Perry St

Gabe and I had brunch reservations for Perry St yesterday, and it turned out to be a wonderful meal! It's located way deep in the West Village - the area that people rarely venture out to just because it's so far out west. Even though it has a Perry St address, the entrance is located on the West Side Highway. In any case, it's in such a beautiful, quaint neighborhood with cobblestone streets and very few pedestrians and cars. It was perfect for such a beautiful spring day.

For those who don't know, Perry St has a $24 lunch prix fixe - 2 plates and dessert. The awesome thing is that they also offer it on the weekends, so the brunch menu includes a few normal brunch items such as housemade gravlax and pancakes. Being Jean-Georges second most upscale restaurant in NYC, a $24 prix fixe must be one of the very best deals in the city, considering the amazing quality of food and the Jean-Georges name.

Decor-wise, it's very minimalistic. Everything was white, and there were huge open windows. Even though it sort of has a sterile atmosphere, the decor and huge windows was actually really nice for a warm and sunny day. I was really surprised that Perry St wasn't busy. I guess it's still pretty under the radar. For such an affordable and high quality 3-course meal, I'm surprised not many people are flocking there for weekend brunch. However, I really liked it. The quiet and relaxed atmosphere was a very ideal contrast to the usual brunch spots in the city.

We started off with an amuse-bouche of spring pea soup with parmesan foam. I really loved this amuse. This had a really subtle and surprisingly refreshing taste to it. The only downside is that it was just an amuse. I would've happily had a full portion of that.

Sorry for an un-rotated picture. It's upright on my computer, but for some reason, it uploads like this. Anyways, Perry St has several homemade sodas, all incorporating interesting ingredient combinations. I chose the Passion-Chili soda because I absolutely loved passion fruit and was curious to see how the chili was used in this drink. This is a very refreshing soda which was perfect for the warm spring day. There wasn't any chili in the actual drink. I'm thinking it was infused into the passion fruit mix, so it gave it a very subtle kick. I highly recommend this drink, and I'm glad I chose this instead of a hard-to-beat $5 glass of wine (or $20 bottle). Gabe chose the Cherry-Yuzu soda, which I got to try. This was not overwhelmingly cherry-flavored, and it also had a subtle and refreshing taste to it.

With the many options of plates we could choose, I decided to settle with the Arctic Char Sashimi with lemon, olive oil, and crispy skin as my first course. The sashimi was very fresh, and the lemon and olive oil sauce was both subtle and refreshing (as everything at Perry St seems to be at this point). Surprisingly, the strong taste and crunchiness of the crispy skin contrasted perfectly with the rest of the components of this dish.

Gabe chose the Red Snapper poached in chili oil, with radish salad. As you can see, this is a really pretty dish with vibrant colors. It was also a pretty generous portion. The chili oil of course gives it an Asian flavor without the spiciness or hotness. It was very distinctly "chili" yet was not overwhelming on the palate at all. This was probably the standout of all the dishes we got to try. Highly recommended.

Since I felt like eating something meatier and heartier for my second plate, I decided to get the Grilled Hanger Steak with herbal spinach and liquid gruyere. The steak alone was quite tasty. As much as I love cheese, I was afraid that the liquid gruyere would be a rich creamy sauce, which would have been weird with steak, but it was quite the opposite. It was actually dilute and essentially gave the steak an added subtle taste and moistness. While I liked the spinach, I wasn't really a fan of the thinly sliced jalapenos that came with it. For me, it was sort of an odd ingredient to add to this dish, but it did not taste bad either.

Sorry once again for a picture that blogger won't upload correctly. Gabe chose the Roasted Chicken Sandwich with chipotle-lime mayo and avocado. This is also came with a serving of kettle chips which seemed to have been sprinkled with a little bit of parmesan cheese and, believe it or not, sugar. It tasted really good - a nice combination of sweet and salty in one bite. The sandwich itself was wonderful. The chicken alone was very tasty, which is something you usually don't find in chicken sandwiches. While the chipotle-lime mayo was a little spicy, it tasted good and complimented the sandwich very well. It's too bad we can't get chicken sandwiches this good everyday.

There were only two choices for dessert, so I went with the Chocolate Pudding with "crushed violets," a light cream, and a bit of chocolate cake. Each component was layered. This was a more mature take on your average chocolate pudding. The crushed violets reminded me of pop rocks without the popping effect.
Gabe got "The Sunflower" which was a a vanilla creme (I think?) with meringue, mangoes, and kiwis. I actually preferred his dessert over mine (we basically shared desserts). It was lighter in taste, and I liked the crunchiness of the meringue.

I can't recommend the Perry St lunch enough. When the dinner entrees range from $24-46, you simply cannot beat a $24 3-course lunch that is offered all year round and 7 days a week. Not only that, but you have over a dozen plates to choose from as opposed to only 3 options per course. It makes me wonder why people bother going to mediocre restaurants during Restaurant Week when you can enjoy this Jean-Georges restaurant deal any day of the year.

Perry St
176 Perry St
New York, NY