So the Ace Hotel is kind of awesome. First is the hotel by itself, with a super sweet lobby, and then there’s Stumptown, and then there’s The Breslin and then finally, finally is the new John Dory Oyster Bar.
It’s definitely a bar, you’ll be sitting on bar stools at the counter at the windows (like we were) or on bar stools at a tiny round table. Their raw bar presentation itself is pretty neato, and I wish we were seated over there. But instead we got to watch the random strangers go by outside.
So oysters are $3/pop, doesn’t matter what kind you get. We got Mermaid Cove and Royal Miyagi, which are both good stuff. After that we got some small plates:
This is the oyster pan roast with the uni crostini on the left. I wasn’t sure what an oyster roast was going to be, it was a creamy soup and Kelly and I were actually confusing it with the clam chowder we also got, both were very good but they were kind of similar. To the right are the Parker House rolls which were A-mazing. Best rolls ever. We almost stole some from the plate of the people next to us, but our mammas raised us better than that. We also had mussels stuffed with mortadella which was kind of like a meatball inside the mussel, also very nice.
The only thing that wasn’t so nice was the dessert:
On the left – Honeycrisp tart with almonds and creme fraiche (meh) and on the right – chocolate pot with whiskey cream and oatmeal cookie. Well I don’t care about oatmeal cookies to begin with but this one was hard as rock aaaaand the chocolate pot was very similar to a certain dessert I often have elsewhere. Interestiiiing.
ALSO – I feel like there’s been a lot of hype about The John Dory but we went around 7/7:30 on a Saturday night and were seated immediately, which was awesome. So here’s the scoop: I really like The John Dory and I like everything The Ace Hotel does, pretty much as a rule. So I would definitely go back to The John Dory when I’ve got money to burn, or when I’m with my momma cause I think she’d really like those rolls. Kelly and I sure did!
City Mitten 