Last night I had a real meat-venture at Dovetail restaurant on Manhattan’s upper west side. The husband and I met our friends Joe & Julie for the restaurant’s prix fixe “Sunday Suppa.”  I knew before going I was going to order either an appetizer or a main course of a new meat, but which I did not know. I was pretty set on staying with pork, since so far, so no-puke with pork, but in the end I picked the pork belly appetizer. My cohorts ordered other dishes so I could try a bite of this or that new thing without committing my whole meal to mystery meats.

Pork Belly appetizer at Dovetail

Pictured you see the pork belly, which does it no justice. What a magical creation is this pork belly and why have you been keeping it from me, life? The first impression was of crispy, seared skin. The next was that there was some mouth-watering butter-like fat melting  on my tongue. All you meat eaters may laugh, but I did not know animal fat could do this. Apparently, it does. The whole thing oozed and crackled in my mouth in a wonderful fiesta of flavor. And yeah, yeah there was some kind of grain and sauce and blah blah blah it was all really good, but the pork belly! Rest of the meat world look out: The bar has been raised.

I guess the fried lamb’s tongue didn’t have much of a chance after that, but then again, I thought, What if IT IS ALL THIS DELICIOUS??? Even after Julie said you could “feel the texture of tastebuds” on tongue meat, I thought, perhaps the yum of tongue is unsung. Also since it was fried, what are the odds that tiny pebbly tastebuds don’t get burned off? And, of course, I’d never had lamb ever in any form before. So tongue: Meet tongue.

While the tongue got to go to the party in my tummy, it was more of the guest you invite because you have to than you’re really happy to have show up. It had a very strong taste that had a note of old gym socks to me but mainly, I found the texture to be sort of — not exactly mealy — velvety? It felt thick and dense in a way that seemed to take up my whole mouth. But the husband ordered the lamb meatloaf for his main course, which I duly tried. That I liked well enough, it was nutty and juicy and easy to eat. Not a knockout, but fine. So it wasn’t the lamb, but the tongue. I may not be into the organ meats.

What I was into was my main course: Duck goulash with cavatelli and a hen’s egg, and while I’ve had duck before, I’ve never had it in a magical braised-stew concoction such as this. There was a party in my mouth and the entire dish was invited. It was savory and rich but not too much so, the duck was tender,  and man, I am a sucker for the egg-on-top of anything.  It was a huge portion but I ate as much as I could shove in my eating-hole. After that, there was dessert and teeny-tiny red-velvet cupcakes to finish a fabulous feast with friends.

I felt fine after my meat-a-palooza until the cab ride home, when I had a uh-oh moment as the cabbie sped madly through the streets and towards our home.  I don’t know if it was the overall richness, the mad driving, or the new meat that had me near to having a physical recollection of my meal, but I’m happy to report that I managed to make it home and to keep all my food down after some deep breaths and lying down. Phew.

All in all,  a great meal and secured Dovetail as one of my favorite new restaurants in the city.