I had been hearing good rumblings about Dagon, a new — since COVID — Mediterranean restaurant on the Upper West Side, named for the god of agriculture and earth. In fact, Steve Cuzzo of the New York Post named it “The Best New NYC Restaurant of the Pandemic.”

It’s restaurateur Simon Oren’s (Nice Matin, Bouillon, Marseille, 5 Napkin Burger) newest spot, with the kitchen run by parter and chef Ari Bokovza (formerly at Claudette)

Be careful if you order their Kubaneh ($12), a traditional Yemenite bread similar to monkey bread but not sweet. It’s addictive. With that, we had our flash-fried cauliflower ($17) with shishito peppers and olives with a lemon-feta aioli. I recommend both.

Next, we shared the whole charcoal-grilled branzino ($34) that they filleted in the kitchen and served with a giant slice of grilled celery root and preserved lemon butter.  Don’t miss Agu’s Tunisian cigar ($15) of flaky phyllo pastry filled with well-seasoned ground lamb, potato and dill served with a tangy mango pickle chutney.

Loved that the restaurant decorated the plate with a “happy birthday” written in chocolate and a lit candle with our serving of a decadent flourless chocolate cake ($14) served with pistachio whipped cream, vanilla gelato and candied pistachios.

I highly recommend a visit.

Dagon
Upper West Side
2454 Broadway (at 91st)
New York, NY 10024
212-873-2466
dagonnyc.com