High end Italian restaurants in the West Village have been all the rage these past few years. There's L'Artusi, Dell'Anima, Spasso, and Morandi just to name a few. Perla comes by way of the people behind Joseph Leonard, Jeffrey's Grocery and Fedora, so I knew that it has to be at least a pretty good place to eat. Perla is tucked away on Minetta Lane and has a first come first serve policy. I was a bit nervous that Holly and I would end up waiting 2 hours on a Friday night, but luckily we literally got the last 2 top in the restaurant. The table was about the size of a peanut and Holly and I were sitting at the end of the row of tables but I didn't care, it was better than having to wait until 9 or 10pm for a table.
The first thing I noticed was that the place was definitely hopping. There was a constant flow of people but it was never so crowded and loud that you felt claustrophobic. While the menu has a definite Italian slant (it does change often), almost every dish had a slight adventurous flare to it too. For appetizers they had crispy pig ears, veal tongue, and snail just to mention a few. Holly and I were feeling a bit adventurous and decided that we would go with the snail with red wine and crispy duck neck ($15) to start. For entrees, I was so torn because so many things sounded great. I was initially leaning towards the black tagliatelle with skate and sea urchin ($27), the spaghetti with rock shrimp, sweet tomato and basil ($25) or the pork cheeks with polenta ($27). The waitress asked me how hungry I was and I said I was pretty hungry (when am I not?), so she recommend the pork cheeks because it was a heartier dish and she mentioned that the pasta dishes would most likely be on the menu for a bit while the pork cheeks wouldn't be. Sold on the pork cheeks! I am such a sucker when someones tells me if something is only available for a limited time only (even if it isn't true). Holly got the lamb breast and neck with shiso peppers and buttermilk crema ($24) --- as our waitress said, there was a lot of necking at our dinner (drum roll please!).
It's been a while since I've had snail but since I love slimey/chewy things like oysters, clams, and squid, I wasn't worried that I wouldn't like it. They were served out of their shell and soaked in a red wine sauce and topped with thin shreds of crispy duck necks, which Holly mentioned kind of looked like fried onions. The snails were cooked just right and weren't too tough or chewy. The red wine sauce was a bit overpowering but then at some point I did find myself sopping up my bread with the sauce, so clearly I did like it. The dish had a nice earthy but elegant feel feel to it. Next came our main entrees and I was pleasantly surprised at how many pieces of pork cheeks there were. There were 3 very large pieces on top of a thin layer of creamy polenta and served with some kale and roasted squash. I've had beef cheek before but never pork cheeks. These cheeks were delicious. While they looked like little medallions of meat, it had more of a pulled shoulder consistency. They had given me a sharp knife to cut into the dish, but you really could have cut it with a butter knife because that's how soft and tender it was. The combination with the soft polenta and kale was fabulous. As the waitress had mentioned, it was indeed a hearty meal. Almost a bit too hearty though. Even though it's almost October, it was still pretty humid and muggy outside and the dish felt more appropriate for a cold winter's meal. I had a taste of Holly's lamb dish with yogurt sauce and she had the same impression that I had about my dish. It was good but very heavy and given the weather outside, it was a bit difficult to eat an entire plate full of heavy meat. Although I don't regret my order at all, I did see someone get served the spaghetti with rock shrimp and it looked amazing. For that dish alone, I totally want to come back and try a pasta dish.
By the time we left the restaurant, it was definitely wall to wall packed with people. So I would definitely advise to get there early if you can. I do want to acknowledge our waitress was so incredibly helpful and actually was able to describe every dish we had a question with. That to me shows me that the staff is well trained and highly educated on the menu. I also liked that she wasn't afraid to voice her opinion about what's good and what dishes she liked better than others. I hate waiters/waitresses who either don't know anything about the menu or can't offer an honest opinion when asked. It's a bit difficult for me to compare this head to head with the other Italian places in the neighborhood because I didn't have pasta, but that's why I've got to come again and try it out. Total bill: $84/pp with tax, tip and several glasses of wine.
Photo Credit: Tasting Table
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