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the buzz

“James opens tomorrow in Prospect Heights”

Chef Bryan Calvert (Union Pacific, Bouley) and his wife Deborah Williamson are best known for the events they produce through their company, Williamson Calvert. Now they’ve decided to take their A-list hospitality one step beyond the events business to the restaurant business. Tomorrow, they’ll open James, a seasonal American spot named for Bryan’s great-grandfather, James Calvert, a chef who opened a restaurant with his wife, Annie Calvert, in the late 1800s in what is now Harlem (135th Street).

You’ll find James secreted inside a century-old brownstone on Carlton Avenue and St Marks Place. They’ve retained the brownstone’s old-world details—pressed-tin ceilings, exposed brick walls and original plaster moldings—filled the room with button-tufted banquettes and hung oversized mirrors from the original Plaza behind a sweet bar decorated with fresh fruit and classic cocktail ware.

The menu starts out with crispy sweet breads with rhubarb honey glaze and dandelion greens ($12), white and green asparagus salad with Bucheron and chive fondue ($8), and semolina-crusted zucchini blossoms stuffed with Peekytoe crab ($12). Main courses run the gamut from a juicy grass fed beef burger with Cotswald cheese on brioche with herb fries ($14), to herb crusted east coast halibut with spring vegetables and horseradish cream ($26), poached breast of chicken with roasted thigh, roasted treviso and lemon thyme jus ($20), fava bean ravioli with morels broth and ramps greens ($20), and pine nut and rosemary-crusted rack of lamb with summer bean stew ($22).

James, which opens Tuesday June 24th, is located at 605 Carlton Avenue (@ St. Marks Avenue), 718-942-4255, www.jamesrestaurantny.com

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Posted: June 23, 2008 - 12:01 pm

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