If this doesn’t sound like the kind of food you might encounter at even an upscale neighborhood joint, that’s because it’s not. At Jovia, the house mashed potatoes are whipped with brown butter and have the texture and coloring of savory caramel. As you gaze at the TV over the bar, you can enjoy a $14 side dish of polenta whisked with cream, and swirls of crunchy black truffles.
After the high-wire fusion cooking at Sumile, Jovia is cannily designed to exhibit DeChellis’s precocious gourmet talents in an accessible, down-home sort of way. Which means, for dessert, there’s a kind of muted chocolate soufflé cake, and an admirable, though slightly bland, clafouti made with hazelnuts and pears. There’s a warm Valrhona chocolate panettone topped with brûléed caramel semifreddo, and a napkin full of powdered beignets flavored, ingeniously, with sweet potatoes. And, of course, there are all kinds of fancy, overwrought petits fours to nibble on, as you pat your belly and wonder what this talented young cook will think of next.
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