Perry Street

Many of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s restaurants are hyped. Perry Street is hyped—meekly. Perry Street walks away from the New York City’s pretentious attitude by omitting the flashy frills through simplification. If Simplicity = Modernity; Perry Street = Simplicity + Modernity. Perry Street takes architectural concepts from Richard Meier and reflects the sophisticatedly simplexes into its dishes. This 60-seat restaurant had smoothing and comfortable ambiance—even for Restaurant week.

My party of three took advantage of the pre-fixe (35):

Appetizer:
Nectarine and goat cheese with wasabi on Frisée: Amazing. Who ever thought nectarine and goat cheese go so perfectly together. I was mesmerized by the pairing. The Frisée was nicely seasoned with a light white dressing.

Red Snapper Sashimi lemon, olive oil and crispy skin: neatly sliced fish assembled on a plate of olive oil topped with fried scallions. I liked the sharp crunch from the scallion with the soft lingering sashimi. Good texture contrast.

Entrée: A yin and yang
Red Snapper: served on top of a mint potato mash (on one side of the plate), and cucumber mint vinaigrette on the other. The snapper was perfectly steamed with a soft minty mash potato; this side of the plate was delicate and hearty. On the green vinaigrette side, it was refreshing—robust citrus sour flavor. Great transition from one side to another. The mint on the mash gave a slight preview/ teaser or even an open act for the vinaigrette. Very on point and clever pairing.

Pan roasted Chicken with a tableside bath of a deeply flavored broth made from smoked chicken and studded with corn. The waiter poured the sauce in front of us. The dish was hearty and savory. The semi thickness of the sauce was keenly complemented with the sweet corn. The chicken was cooked on point with a crispy skin.

Dessert:
Chocolate Pudding fresh cream, crystallized violets: Awesome. Violets??? Yes, they were infused in sugar and water and then crystallized in shapes of peanuts. The crunchy and light garnish over the creamy pudding was absolutely magnificent. The violet leaves a wonderful fragrance. This was an extraordinary delight.

Cherry jubilee: served with freshly marinated cherries with sugar, cream; in foam texture, cherry sorbet topped with a thin white chocolate smudge. The components could have worked more collaboratively, I felt the dish didn’t come together nicely. The cherries were deep dark red and heavily marinated with a red sugar sauce. Perhaps the cherries were out of place; even though it was a cherry dessert…

Drinks:
Cucumber Martini Hendricks gin, cucumber, mint: The prefect summer cocktail. Summer and cucumbers go together very very well. The cucumber drink was refreshing and delicate and very fun.

Fresh Homemade Sodas ginger: Nothing beats homemade. Not your typical everyday Schweppes. Ginger is good for you and the Perry’s ginger soda was good. Not overly sweetened and a strong natural ginger flavor. It’s the real stuff.


Whether you go during or after restaurant week, you will find yourself satisfied and culinary enlightened. The dishes are creative and consistently pushing one’s palate by bridging uncommon pairings and flavor into pure matrimony. Perry Street’s not-over-doing-it theme keeps patrons coming back.

Perry Street leaves behind the fanciful, colorful, festive, and stunning décor. What you will be stunned by is how pleased you will be by how little you need for a completely captivating dining experience. Perry Street knows that by being modern, minimal and unpretentious in today’s modern, consuming and exaggerated world is the next revelation.

Lamb and Jaffy in Greenpoint

It was a quiet Sunday night in Greenpoint as we dined outside at the patio overlooking a splendid little garden, and accompanied by the restaurant cat. With just my buddy, the cat and I out in the patio, I felt relaxed and not awkward with all the wonderful space we have inherited for the evening.

> Food

Appetizer: Chicken liver with sausage ($14) was perfect-o. The inkling of having two unrelated and very different components in one plate was phenomenal. Kudos to the chef for pulling it off--so well. The sauce between the two was cohesively savoring.

Next app. was the baked feta with calamata olives in marinara sauce ($8). A disappointment. The feta was on top of a bed of olives and sauce served on a mini cast iron skillet with a side of sliced pitas. The feta was over baked, dryed and unattactively stiff. The skillet was more interesting than the food itself.

Entree: I had the bison burger (10) medium rare- always. I expected much more. The patty was thinner than most similar establishments. In fact the patty's size is like the ones from Mickey D's. I know, you think I'm exaggerating but it was indeed minimal. The presentation was plain; served on an over sized roll with LT without the B, onions and a pickle. Not impressive. But can you expect too much for $10? I did.

The roasted hen (17) made up for the lack-of-a-burger. Half a bird; perfectly roasted with a crisp skin; served with sauteed diced size rooted vegetables and lentils. The dish is definitely suited for the Fall but it was pleasantly good.

LJ is in Greenpoint but don't let the location fool you. Though the dishes are a hit and miss, there's a chef in the kitchen and there are good intentions with every dish--it just so happens that the executions are shaky. LJ is American Nouveau, so basically whatever the chef decides to throw in the menu.


Lamb and Jiffy
1073 Manhattan Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11222 between Eagle and DuPont Sts. 718-389-3638

Restaurant Week

July 21- July 25

July 28- August 1


http://nycvisit.com/restaurantweek/