A Menu That Is Just Sew

To work at Tailor, a chic new SoHo restaurant, servers are required to dress the part. They are fitted for custom-made suits by local English tailor Lord Willy's; they have to purchase the natty bespoke outfits and keep them clean and pressed for night after night of service. That, in addition to the hardship of memorizing the ins and outs of a short but deeply esoteric menu, is the price to pay for employment at the long-awaited new establishment.

The welted lapels and pinstriped vests are part of a rigorously executed antique aesthetic that fills the two-story space, with broad planks, rusticated columns, chairs deeply upholstered in dark brown, and the bare filament, Edison-style lightbulbs that are by now a cliché of downtown dining, as well as vintage sewing machines repurposed as industrial sculptures. That rather stiff look belies the hipster informality of the service — as well as the aggressive avant-gardism of the food and drink. The waitstaff tosses around terms from the lexicon of cutting-edge cookery, such as "maltodextrin" and "immersion circulator," with practiced ease.

Sam Mason was the dessert chef at experimental-food hotbed WD-50. His own restaurant melds sweet and savory in equal measure, literally: The lone menu lists a dozen dishes, the first half under the heading "Salty" and the latter half under "Sweet." In practice, the boundary isn't so sharp: The list kicks off with a concoction of foie gras and cocoa, and ends with a none-too-sweet Manchego cheese dessert. A $50 prix fixe plan buys any three of the 12 small plates, but a moment's arithmetic shows that the only way to make that a deal is to order the three priciest plates, ordinarily $17 each, and pat yourself on the back for pocketing one dollar. A la carte is the way to go: for reasons of price and flexibility, with a menu like this one it's hard to predict what you'll be in the mood for next. The foie gras ($17), into which is integrated not just chocolate but also peanut butter, is a surprisingly successful buttercream-like affair, silky smooth and earthy-tasting, offset with a caramelly sauce. Certainly I've seen the trendy liver put to worse uses.

A filet of arctic char ($17) is poached at a low temperature so the meat retains its delicate translucence, but then drenched in a buttery, fiercely tart passion fruit sauce that overwhelms the taste of the fish. Its accompaniment of mushrooms and fluffy spaetzle tinged with Indian lime pickle is fantastic, though I wish there had been a plateful. As all of the servers seem to attest enthusiastically, the pork belly dish ($16) is eminently likable too. Hunks of the savory, fatty meat nestle in a thick and sticky amber sauce that combines the mouth-filling sweetness of butterscotch with the rich salt of miso; the chef has a definite talent for discovering these unexpected affinities. Often, though, his bright ideas don't translate so well to the plate. Simply sweetening a savory item, a popular technique here, doesn't automatically turn it into a treat. On the sweet half of the list, a cooked banana ($12) pairs with pungent mustard ice cream in one of the least pleasant desserts I've experienced. The strong cumin ice cream that comes with a caramelized apple dessert ($11) is less jarring but no more delicious. I'll be returning, though, for the smoked vanilla ice cream ($12) and the sweet "potato granola" ($15) that adds crunch to a garlicky cured fish dish.

As the name indicates, Mr. Mason brings his pastry-chef exactitude to every aspect of the restaurant, from the employees' clothing to the calibration of a terrine's texture; but in his passionate attention to detail, the big picture can suffer. There are delights among the edibles, but with such a short and outlandish menu, the restaurant doesn't particularly lend itself to repeat visits.

The real treasure at Tailor is the selection of cocktails that emanate from the downstairs bar. The handsome, dim basement is decorated in sconces and wallpaper, like a tribute to some imagined heyday of the cocktail — as if we weren't living in one already! Created by Eben Freeman, another WD-50 alumnus, the drinks list is built from weird infusions and recherché liquors. Scotch is flavored with raisin bread, gin with hops, and the humble bourbon and Coke is improved with smoky wood essence. The $12-$15 cocktails also include the dessert-like Crumble, made with brown butter, cider, and rum; and the Agua Verde, a superb mixture of tomatillo and tequila. The best approach for patrons of Tailor might be to head straight downstairs to the bar, where they can order cocktails and watch them being skillfully crafted and, if a whimsical mood strikes, maybe pick and choose from the food choices.

Tailor (525 Broome St., between Thompson and Sullivan streets, 212-334-5182).