Vegetables Have Their Moment in the Sun: Dovetail

The amazing egg with truffle at Dovetail

Vegetarians often have to make compromises when dining with carnivores: choosing the lone pasta dish, making a meal of sides, or eating fish even if they really prefer to avoid sea creatures and the term pescetarian.

At Dovetail, on a side street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, everyone can be happy. The restaurant has either prix fixe meals or tasting menus, with plenty of choices for plant eaters and a special vegetarian tasting menu.

At a recent meal, (which I took a subway, a bus and a Via to arrive at - I had a few stops along the way) I started with grilled bluefoot mushrooms with salsify and jicama; my husband had the soft poached egg with potato crisps and shaved winter truffles. Both were excellent and so appealing that the other diners at our table all eschewed the meat to try these. Sadly, no one got the sun choke fondue with broccoli and gruyere - that will have to be another time.

The bluefoot mushroom appetizer

For my entree, I had to have the beet with grain salad, black trumpet mushrooms and thyme milk. This was a fantastic earthy dish, perfect on a winter night. It's so lovely that it's part of the regular meat menu, with ham (it didn't need it).

Perfectly cooked fish

My husband had striped bass with cauliflower and smoked grapes over yellow curry.

Chocolate souffle

We shared a cheese plate and bittersweet chocolate soufflé  for dessert. The soufflé  came with a pitcher of rich chocolate sauce to put in the center, and a scoop of sage ice cream that nicely offset the chocolate.

Rose cocktail with gin

The interesting cocktail list included an old fashioned made with kirsch and ramazzoti (an Italian amaro) and a lovely gin drink, a rose is a rose is a rose, with chareau (an aloe based liqueur), prosecco and a rose petal.

Cheese plate

Though Dovetail is not inexpensive, it also isn't outrageously priced.