Perilla

[Jesikka]

Howard Dieterle is opening Perilla today with Alicia Nosenzo (from the Harrison).

According to dailycandy (not exactly a foolproof source), the food is "American with Asian touches: skate wing with watermelon pickles, Thai basil, and hibiscus broth; roast chicken with tatsoi and Chinese sausage. It’s one of those all-too-rare menus on which everything looks good."

Perilla, 9 Jones Street, between Bleecker and West 4th Streets (212-929-6868).

http://www.dailycandy.com/article.jsp?ArticleId=30502&city=1

I'm sure there are better places to get this information, but I'd be interested to hear reports.

[Megan Blocker]

From Eater (they also have a photo of the menu):

We stopped in late Saturday night for an initial spot inspection (verdict: Passed), picked up a copy of the menu for you (below; Less Red Cat, more Asia), spotted a few notables (Food & Wine's Kate Krader, Nancy Silverton), and conversed a small bit with Mr. D (calm, collected, sporting non-Perilla-branded chef's coat).

There is, of course, a pork belly starter on the menu...

[Dave H]

Jesikka and I dropped into Perilla on Tuesday night, its second night of official operation. Restaurant was about 85% full when we arrived for our 9:45 table, with the exception of the bar, which was kept clear. (Presumably they will have full service there when they get up to speed.) A slip of paper clipped to the top of the menus informed us that they're giving a 10% discount until they get their legs; no idea when that deal will end, but given things ran pretty smooth for us I wouldn't expect it to last long.

The schtick at Perilla is fusion, driven by a diverse cast of very specific East Asian greens and herbs as accents, and it is carried off with creativity and finesse. The menu Tuesday was quite similar to the one posted on Eater, save the addition of IIRC an oysters appetizer (forget exactly what it was), an off-menu special (monkfish cheeks in shellfish sauce), and some minor adjustments of wording and prices. Also everyone should take a look at some guy's writeup which has pictures of some of the dishes we had.

"Thinly Sliced Raw Hamachi" is not actually very thin at all (and I forget if it retained that name on our menu): three generous slices of gorgeous fish in a yuzu-infused tomato-water broth, along with precise deployment of fresh herbs and spices, and slices of fresh cucumber. This is a stellar dish. Sashimi-quality hamachi--good sashimi quality hamachi--and a finely modulated and complex set of flavors. And while it's been done before and maybe I'll be sick of it eventually, let me just spend a few words in praise of yuzu as a flavoring for delicate creative-Japanese type dishes: it's great stuff (see also: Ssam Bar uni). If I had to criticize anything I might say the cucumber chunks were cut a bit too large given the subtlety of the rest of the dish, but Harold may have his reasons (e.g. to keep them easy to handle with a fork), and anyway, this is really nitpicking.

Smallish duck meatballs in a meaty broth with yam gnocchi, a raw quail egg, and a topping of water spinach, was both the most fully Japanese in style of all the dishes we tried, and also my first experience with the faintly ballyhooed Italo-Japanese fusion that is apparently the basis for a couple new restaurants in the East Village. Not sure about its potential as a culinary movement, but this happens to work extremely well, which you could ascribe to the two cuisines shared affection for umami (well represented here in the broth and the spinach), or you could just point out that if you call yam gnocchi "yam dumplings," there is nothing not Japanese about this. The gnocchi don't pack much taste, but the quail egg yolk and the meatballs are killer together. Temperature was a problem, as while this is izakaya-type food, hearty enough to be served hot, it came out not much above room temperature--particularly a problem with respect to the gnocchi, although at least their texture was still good. Also as a matter of mechanics it's somewhat difficult to get the full use of the quail egg; presented whole it certainly looks pretty, but the somewhat shallow bowl with all the meatballs and gnocchi in it doesn't encourage the diner to whisk it in vigorously. Those issues aside, another really strong dish.

