Fashion Café

Sizing up Sam Mason's long-awaited restaurant, Tailor

September 5, 2007—The much-publicized delays, that unusual sartorial theme—the backstory to Tailor, Sam Mason's new restaurant in west SoHo, has long threatened to overshadow the actual food. (No small feat, considering the chef's an alumnus of Wylie Dufresne's gastro-lab, WD-50.) Luckily, a visit to Mason's eatery proves it was worth the wait. The menu of small plates is as high-concept as you'd expect from a former Dufresne pastry chef, full of odd yet effective combinations like pork belly and miso butterscotch or foie gras and peanut butter. It's also divided into sections labeled "salty" and "sweet," though there's plenty of overlap between the two: Black olive cake with blueberries and tangy yogurt sorbet ($11) is designated sweet, while charred snapper with watermelon ($12) is categorized as savory. "First I lost all the boundaries," Mason explains. "Then I figured out where the boundaries are."

Fashion fans will be glad to know the restaurant's cut-and-sew motif is rendered in (mostly) subtle strokes. Herringbone-patterned brick tiles line the entrance way, restroom doors are adorned with antique washboards, and the back wall is covered in striped fabric from Paul Smith, while waiters wear sharp pinstriped vests from local tailor Lord Willy's. We could do without the bolts of fabric leaning against the wall by the bar, but otherwise design served the culinary experience, rather than vice versa. We're told the sartorial decor is Mason's way of paying homage to the meticulous craftsmanship of Savile Row and not an overliteral interpretation of the building's history. Given that the structure was once occupied by an outfit called American Nut and Screw, that's probably a good thing.

Tailor, 525 Broome St., NYC, (212) 334-5182, tailornyc.com