned to write. I took notes. At times his memories would move him to tears. Then he would wipe his eyes and smile. "That felt good," he would say.
He could not resist a gourmand adventure. The Box Tree Inn at Purdy's sent a navy blue Rolls to pick us up. The homeless man in front of Jamie's building cheered as he
 pulled away. That evening I found myself jealous when he caressed his face with a sweet-perfumed begonia left on our bed.
Later he put on my lacy black silken nightgown and stood in front of the tall mirror with his unlit pipe in his mouth. "I look good in anything," he said to his image.
Click here to read my vintage May 1977 New York review Wonderfully Preposterous Luxury at the Box Tree Inn. Then read my farewell to Jamie who died last week of a rare and untreatable cancer at the age of 66.
***
Dovetail Makeover
The Upper West Side Dining Renaissance shifted into
top gear with chef-owner John Fraser's December 2007
 opening of Dovetail in its small space on West 77th. There
was no sign on the door. The place was dull and very brown, a brick arch support its only decorative touch. But it didn't really matter. Foodies surrendered to Frasers's deliciously complicated dishes - daringly creamy clam chowder with chorizo and a buttery mini-croissant alongside, lamb's tongue layered with olives in a small pressed muffaletta, his wonderfully rare venison with chestnuts. I was especially grateful for the benevolent $38 Sunday prix fixe.
It's only now, two years later, like the ugly duckling all grown up, that Dovetail has taken on swan airs. The front apartment that was supposed to be empty for the original
 construction but wasn't, became vacant with the death of its frail occupant and Fraser gave architect Richard Bloch a go for the makeover.
"It was the chance to do what we'd planned in the original drawings," Bloch explains. The separate bar making way for more tables, the cheese trolley, the rolling cart for the house's collection of Sherrys, a handsome new service station and shaded lamps that soften the room. Pillows add color too but Bloch doesn't take credit for them.
The brown carpet had to be ripped out and that gave the
designer a chance to brighten a notch with a swath of stone
 blue and grey. Bloch takes pride in his ability to work with tight budgets. The lamps he had made were so cheap, he would blush with embarrassment if he weren't pleased with his ingenuity. He brought us to dinner one Monday. We sat in the back with a view of the expanded space, richer and much more welcoming. And I don't say that just because he insisted on buying.
***
Starry Night at Picholine
When Michelin gave Picholine (35 West 64th Street) two stars the third year in a row, I decided it was time to revisit
 Terrance Brennan's flagship that I've loved in all its incarnations - from rustic Provençal to dinner at Versailles to a more restrained lavender and purple hotel dining room. Quite frankly, I kept putting it off, partly in my never-ending neophilic search but also, tightwad that I am, its $92 for three courses plus $10 for a fourth. From savory little amuses to sea urchin panna cotta with a caviar tiara, and the rare and meaty wood pigeon from the game menu, it was a celebration. Click here to discover why it was worth the splurge.
From the serenity of Picholine to the combustible bistro
Bagatelle (409 West 13th Street) is not that far. But it's a different world. St. Tropez is what the owners hope to evoke
 with DJs from Wednesday night on. The music starts out mellow - the better to appreciate your salade Landaise and
the splendid chicken with buttery country potatoes and a hint of truffles. By 11, the crowd can be dancing on the
banquettes. Brunch is more of the same with an
international crop of players ordering Champagne by the magnum, complete with sparklers.
Is that you? Click here for the specifics.
***
Tenderizing Waverly Inn
At first, we, the refusées, chided Waverly Inn (16 Bank Street) for being coy by refusing to officially open and for its inscrutable non-reservation policy. Now more than two years later we have managed to invade Graydon Carter's Bank Street salon with a regular who lives down the street. And there it is in big red capital letters, "Preview Menu Winter." The ice is off the jaw. We're getting smiles. We are not forced to cool our paws in the anteroom ordering pricey cocktails as I felt obliged to last time we sneaked in with a celebrity journalist. Is it okay to shot a few photos? the Road Food Warrior asks.
"Go ahead, I'm not looking," a manager says.
I'm told the people who make this their playpen find the food to be good enough. Certainly I'm content with the chicken pot pie under its crackling puff pastry lid. And the
Dover sole with hollandaise is firm and tastes like it might actually have swum by Dover. I wish the Sherry reduction nuzzling up to the organic salmon were not quite so sweet.
And the washed out clam chowder is pitiful once you've been
 spoiled as I have by the thick porridges at Ed's Chowder House. (I swear I would mention this even if the place were not an advertiser.)
"Do they serve bread in this place?" I ask our host. He asks the waiter.
"Oh, would you like some bread?" the wide-eyed server asks.
Maybe you have to ask. They serve biscuits. Everyone else resisted but not me. The neat little saucer of bananas Foster and a generous bowl of apple crisp pebbled with moon chunks of crumble kept us anchored long enough to watch the late comers arriving. Fashionably late or unfashionables seated late, I cannot say.
***
A Gathering of Gurus
Winos and grapenuts will want to know about "The Power of Positive Drinking," a gathering of authors that will include our bestselling author friends Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. Taste wine, buy books, meet the gurus at the Wine Library in Springfield, New Jersey, Saturday March 27 from 1 to 4 pm. And tell Karen and Andrew I sent you.
You'll find them signing copies of their prize-winning "What to Drink with What You Eat" (coming soon as an iPhone app) and their 2009 James Beard Award winner "The Flavor Bible."
***
Photographs from Dovetail, of the wood pigeon at Picholine, the salade landaise at Bagatelle, and Waverly's sign may not be used without permission from Steven Richter. |
