Online - July 15, 2005

Perry Beat

Perry St. Restaurant Opens

The centurions guarding the Jean-Georges empire have finally let us behind the gleaming glass doors at Perry St. (We know. They’ve hosted private parties for everyone this month. Except us.) So we stopped by last night and got the cheat sheet from JGV himself.

Inspiration: If Spice Market is JG’s fantasy, Perry St. is his home. (Literally: He lives upstairs.) This place is meant to be a neighborhood restaurant. (Although neighbors, in this case, are defined as those who can afford rents in Richard Meier skyscrapers. And DVF.)

Vibe: Elegant yet cozy. Smaller than you’d expect. Designer Thomas Juul-Hansen, a Meier protégé, has found shades of taupe, white, and black that we never knew existed. (If you can’t have an affair after dinner here, you should go home to your girlfriend.)

Food: “Small plates. Very tight. Concentrated.” That means three key ingredients in every dish. (Look. This is his twentieth restaurant. Throwing every spice on the rack into the mix just wasn’t the point this time around.)

The chef suggests: Black pepper crab dumplings and sugar snap peas, followed by arctic char with tomato juice and couscous.

The bartender will serve: Vodka thyme lemonade. Cherry yuzu with rum.

Scoring a table: Sorry. You’re on your own.

Perry St., 176 Perry Street, at the West Side Highway (212-352-1900).

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