Immaculate Infatuation

It’s rare that I, or anyone else in NYC for that matter, actually venture to the UWS to eat out. Those treks north are usually reserved for Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, chocolate chip cookies (I love Levain Bakery and Jacques Torres), and takeout essentials from Artie’s Delicatessen or Fairway. Thanks to Dovetail, there’s now another reason to make the trip.

Dovetail has been written up everywhere as one of 2008’s best new restaurants, so when it came time to pick a place to go with Mom and Grandma for my brother’s birthday, Dovetail was the call. Though I’d read a bunch of reviews that said the service at Dovetail was terrible, we experienced the complete opposite and were treated like royalty from the moment we stepped foot in the door. Our server was the man, and it felt like we had three of our own bus boys taking care of our every need. Left over crumb on your lip? No worries, they got it. The food was consistently great across the board and everyone at the table enjoyed their meal.

Dovetail is expensive, but not obnoxiously so, and once you’re inside you won’t remember you’re on the UWS, as the exposed brick and rustic artwork give the restaurant a very downtown feel. The food and service are both great, and overall, Dovetail is highly recommended.

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Kefi made the jump from tiny successful neighborhood restaurant to bigger successful neighborhood restaurant about two years ago. The original incarnation pre-dates this website (as does anything that’s had a second birthday), and we decided a visit to the Columbus Ave. location would do both you and us some good. We were pleased to find that the prices are still surprisingly low, the service still relaxed and friendly, and UWS locals are still hanging out and talking about books or whatever. We like Kefi because it’s a restaurant with something for everyone on the menu, and it’s multi-purpose like a Swiss Army knife. A date, lunch with moms, Greek Easter (Greekster?) brunch, a night out with the ladies…it all works. Also, if you can somehow manage to eat dinner between 5:00pm and 6:00pm, the three course prixe fixe meal costs only $16.95. You don’t need to be a member of AARP or anything. That’s a straight up deal.

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When you wear a yarmulke, your culinary options are pretty limited. While New York is one of the few cities in the US that actually has a handful of kosher options, at their price points, they are competing with the most expensive restaurants in the city. That’s pretty rough given that the rules of the kosher diet limit how meat can be prepared (no butter, no milk). While you know you’ll be guaranteed a quality piece of meat when you go kosher, the execution can at times fall short, making it difficult to justify the high price tag.

Since I have a number of kosher friends in my life, I’ve dined at places like Tevere (easily my favorite), Solo (where Top Chef winner Hung had a stint as head chef) and Prime Grill (most overpriced, average steak in Manhattan), all of which generally left me feeling unfulfilled and, well, broke. For the price of a lot of these places we could be eating at Eleven Madison Park and properly indulging. Always keeping an open mind however, when a Kosher friend and devoted Infatuation reader wanted to take us to her favorite Kosher spot to see how it measured up to our standards, we were down to give it a go and head to Mike’s Bistro on the Upper West Side.

Mike’s Bistro is a big deal in the world of kosher restaurants. Although its appearance might suggest differently, this is a popular special occasion spot, especially with the younger generation. It’s plain and rather boring decor give Mike’s the feel of a glorified basement. Excessive wood (not in a cool rustic way, but in an ordinary kitchen cabinet way) and bright lights are a bit of a turn off. Good thing the food isn’t. A clear Italian influence makes this menu more ambitious than most kosher spots and I’d happily return.

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Picking a dinner spot on the UWS is a daunting task. One would think we’d be in good hands with a Lynn Wagenknecht establishment, Keith McNally’s ex-wife who also steers ship at Infatuation approved Cafe Cluny & Odeon. Not the case. Besides a couple of quality apps, this menu is beat street. it’s standard, run-of-the-mill French Bistro fare that’s overpriced and under portioned. Sure, if you live on the Upper West Side and have money to burn, you’re probably content using Cafe Lux as a local stop-gap to cover your basic needs. For those of us who actually have standards, we won’t be using Cafe Lux for much of anything.

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A recent road trip to Citrus reminded me why I don’t ever go to the UWS to eat. Of course there are better restaurants on the UWS than Citrus, but it’s a perfect representation of everything that’s wrong with restaurants in this area. Citrus has been a neighborhood staple for years now; the place is overflowing with people 24/7. The space is huge, loud and as cheesy as it gets. Fluorescent lights illuminate the walls while the room comes fully equipped with a stone waterfall and enough plants to pass for a Rainforest Cafe. There is nothing NYC about this place; you might as well be eating in Texas. While the food isn’t terrible, their Latin meets Asian menu is just too far-fetched. If they tried this downtown, the restaurant wouldn’t last more than a year. Do you really want chips and salsa before your sushi? That’s just strange. Also, if I’m paying $15 for a margarita, I expect that drink to be labor intensive, not just some tequila tossed in with a pre-made mixture.

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