The currently empty space at 103 West 77th Street (Google Maps)
Chef Christophe Bellanca is bringing a new fine dining establishment to 103 West 77th Street — most recently home to Leonti, which opened in November 2018 and closed in early 2020. Dovetail occupied the space from 2007 until it closed in 2018.
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Bellanca has served as the executive chef at Le Cirque on East 58th Street; L’orangerie in Los Angeles; and at Atelier Joel Robuchon’s NYC and Miami locations.
Essential by Christophe will be debuting its fare on the second night of the upcoming Taste of the Upper West Side (along with some other not-yet-open restaurants like Friend of a Farmer and El Fish Shack).
The restaurant is expected to open in November, and it will showcase “Christophe’s relaxed yet refined culinary approach to everyday fare,” a press representative tells us.
There will be an a la carte menu available, in addition to a 4 course prix fix with a small hors d’oeuvre and dessert. We’re told the price will be $110 or $120.
A few dishes to expect include Hiramasa (Snaké, Passion Fruit, Sudachi dressing); Scallops (Stuffed Cabbage, Black Truffle Emulsion); and Black Sea Bass (Braised, Razor Clams, Curry emulsion).
We’re told Bellanca and his team have been working on a gut renovation, and a job description site (they are currently seeking a general manager) includes a few teaser photos.
We’ll provide an update once we learn more.
The residents on the UWS should know there is no ventilation system in the existing dining room of the space, only in the kitchen. We looked at the space over a year ago, and that was the prime reason we didn’t pursue it. The renovation must take this into consideration because it affects the health and welfare of prospective diners. We were told because of the location of the space inside the building, it was be extremely exam the prospective future tenants.
Sorry, it should read “extremely expensive to alleviate the ventilation problem in the dining room.
In this Covid/monkey pox era of airborne contagions, it makes you seriously wonder how City Inspectors could ever give the commercial space a passing grade unless “Essential by Christophe” — I’m sorry, it sounds more like a perfume or a line of bedsheets than a restaurant — did the the “extremely expensive” work to permanently fix the situation. If Jonathan Fraser got by with 11 years of owning and operating Dovetail without anyone noticing or fining him (as they should have), I’ll bet NYC officials look the other way, once again, and the health and welfare of its citizens and diners is deemed irrelevant. Get our mayor to start going there for his post-9 PM urban romps; maybe that’ll make a difference! Not.
I lived on the UWS for over 30 years and I can tell you right now – UWSers aren’t gonna go for eating snake! What, with covid (bats) and monkey pox going around, this chef ought to know better!
looks like a typo… i think the dressing is supposed to be Sake not snake
That’s good, because snake and passion fruit don’t go together.
“Fine dining”…please. Fantastically overpriced and pretentious. Enough should be enough.