August 27, 2009 |
Short Order
Dovetail adds 20 new seats plus a 20-seat bar in newly vacated apartment next door.
Fraser's food can be whimsical as well as delicious.
Dovetail inherits 800 square feet, enough to build a brand new bar and expand the dining room by 20 seats this fall. Two years ago chef/owner John Fraser discovered there was a frail elderly woman living out her final years in an apartment he’d leased as part of his new restaurant. It threw a monkey wrench into architect Richard Bloch’s blueprints. “We had to change everything in the middle of construction,” Fraser says. “It was very traumatic and also tough to meet the rent with just 65 seats.” Raves from critics, including mine, and three stars from the Times kept tables turning.
Now fate has emptied the apartment – the woman has moved – and Bloch has designed a separate bar space. “We’ll have a place to seat someone if their table is delayed a few minutes. We don’t have to press so hard to keep tables turning. And there won’t be any bad tables,” says Fraser. The architect expects the job can be finished overnight or with only a day or two closing in time for Thanksgiving.
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