I went last night. Waited 45 minutes past my reservation to be seated, 45 minutes for appetizers, 45 minutes for entrees. Ken Friedman was active in the front of the house and very apologetic and comped a few rounds of drinks both at the bar and at the table and sent out dessert. The managers, likewise, very apologetic in an endearing way. I will chalk that up to opening week kinks. Having said that, it was one of the best meals I have had in a long time. I worked in seafood restaurants here in the city for years (including Aquagrill) and like to think I know my seafood... the John Dory is doing it right with really great flavors. Good atmosphere, more upscale and sophisticated than the Pig.
The amuse bouche was an arctic char spread with fried parsnip chips. The chips were too salty on their own but perfect with the char. They have 250 ML mini caraffes of wine at very reasonable prices. We had the razor clam crudo and the scallop and pomegranite crudo, both excellent, but the octopus salad was a stand out. I could eat that every night. Oh, the menu is slightly different than the one on the site - the steak is for one person now at $55 and they added a squid stuffed with chorizo, and sea bream "a la plancha" with bacon and fennel, I believe for $25 and $28 respectively. For entrees we got the squid, the sea bream, and the john dory. The squid was very good but I was glad it wasn't my entree, not really what I was looking for. The john dory and the sea bream were great. The john dory, the lighter of the two, had the perfect amount of acid from the salsa verde, almost like a light vinaigrette. The sea bream had perfect crispy skin and a creamy sauce (I forget what it was but it was like butter dahlings) with fennel (raw so no anise flavor) and bacon. The bacon was in big thick strips, it was the only thing I didn't finish. For dessert, we had an ice cream sundae that had a choc-peanut butter ice cream and I guess vanilla, with fudge, kahlua, and
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