Fishtail (135 E. 62nd St btwn Park & Lex)

I had a chance to have a restaurant week lunch with my mother at David Burke's restaurant, Fishtail. He'd split with his partner, Donatella Arpaia, last August & rebranded their popular eatery as David Burke Townhouse. Fishtail is his newest offering to the UES dining scene. I was a bit late, so by the time I arrived my Mom was already perched on the long bar on the first floor drinking some Campari. We were whisked upstairs to our table. The decor is really nice & the place gives the impression of an old townhouse (which it most likely was), very inviting.

I started with the deep fried oysters & calamari which was accompanied by a spicy yet sweet dipping sauce. I though that they were good, particularly the tentacles (which are my favorite). My only real complaint was that they were slightly on the greasy side & served in a small faux-deep fryer basket which I thought was a tad over the top.

Mom got the tacos, one of which was crab & the other was tuna tartare. She seemed to enjoy the dish.





Next up for me was the roasted chicken with roasted veg & a red wine reduction. I really, really enjoyed this dish. The seasoning was perfect & the skin was delicious. The sauce was also really flavorful.

Mom had the grilled swordfish steak with fries. I had a chance to try this dish & I thought it was pretty good, but it could have used more sauce. For a seafood restaurant, this dish really didn't blow me away, but for $24.07 for 3 courses, I really wasn't going to complain.

Next up come the desserts (unfortunately both of these pictures came out too blurry to post). I had the pineapple tart, which was good, but nothing extraordinary. I thought that they did a great job on the crust though. The other dessert that we ordered was the chocolate mousse which I think is probably the best mousse I've ever had.

In all, I had a good time & enjoyed the food & attentive service, but I'd like to go back & sample the full menu. One thing that I did notice was that there were a whole lot of waitstaff, which meant good service, but it did make traffic a bit congested around your table.