THE JOHN DORY.

After a long day of work, I made my way over to The John Dory at around 8pm on this slushy, drizzly evening. The oyster bar was popping on a Tuesday night and our wait for a table of two ended up being about 45 minutes (the restaurant doesn't take reservations). And while I do admit to getting a little cranky, it is well worth the wait. The menu, seemingly small, offers a lot of very interesting seafood dishes that aren't available at your typical seafood restaurant - for example: a Lobster & Onion Panade (which sounded to me like alternating layers of potatoes, butter, and lobster - but I could be drastically mistaken) and a Carte De Musica with Bottarga and Chile (which was apparently a very "foodie dish" according to our waiter).


The Parker House Rolls here are out of the world. In fact, we placed two orders. The bread is partially baked and then buttered and baked again upon serving - the result is a delightfully fluffy, croissant-like pouf of heaven. Each crisp bite into the airy dough was not flaky, but perfectly saturated with deliciousness. Why this restaurant doesn't serve a lobster roll slider is beyond me.


My Hiramasa (yellowtail) with ginger was fantastic - the ginger was crystallized and added a fantastic sweetness and texture.


C's Crab and Fennel Salad was decent - a bit oily for my liking (not dressed well).


This is the first time I have ever heard of Kedgeree - which is an English dish that has Indian origins. Huge chunks of smoked haddock, strips of eggs, crunchy onion crisps, Basmati rice, parsley, and Indian spices makes for a FANTASTIC mixture - I thought this dish was absolutely STELLAR. I loved the smoky flavors mixed with the curry favors, the crunchy textures mixed with the softer consistency of the rice - a perfectly balanced dish that impressed me thoroughly.


C's Lobster Chowder - which unfortunately I did not try because there were tiny chunks of meat inside (no need for another meat scare!!).


For dessert - I had the Lemon, Mascarpone, and Pistachio Meringue Ice Cream. I poured the shot of lemon into my ice cream without realizing that it was actually an ALCOHOLIC limoncello - and boy was that STRONG!!! I couldn't tolerate the mixture of the alcohol and the sweetness of the ice cream (which resulted in a bitterness!), so I ended up having to dump the limoncello out and trying to scoop out remains of untainted ice cream...which ended up not being so enjoyable.


C's Malted Chocolate Ice Cream with Honeycomb, on the other hand, was killer!!! The concoction was drizzled in a chocolate sauce and smaller chunks of honeycomb decorated the dish. The honeycomb was somewhat wafer-like and very sweet. I thought the combination of textures and flavors was incredible.

I was extremely impressed by the menu items available at John Dory - it wasn't just your typical oyster bar! Even the seafood classics were executed in a special way. I really cannot wait to come back and try some of their other unique offerings.