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“Perilla”

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

nd kraut-like.

The skate might have fared better with a side of Chinese Broccoli and Baby Bok Choy, a very David Chang side dish, flecked with cubes of caramelized pork belly and tossed with oyster sauce.

Harold also makes some nice pasta—large ravioli are filled up with ricotta and fiddlehead ferns which play especially well with a dynamic fava bean and morel duo and a just a touch of truffle butter ($24). It’s a refreshing pasta that is light, and pays lovely homage to the season.

With Perilla, Harold has created a place that you will return to again and again. You might stop in at the long walnut bar for a light bite and a cocktail—the Perilla 75 ($10) is a fresh summer sparkler made from Plymouth Gin, Grapefruit Juice, Prosecco and muddled Perilla leaf, or sit down with friends for a casual dinner at one of the twenty zebrawood tables in the honey-lit dining room, or bring your family for a festive celebration in one of the plush and cozy oversized booths. Perilla can do it all.

Well, almost. The one thing Perilla can’t really do is dessert. Pastry chef Seth Caro, who was last at Chanto, has provided a last course that is dessert in name only. I’d more aptly call it punishment. Fennel lemon donuts, shaped like oversized dice, tasted infused with furniture polish. Sticky coconut cake, shaped like a pyramid, was more cloying sticky coconut than cake. It came with a basil watermelon salad and an upsetting stripe of chile sauce that adds little to the experience other than a burning tongue. The second time I went to Perilla, I skipped them all together. The table next to us was just pushing them around and turned to us confessing, “These desserts aren’t good. Don’t bother.” Indeed, don’t.

But by all means, do bother with Perilla. While your first visit might be to check out that hot guy from Top Chef, when you return you won’t be doing it because of Bravo. You’ll be doing it because of what’s on the plate in front of you.

Perilla is located at 9 Jones Street, between West 4th Street and Bleecker, 212-929-6868.

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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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