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In increasingly mall-ified Soho, virtuoso Andrew Carmellini’s deeply personal homage to the American melting pot at this worldly brasserie—from the team behind Tribeca sensation Locanda Verde—feels electric.
The exuberant menu veers from New England—gorgeous picked crab in horseradish-infused tomato water—to New Orleans, via tender pink slices of pecan-glazed duck breast with chicken-liver-enriched dirty rice. There's Mexican-inspired lamb neck in a genuine 30-ingredient red mole and "barrio" tripe: supple and spicy with avocado, diced radish and Fritos on top (now off the menu). And there's fried chicken (available only on the lunch, brunch and late-night menus), the peppery, golden half-bird served with a rotating spread of sides—smoky collards, flaky biscuits and mashed potatoes soaked in thick gravy when we visited.
The Dutch is the kind of place where you can confidently pair cool matchstick asparagus tossed in Thai basil, peanuts and fish sauce with an all-American rabbit potpie steaming under a showstopping dome of crackerlike crust. That all of it tastes good—and, somehow, works well together—explains why even 10pm reservations remain so hard to come by (walk-ins are encouraged).
Designing the restaurant's playlists himself and riffing on dishes from his own road-food adventures, Carmellini is clearly having a blast here—and by the looks of it, so are his patrons.