Years ago, I worked on a cool project at work that allowed me to meet Cedric Vongerichten, son of the famous Jean George. At the time, he was the chef de cuisine at Perry Street (and still is) and he was one of the nicest, sweetest people ever. You would think that someone of his background would be a bit up on himself but he was very quiet and humble. I had filed away in my head that I should visit Perry Street at some point, but there just wasn't ever the right time for it. It's definitely not your everyday dinner kind of place - in fact, it's the type of place I generally steer away from because it's got this air of hoity toity-ness to it (the average age of the diners there seemed like it was about 65 yrs old). But Lav was kind enough to book us a reservation for a belated birthday dinner and I'm so glad she did.
One note to those reading this, if you are going to dine at Perry Street, DO NOT go on the day of the Pride Parade. It was a nightmare to get there with all the streets being closed and it was mayhem everywhere but it was worth the walk. The decor is clean, white and very modern but it's not overly pretentious. The waitstaff was nice and informative but not too pushy either. The menu was high end but not stuffy - in fact, everything sounded great. If you haven't gotten my drift already, its the kind of place where it just pushes the edge but doesn't go overboard.
We started with the heirloom tomato salad ($16) and crispy artichokes ($20) and I got the duck entree ($36) while Lav got the sweet pea soup ($15) and market peaches ($16) as her entrees. It's been a while since I've had an heirloom tomato salad but when they are ripe and in season there really is nothing better in the world. This one was completely on point - juicy, ripe, sweet and plain heavenly. It was served with a sesame dressing, avocado and basil-serrano puree. It was so simple yet so god damn delicious. I could have had 10 of those for dinner and been super happy with my meal. The crispy artichokes were also fantastic - they were the meatier parts of the artichoke and not greasy at all. It came with fava beans, roasted garlic and manchego cheese which was an interesting but excellent combination. So far everything during the meal was really spot on.
I got the duck because it's not something I would ordinarily make at home and when done right, it is mind blowing. That was exactly the case here. It was 2 good size pieces of duck breast cooked to perfection - I mean seriously, incredibly tender and melted in your mouth. It was served with bok choy, chanterelle mushrooms and an incredible herbal duck jus. It was really one of the best duck dishes I've had in a really long time. Lav mentioned that her spring pea soup was fantastic while the market peaches were good but not on par with the rest of the dishes at dinner.
Of course we saved room for dessert and opted for the molten chocolate cake immediately but then hemmed and hawed over our 2nd choice...it was a toss up between the blueberry pie or strawberry pavlova. The waitress highly recommended the blueberry pie so we went for it. I was so glad we did because it was one of the best desserts I've had in a while. I'm normally not a blueberry person but I've definitely come around to it in the last few years and I would encourage anyone who is on the fence about blueberries to give this one a try. It's the perfect combination of fruit and crust and it's not overly sweet or gooey like some blueberry desserts. It's fresh blueberries in as natural of a state as you can get in a pie form. Delicious.
My visit here is definitely been 4 years too late and I wished I had come here sooner. It's much more of a special occasion restaurant but there's always a reason to celebrate in New York. I heard that Cedric will be opening up a new restaurant this year and it's not clear if he'll still be at the helm here so I'd definitely recommend a visit here sooner rather than later. Total bill: Unclear as it was paid for as a generous birthday gift!
Photo Credit: Yelp
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