Colt & Gray, the new gastropub from Nelson Perkins and his wife, Allison Stamper, will definitely open tonight at 1553 Platte Street. "There is a light at the end of the tunnel!" joked Perkins, referring to the construction and patio-permit delays that pushed his proposed Fourth of July opening back more than month. "It's been a long process and I'm tired, but the space is so beautiful that it was all worth waiting for."
I popped in for an early peek last Friday night during a preview party where Perkins and his sous chef, Brad Rowell, who cooked for a year at the Spotted Pig, the hopping New York hot spot in the West Village (and, allegedly, the first gastropub to spring up in America), satiated the well-heeled crowds with bites from the new menu. A menu that I've said from day one, makes me happier than a mouse on cheese. I sampled a sweet corn chowder with purple basil, way more than my allocated share of foie gras terrine, a half dozen (at least) creamy oysters pebbled with tobiko, a handful of house-cured meats, too many cheeses to mention and Hawaiian Blue prawns the size of my fist. And then I started thinking ahead...to next time (soon isn't soon enough), when I plan to sequester myself in a corner with the roasted marrow bones, housemade burrata (can anyone make it better than Bonanno?), lobster bangers and mash and elk short ribs. I seriously love this menu.
For the next week or so, Colt & Gray is only serving dinner, but look for lunch to start up before the end of the month.
