Acclaimed Chef John Fraser Jumps Into the Met’s Restaurant on the UES

John Fraser, the chef behind Michelin-starred Nix and the Loyal, is expanding his culinary talents to New York’s museum space with a new collaborative menu for the American restaurant at the Met.

Starting today, February 4, the Dining Room on the Upper East Side — a Metropolitan Museum of Art restaurant that used to only be open for museum members — will carry new vegetable-focused dishes and drinks created by the acclaimed chef and his team. It supplements an existing menu from the Dining Room’s executive chef Fred Sabo.

For now, the new dishes from Fraser will highlight mushrooms in different ways, like a chanterelle polenta served with an acorn squash fricassee and winter truffles, as well as a steamed bass with pickled hon shimeji mushrooms. Fraser will rotate dishes in and out on a seasonal basis, according to a news release.

Fraser’s bar director Salvatore Tafuri also brings on new drinks, such as the “Central Park” cocktail made with green vodka, chartreuse, and white vermouth. And wine director Amy Racine will be behind the wine pairings for each new dish.

The Dining Room started being open to all museum visitors last summer. Before that, it was only available for Met members.

Fraser made his name at the now-shuttered, Michelin-starred Dovetail on the UWS and has since spawned a mini-empire downtown with venues Narcissa, Nix, and the Loyal, although he walked away from Narcissa last year to focus on other projects. He’s now gearing up to open the Edition Hotel in Times Square, slated to open this month. The project, where he’ll be in charge of food and beverage, was born from a partnership between the chef and famed hotelier Ian Schrager.

As for the Dining Room at the Met, diners can get a taste of Fraser’s cooking from Monday through Friday, from noon to 2:30 p.m. The restaurant opens a bit earlier on weekends and stays open until 3 p.m., plus dinner service runs from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.