The mains didn't quite keep up that level of accomplishment, but they both had strong qualities. My roast duckling was served in a style I'd previously only seen in France: as a large slab of duck breast (or in this case, two long but thick rectangles), the fat scored to expose more of it to the pan. Compared to the commonplace fan of thin little slices, serving duck this way brings out more, truer flavor, and the quality of this duck perhaps wasn't quite up to snuff, with some mildly off gamy flavors in the fat. But it's a somewhat gutsy presentation, and it was roasted to a beautiful (and gutsy) rare, so good for them.

The menu calls for corn pudding and foie gras bordelaise, but to me the bordelaise tasted straight and it was the corn pudding that tasted foie gras-y. Both were rich and salty, the foie (wherever it came from) didn't work any particular magic, and the tiny little bits of marrow seemingly brought nothing to the table beyond perhaps fulfilling the definition of "bordelaise". The saving grace was the significant quantity of sauteed mustard greens, which provided a sharp but nuanced counterpoint to the one-note richness of the duck and sauces (despite all that's nominally going on, the dish could maybe use the addition of one more flavor component), and turned this into a fairly decent success.

That counterpoint was largely missing from a nonetheless interesting dish of roast chicken. Yes, there were some nice bitter greens identified as tatsoi (which came across as baby spinach, although in hindsight they might have had a bit of extra kick), but not enough of them to balance out a rather beige and thirst-inducing dish. The bulk of it was a commendably juicy roast breast of chicken with the first wing bone attached, topped by its nicely crisped but oversalted skin. A smaller rectangle of dark meat was not as successful, and rather dried out. A smattering of hen of the woods mushrooms failed to add much, but not so the four thick slices of sauteed Chinese sausage, which had an intensely sweet-salty, almost fermented taste. The Chinese sausage is a very compelling ingredient, but it couldn't really be brought into balance with the rest of the items until we figured to cut the already smallish pieces into quarters, and take them in the same bite with both white and dark chicken meat, whereupon everything clicked. All in all, this was probably the least successful dish of the evening, but with a bit of tweaking--smaller pieces of sausage and more tatsoi might be enough--it could be very good.

From what we sampled, Seth Cato's desserts integrate beautifully with the savory side of the restaurant. Again, the innovation is in the use of Asian fruits and herbs to accent more traditional dessert concepts.

The "smoked" aspect of the smoked chocolate cake was fairly lacking, leaving the cake itself pretty interchangeable with every other flourless chocolate cake of the past 15 years. Luckily the diced roasted rhubarb and kaffir lime ice cream brought not only acidity, freshness and lightness to the plate, but also robust, rounded flavors (this is what distinguishes the kaffir lime from lemon, which it predominately tastes of). Very well made ice cream technically, as well. A clever twist on an old cliche.

Next, what will probably turn out to be the restaurant's signature dessert (although there is also a lemon-fennel donut dessert, and people love donut desserts): coconut cake with basil-watermelon salad and perilla frozen yogurt. Our waiter described perilla as an Asian relative of mint, but it tasted like a much rounder and complex herb, a bit like basil but really a lot like shiso, maybe. Oh, that's because, turning to wikipedia I learn that perilla is shiso (or, more accurately, that shiso is the most common variety of perilla--and surely the one in use here). Whatever; the fro-yo is awesome, with an intense attack, great mouth-filling consistency, and...shiso! Which is an awesome flavor.

The basil-watermelon salad (which also had what I'm fairly positive was coconut meat thrown in as well) was a great contrast, although it will be even better once the watermelon is really in season. (Don't get me wrong, this wasn't bad, it just lacked the explosiveness of truly great watermelon.) And the coconut cake was a light and airy canvas for all this. (Small complaint: whether because the it was too fresh out of the oven--it was still warm, unnecessarily--or some other reason, the cake was a bit too crumby and didn't hold together as it should.) A very impressive dessert with a bright, crisp flavor profile that is too rare.

The above plus two glasses of wine (a Beaujolais and a Gruner Veltliner, both quite nice), a pot of tea, tax (but not tip), and 10% discount hit $100 exactly. Service was pretty solid if occasionally odd (our waiter slipped into calling Jesikka "m'lady" as the night wore on... ).

