Kyotofu

Months ago we discovered Tafu on 51st St. near Lex, which arguably has the best green tea in the city -- I'm a fan of the iced sencha, which has a wonderful clean grassy taste -- and its accompanying desserts, each with a green tea flavor. There are financiers (a fancy word for dense cookies, I've found), cheesecakes, cupcakes and even ice creams -- and not the blah green tea ice cream that often stands alone on the dessert menu and your neighborhood Asian restaurant -- these use the actual flavors of Matcha, Sencha and Genmaicha and somehow make them work well in a sweet dessert. I can't say I don't prefer a Mr. Softee cone to sweet toasted brown rice-flavored ice cream every day (Alisa can), but their desserts are original and always great. It took a bit of reminding over time, however, that the desserts at Tafu (which is tinier than our Manhattan apartment and has only four seats) are made at Kyotofu, a Hell's Kitchen nouveau Japanese restaurant where, we found after riding down there on our bikes Saturday, the savory entrees are just as good (if not better) than the sweets. We arrived while there were 3-4 other parties there, with a waiter and a waitress attending to everyone and a single chef in a tiny kitchen right up front, with glass windows looking in on her. The one-woman show may have been to blame for the relatively sluggish service, but no mind, we were hardly in a rush. We started with an order of cold green tea soba noodles that were fresh, tender and tasty, with a soy dipping sauce. Next, I opted for chicken and tofu tsukune burger with lotus root chips. It was delish, a very loosely packed patty brimming with a tangy teriyaki-like flavor on a soft brioche bun. The chips, with lots of holes in the middle, were crisply fried a golden brown. Alisa got the smoked salmon donburi -- tasty bits of loxlike salmon atop a puffy, almost crispy rice. Others sitting nearby got dishes we're eager to try next time, especially, for me, a artisanal cheese souffle and a kurobuta sausage puff. Each entree also came with a free cocktail as part of the brunch special. I got a Mimosa, Alisa got a Bellini (peach juice instead of OJ). For dessert, we got a chef's omikase (tasting) of five desserts: a mini chocolate cupcake and a sugary cookie, a berry tofu cheesecake (probably the best on the plate), a tofu version of flan, a dark chocolate cupcake with a gob of green tea icing on top and a panna cotta with soft apricot on top. Alisa was more of a fan than me of these, but I at least agree they were all worth trying. But for my money, the savories won out and will bring me back -- soon -- for more.

Dovetail

Hailed as one of the best new joints on the UWS, we scored a res. at Dovetail about a month before we were able to get in. It's easily missable, behind a glass door with the name artfully etched in beside routine apartment building entrances on 77th, caddy corner to the Natural History Museum. Decor was dark, sleek, clean and service was very attentive. We started off with a glass of wine (I got a Long Island sauvignon blanc that was OK, Alisa a Spanish white that was better) and they soon brought two individual loaves of white cheddar cornbread along with a trio of amuse bouche. The hot cornbread was yummy, although somehow the neandrathal American in me wanted it to be cheesier, looser inside, but still a nice starter. The amuse bouche were all good -- a radish on a toothpick with some grated cheese that tasted like parm, a teeny shrimp quesadilla on a fork and, the best of all, house-smoked salmon on a green, tofu-y cube. We started with chilled cauliflower soup with oysters in the middle, perched atop a little island of chopped apples, onions and pine nuts. Let me say here that I almost opted against the soup, in favor of some scallops with lime and caviar, but Alisa wanted the soup and, I have to say, I'm glad we got it. No cream or chunkiness, it was like a gazpacho, but more soothing and flavorful in the heat of summer and without the intense spice of its Spanish cousin. It would be one of the best things we ate there -- a statement that's not at all a dig at the joint, the soup was just really that good. Next we got gnocchi with blueberries, goat cheese and white truffle shavings. I think Alisa liked this one a bit more than me. While interesting, all the flavors never really came together for me. For our entrees, Alisa got a snapper with fava beans and a sea urchin broth. I got a cod with bacon, itty-bitty clams that were delish, polenta croutons and some leeks. Both of our fish were expertly cooked -- flaking apart into slices with just a bit of pressure from your fork. The problem was that while our sauces were tasty (as were the bacon bits and clams), the fish itself had nothing distinctive or particularly flavorful about them. They were just nicely cooked, quality pieces of fish...which just isn't enough. Dessert brought us back to the glory of the soup. We opted for a peanut butter tart with beer ice cream and pretzels. It was tasty, but not the highlight. Instead, that honor was reserved for one-third of our other dessert: an ice cream trio of lemon verbena, cinnamon and croissant. You guessed it: the croissant was mind-blowingly good -- like a sweet butter bomb in miniature scoop form. It was accented by what we first thought were bran flakes and then realized were croissant flakes (we think) at the bottom of the bowl. In all, a fine meal and a place we'll definitely return to, but perhaps in the fall or winter, when there's a whole new menu to try (a Bruni review from last winter suggested a totally different offering). But in short: cauliflower soup and croissant ice cream alone were worth the trip...the rest was fine, but not memorable.