Archipelago

Unexpected co-minglings can produce wonderful results, a maxim as true for Mendel, who cross-bred peas, as it was for Jeff Goldblum, who got his good looks from a fly. For a maw-watering fusion, hit Archipelago

From a Japanese-born, French-trained Morimoto-vet, Arch serves a marriage of Far East and Frog in a high-ceilinged open dining room prettied up with frosted French windows and original murals from manga artist Hiroki Otsuka -- who's toned down his smut-toons for a beautiful fish-tailed dragon swimming through the beautiful sky, exhaling the head of a beautiful woman (and also, you're drunk).

Starters and mains consist of seafood-heavy French-prepped Japanese (e.g., baked triggerfish w/ tofuyow) interspersed with quality meats (seared strip loin w/ yuzu pepper & cabernet reduction); the third menu section's a collusion of rice or noodles (squid ink soba, dashi egg custard...) loosely prepared in the style of kaiseki -- translated as "stone in the bosom", from when Zen monks would stifle hunger by placing warm stones near their bellies (the original TRIMSPA).

Bi-continental drinks include Euro and Japanese beers (Buckler, Orion, etc), French reds/whites, sake/shochu, and speciality cocktails, like The Archipelago (Tanqueray/Calpico/lime juice/soda), The Liberation (champagne, shiso, yuzu, bitters), and the shochu-&-sake Revolution -- made with homemade Bloody mix and wasabi, it will storm your Bastille of sobriety.

Arch's starting dinner-only, with lunch service coming next week, and hopefully soon brunch -- a fusion almost as beautiful as a fly co-mingling with Eric Stoltz.