January 2, 2008

Joley Good Time

Joley Restaurant Opens

She stalks past the Jennifers and Jessicas: a dame with a name no one’s heard before. Joley.

Like the word for “pretty” in French, but avant garde.

Joley sets up at the Hotel Astor and calls on designer Nicky Bernstein, liking what she did with Michy’s. The black and white decor with silver accents is slinky and suggestive — like a lounge singer in smokescreen. Her bar conjures up an old-fashioned speakeasy.

But when it comes to food, she’s no tease. Chef John Suley, who worked with Daniel Boulud and Gordon Ramsey, captures the palate with caramelized scallops in brown butter and sustains suspense with crispy prawns and roasted chestnut soup. By the main courses — lamb four ways with cumin mint jus, braised short ribs with truffled grits — not an appetite is left unseduced.

Clearly a team fatale at work.

Joley, Hotel Astor, 956 Washington Avenue (305-534-3343).