All in all a very strong showing for Perilla. The food is clever and has a distinctive voice. The flaws so far are of balance and execution, but both of those are nonetheless pretty impressive for a restaurant on day 2. Provided they refine the cuisine and work out the kinks, Perilla is a solid two star candidate, and a very welcome addition.

[BryanZ]

Tupac, his friend, and I dropped by Perilla yesterday evening. We had some Food Network "C" list celebrity citings. First, Miss This-is-too-oily herself, the Japanese Iron Chef Judge. She was taking notes like a banshee and getting, shall we say, very generous pours of wine. Her meal was entirely comped too. She's amusing to watch and very, very, very thin. Also saw that really obnoxious Exec VP of Marketing from Food Network who's on Next Food Network Star and is always very condescending.

Full food report coming. I was pretty much underwhelmed.

[Sethro]

I'm beggin someone to spell my name right! Maybe our menu font makes R's look like T's or something...

[BryanZ]

It crossed my mind that the Seth on eG who does Asian-inflected pastry and the Seth at the Asian-inflected Perilla might be one and the same. In fact, we even discussed it and noted that the pastry seemed more modern than the savories.

[tupac17616]

I was pretty much underwhelmed.

In a nutshell, my thoughts as well.

[Sethro]

It crossed my mind that the Seth on eG who does Asian-inflected pastry and the Seth at the Asian-inflected Perilla might be one and the same.  In fact, we even discussed it and noted that the pastry seemed more modern than the savories.

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Harold is doing some pretty modern/complicated stuff, I might just be more overt about it. Idealy we'd lie everything to flow together homogenously. I'm sure I'll be making some adjustments as we go along that reflect that.

[Dave H]

I'm beggin someone to spell my name right! Maybe our menu font makes R's look like T's or something...

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Damn, that is embarrassing. In my defense, it was that foodcandy.com blogger I linked to who got your name wrong; I copied it from him.

Anyhow, congrats on some very strong desserts.

[baw]

Popped in Perilla last night to give it a try at the bar. I liked the spirits selection, but didn't look too closely at the wine list. The placed ranged from busy to full during the time I was there (~9:30 - 11pm) and had a good feeling. I had a mackerel crudo ($11?) appetizer to start. Raw mackerel, citrus pieces, hearts of palm, green plantain thin strips, with clover type sprouts (?) in a vinagrette and a healthy portion of jalepeno jam painted the the side on the place. Then spicy duck meatballs ($12) which were described above by Dave H. I quite liked the mackerel, although I committed many sins against it by just picking out the citrus and fish and mopping it into the jalepeno jam (owing to my inhuman aversion to raw green things especially if they are touching vinegrette). I've been a huge sucker for jalepeno+citrus+white fish/shellfish since having the scallops on citrus salad with jalepeno grapeseed oil at Degustation shortly after it opened. This dish was definitely a different take on that flavor combination, but I couldn't help the comparison having picked out those three ingredients in the dish.

I hoovered the duck meatballs. I felt sufficiently able to whisk in the quail egg, unlike Dave H above, but I suspect that my definition of 'vigorous' and his may be fairly different I agree that the gnocchi weren't outrageously flavorful, but I love me some purple gnocchi and they were fun. The service aimed to please, but wasn't "trying too hard". The price point and location of Perilla, the quality of ingredients and preparation, the fun but not wierd flavor combinations, and the service would lead me to warmly recommend Perilla as a neighborhood restaurant. Based on my short experience there I don't know enough about it to say much other than that. But if you're looking for dinner south of 14th street, I'd say check it out.

Edited July 4, 2007 by baw (log)

[mrsadm]

Frank Bruni Review

Review of Harold Dieterle's restaurant (winner of the first Top Chef series).

Has anyone here tried the restaurant yet?

What did you think of it?

I liked Harold in the original show, he was understated in personality, and it seems to reflect in his restaurant.

[BryanZ]

Completely, entirely, wholly predictable.

[Nathan]

you've eaten there, I haven't...was the review wrong?

[BryanZ]

No, the review was right on. Even more positive than I would've surmised.

