Dagon•Upper West Side

Mediterranean•$

Dagon, an exciting new restaurant on Manhattan’s upper west side is named for the Phoenician and Philistine god of agriculture and the earth, and features cuisine from “somewhere in the Mediterranean.” That phrase, which Dagon is using to describe the heritage of the food, is taken from the Voice of Peace, the offshore radio station that broadcast in the Middle East for 20 years from the former Dutch cargo vessel MV Peace, whose motto was from somewhere in the Mediterranean, we are the Voice of Peace. Owner Simon Oren and his partners David Sasson, and Gil Ohana remember the radio station fondly and will pay tribute to it with the music they play at Dagon. Chef Partner Ari Bokovza, most recently of Claudette, and who is of Israeli heritage, feels that the Mezze, and small plates selections are the soul of the restaurant.