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“Perilla”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	New American	West Village	Moderate	Great

p and poppy seed mignonette ($11). Set in a large scallop shells they were small but plump, treated to just the right amount of bright acidity to balance their sweetness. We also shared the spicy duck meatballs, which were excellent—neat and petite orbs, smacked with seasoning and spices from the inside out. But I didn’t quite get the pairing with Okinawa yam gnocchi, water spinach and a quail egg ($10). I could see a fun little spaghetti or cavatelli and meatballs dish, or perhaps little hero sandwiches, or even just a cazuela of meatballs on their own, but the dish didn’t make sense to me as a whole. There are too many dark colors and similar textures—soft meatballs, soft gnocchi, soft quail egg yolk—to really make me understand why these ingredients were in the same bowl. If I were at the Judge’s Table, I would’ve asked Harold to explain the dish and help me understand the thinking behind it.

But I would not have had one question other than “Can I have more please?” with respect to the Beef Carpaccio ($12). It’s a revelation. Instead of the standard slices of sheer beef fanned out and touched up with some arugula and shaved Parmesan, Harold builds a better mouse trap by using the sheets of gorgeous marbled ruby red beef like rice paper wrappers, filling them up with a terrific arugula salad dressed in preserved Meyer lemon vinaigrette and Parmesan. He serves a pair of these beautiful beef and arugula bundles with crisp little flatbreads and caperberries. It’s a brilliant riff on the classic preparation. Nicely done, Harold.

One of my favorite dishes on the menu is the roast duckling ($25), with the breast cut lengthwise, so it almost looks like Lincoln logs. The meat is tender and juicy even, and the skin is crisped up nicely, and the duck gets just the right treatment from mustard greens and a shower of nuggets of foie gras in a bordelaise sauce. Great job.

But the skate wing ($20) doesn’t fair as well. Though I love the idea of the dish, it didn’t quite work. The skate is pan-fried beautifully and the portion is quite generous, but it’s served with shredded cabbage that I imagined might be more Alsatian and instead was quite sweet, without a balance of sour. The warm mustard sauce that was listed as the sauce on the menu didn’t cast enough of a bite on the dish for me, so it felt a little heavy and sweet, rather than piquant a ... [more, click below]

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Posted: June 25, 2007

Other restaurants in West Village :
+ Jefferson-- Closed   + La Palapa Rockola   + Sumile   + Babbo   + Tasca   + AOC Bedford   + Home   + The Spotted Pig   + Barbuto   + Numero 26   + Mas   + August   + Alta   + Cru   + Blue Mill Tavern-- Closed   + Employees Only   + Lassi   + Metropol--Closed   + Turks and Frogs   + Bellavitae   + Yumcha-- CLOSED   + Gusto: SEE EARLIER REVIEW; THIS CHEF HAS LEFT GUSTO   + Perry Street   + Home   + Ditch Plains   + The Little Owl   + Cafe Condesa   + Cafe Cluny   + Gusto   + The Waverly Inn   + Morandi   + P*ONG   + Perilla   + Soto   + Market Table   + Centro Vinoteca   + Barfry   + Dell'Anima   + Bar Blanc   + Smith's   + Commerce   + Elettaria   + Bar Q   + Cabrito   + 10 Downing   + Minetta Tavern   + Braeburn   + Scuderia, by guest reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Bar Blanc Bistro by Guest Reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Joseph Leonard   + Bar Henry, by Guest Reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Kin Shop   + Monument Lane   + Wong   + Bin on Bleecker, by Dara Pollak   + Ristorante Rafele   + Cole's Greenwich Village by Guest Reviewer Claire Jaffe   

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