[tan319]

It crossed my mind that the Seth on eG who does Asian-inflected pastry and the Seth at the Asian-inflected Perilla might be one and the same.  In fact, we even discussed it and noted that the pastry seemed more modern than the savories.

←

Harold is doing some pretty modern/complicated stuff, I might just be more overt about it. Idealy we'd lie everything to flow together homogenously. I'm sure I'll be making some adjustments as we go along that reflect that.

←

Nice one Seth!!!

Maybe soon?

Good Luck!!!

[John Talbott]

I thought Perilla was the best place I've been since back from Paris. the Caffe Falai wasn't shabby either.

[Hectorp]

I just took 5 daughters to NYC and the visit to Perilla was a highlight. Everything was solidly excellent.

Pardon this impressionistic and non-professional food critic comment but if the lamb were any more tender it would have been foie gras...

The carpaccio was wrapped around some greens and there was a crispiness to the stuffing that ingeniously set off the tenderness of the thinly sliced beef.

One of my daughters had the roast chicken which was perfectly prepared.

The service was extremely unaggressive...to say that no one was trying to upsell anything is a tremendous understatement...which is fine, just unusual when one is used to having to repel waitstaff to some extent.

We had a late reservation (10PM) and we watched as they shut down and Harold came out from the back in a Tshirt and just hung with the staff at the bar. You can tell that the people love working for him...just such a decent person. Long live Harold.

My wife and I will be coming back for our 10th anniversary in November.

I would definitely recommend it.

[Nathan]

finally got around to eating here at the bar last night.

its exactly what I expected, unassuming, casual...slotted right into that "American Bistro" genre. right along with the Red Cat, the Harrison, Little Owl, Market Table, Back Forty, Allen & Delancey. prices are gentle. decor is nice. service competent and friendly. virtually entirely Saturday date night couples.

had the cuttlefish to start. prepared with water chestnuts, bread, little nuggets of guanciale and in some sort of savory broth. thought this was cooking by numbers. everything technically worked out, this for texture, this for contrast, this for kick. nothing especially tasty or interesting. but nothing to complain about.

duck entree was almost very good. two large and long slices of duck served boneless. served over a bed of winter greens, some sort of pudding (corn I think) and with pomegranate seeds. everything worked together...its just that part of my duck was seasoned properly and part of it needed salt (I tend to think that duck needs a fair amount of salt).

but good enough to return again (especially since its in my hood), absolutely.

[ulterior epicure]

Explain the bread component to the cuttle fish. Crouton? Crumbs? Thickener?

Were these bar menu items, or can you order from the dining room menu as well?

Edited January 11, 2008 by ulterior epicure (log)

[Nathan]

bed of grilled bread. Regular menu. Not aware of any ny restaurant where you are limited to just the bar menu

[Sneakeater]

Gramercy Tavern?

[Nathan]

Gramercy Tavern?

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heh, posting from Sardinia in Miami this second. Gramercy tavern serves the same menu at the bar as it does to the tables in that room.

[Sneakeater]

Yeah. The BAR room.

What you said was:

Not aware of any ny restaurant where you are limited to just the bar menu

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At Gramercy Tavern (and The Bar Room at The Modern, for that matter), you are limited to the bar menu at the bar. You can't order the restaurant menu.

Contrast that with EMP, where you can order the full restaurant a la carte menu (although not the tasting menu) at the bar -- which includes the tables around the bar that are in fact part of the bar area. (And, to be clear, which also has a bar menu that you can also order at the bar if you want, instead of the full restaurant a la carte menu.)

Or, with Cafe Gray, where the bar (like that at Gramercy Tavern) is a whole separate room, with a bar and tables -- at all of which (unlike at Gramercy Tavern) you can order from the full dinner menu or the bar menu, as you choose.

Edited January 12, 2008 by Sneakeater (log)

[Nathan]

according to bruni, the bar room at the modern is not the same restaurant as the The Modern. I daresay the same is true of the tavern room at gramercy tavern

[ulterior epicure]

What about Otto? I don't think you can get the dining room food in the bar.