[Wilfrid1]

This is a small dinner spot more or less opposite Prune. A dining counter, a string of tight tables, an open kitchen in the back of the room; no reservations; husband cooking and wife managing.

I'd like to cheer it on, but I did have problems with the composition of some of the dishes, especially the entrees. There are some nice things in the kitchen - smoked salt, good honey and cheeses, truffle oil, kid - but the combinations that come out just weren't working for me.

A review at the Pink Pig.

[mongo_jones]

oh, i got all excited thinking you'd passed john doe on first street.

[Orik]

Next time read Mouthfuls

[Wilfrid1]

Oops. I overlooked Orik's thread here, or I might have made different dinner plans.

Merge?

[oakapple]

Having failed to notice both Orik's and Wilfrid's reports, I booked dinner at JoeDoe last week (they take reservations now). A year of experience has failed to improve it (blog post here). The only difference is that the whole neighborhood now knows the story: the place was nearly empty on a Friday evening.

The chef, Joe Dobias, certainly has a flair for self-promotion. He managed to get a shout-out in the Times around Passover, when he was serving a dish called the Conflicted Jew (liver & bacon on challah). That may well have been the mention that got JoeDoe on my radar.

As I noted in my review, Dobias clearly isn't doing this to get rich: he'd probably make more money as a line cook somewhere, and with a lot less to worry about. And he could certainly serve much safer cuisine than the bizarre concoctions he offers now. So I give the guy credit for trying to be adventurous, but he's out on a limb where he doesn't belong.

[nuxvomica]

well, this is not going to help in the PR dept. i have no idea whether they had PR at any point (some restaurants do it after the opening when they realize the crowds are not coming, i get plenty of calls like that) but there are good and flexible/affordable PR people in the city (yours truly included) or you can learn how to do it yourself. it's better if you do it yourself - PR is NOT something an unpaid part-time intern should be doing because successful PR is all about relationships and knowing how to work with the key writers, what they are interested in and what they are likely to cover. most media people rarely open emails or talk to people they don't know - they get bombarded by those they already do know and have relationships with. personally, i would not let an intern or even paid assistants contact the press - it's too important and you usually have only one chance do it right.

as for restaurant name choices and PR people's influence on that, aaaaaaahahahahaah, i could tell you stories.

[Daniel]

Can anyone suggest dishes for me to order?

[TaliesinNYC]

as for restaurant name choices and PR people's influence on that, aaaaaaahahahahaah, i could tell you stories.

I'd be interested in hearing a few. (split off into a separate thread natch)

[Wilfrid1]

What a strange place. And no photos now? Although I didn't like the dish, this is one of my prettiest pictures.

[Orik]

Can anyone suggest dishes for me to order?

The chilaquiles cremeschnitte is to die for. Ask for double chopped liver on top.

[Daniel]

some chicken liver chilaquiles and a couple of strawberry banana daiquiris and you've got my number, amigo.

[oakapple]

The chef himself replied to my blog post (in the comments). Basically he thinks I'm bitter because they asked me not to take photos, says I don't know a thing about restaurants, and claims his restaurant is doing great business later in the evening.

[Orik]

JoeDoe is polarizing,

Like the death sentence, some people are for it, some are against it, but nobody wants to experience it.

[Orik]

Btw, google finds this on yelp:

UPDATE (3 hours after original review posted, guess i can't formally update it on yelp just yet):

Got this message from the restaurant:

"Yelp sucks for this reason. Uneducated people can post stupid things on here. Pork belly is exactly that, a belly of a pig.....fatty....that is like saying bacon is fatty?? Just silly commentary. Kale was the accompanying vegetable not sure what country kale is condsidered to be spinach. Further the server did not taste the dish bc we change the menu daily...it is impossible and extremely costly to tastee every new dish every day. If you liked only the sandwich and the sundae you lack the depth of understanding to appreciate a restaurant like JoeDoe. I think it is unfortunate that people like you offer up sucj harsh critiques....posing like you have a pallete. Please visit another restaurant, preferably one that gives a choice of sald dressing, that is what you need.
Chef JoeDoe"

may as well make the reply public. and my response:
1) my original review was 3 stars and really not that harsh. i picked out things that i liked and mentioned things that i didn't like. i know i'm not frank bruni over here, but yelp is for the masses, of which i am a member.
2) i actually said the pork belly was good, just that it was fat. and i've had a LOT of pork belly where it wasn't 80% fat and 20% meat like it was in this case (my coworker's dish was as well). i emphasized the fattiness in my review because i feel like other patrons would find this info to be useful. i definitely would have found it useful to know before ordering. and again, good dish, just very fatty.
3) spinach, kale, i'm sorry i can't tell the difference... still didn't taste that great. sorry.
4) understandable if you're changing the dishes every day and not everyone is trying it but the waiter literally said "other people have ordered this before" (without offering their positive/negative feedback on it) so please get your story straight.
5) could your response be anymore rude/pretentious? "If you liked only the sandwich and the sundae you lack the depth of understanding to appreciate a restaurant like JoeDoe"?!?!?!?
wow, now i'm sorry that i complimented anything here. apparently if i didn't like EVERYTHING at this restaurant, then i lack the "depth of understanding" to appreciate how AWESOME their restaurant is? hilarious.

i actually would have gone back for the two items i really liked, but now i'm DEFINITELY not going to come back because apparently my business is not welcome. and i will definitely warn all my friends away from it as well.

(((anticipating another angry reply from the restaurant)))

******************
ORIGINAL REVIEW:

super cute restaurant with both tables and bar seats available. came with two of my coworkers and we ordered the conflicted jew and mussels for appetizers. the first dish was good, the second dish was just ok -- mussels were yum, but the chunks of meat in the dish were dry and bland.

for entrees, two of us ordered the pork belly (mill valley belly on the menu i think), while one of us ordered the duck. incidentally, although our server was really friendly and good about suggesting dishes, he said he'd never tried the duck. i guess that's good he was honest about it, but on a menu of 10 items, how could you not have tried everything at least once? anyway the pork belly was good but VERY VERY fatty. delicious but FAT. the spinach it came with was disappointing though, lacking in flavor and dry.

onto desserts... we got two - the vanilla custard and the banana fosters sundae. the first was mediocre (we only ate about half) and the second was amaaaazing. we killed that thing. if you do go, definitely get the conflicted jew and the banana fosters sundae.

[Blondie]

Maybe he should call it JoeDo(uch)e.