Restaurants

No. 246

This collaboration between Ford Fry of JCT Kitchen & Bar and Drew Belline, formerly chef of Floataway Cafe, was the year’s most anticipated restaurant opening. The food, an imprecise blend of Italian­-Californian-Southern aesthetics, isn’t as audacious as we’d hoped for. Nonetheless, the kitchen is capable of high notes: sultry pastas like pappardelle carbonara with an egg first poached and then deep-fried; pan-roasted fish with a bevy of seasonal vegetables; and, at lunchtime, a slow-roasted pork sandwich that’s a hearty, drippy joy.

To experience the kitchen at its most ambitious, book the chef’s counter­, which seats at 6:30 and 9 p.m. and offers a five-course tasting menu.