Perilla

On Thursday night (post cupcake truck visit, pre cupcake eating) I had the most delicious meal at Perilla. This restaurant gets a lot of press because its chef/owner is Harold Dieterle, the popular winner of Top Chef season one. Although I'm the first to admit that the Harold connection encouraged me to go, the food was absolutely delicious, no matter what celeb was cooking in the back.

The go-to dish was the Spicy Duck Meatballs. Of course I was a little afraid of the hype, but they surpassed my expectations. Melt in your mouth deliciousness!! And a perfect kick to them at the end. We got an order to share as an appetizer, but as Tim pointed out, he probably could have eaten about 15 of them. So if you go, don't be afraid to order the app for yourself. Or just order multiple. Bottom line, they were great.

We also got the fingerling potatoes to share for another appetizer. Sly move ordering a side as an appetizer, and I liked it! Tim's idea, and it was a good one. They were perfect for sharing, and the aioli sauce was wonderful.

Both Tim and Wright got the "Three Little Pigs" dish for their main -- it had a crisp pork belly, a pate and a sausage. They were very pleasantly surprised and successfully cleaned their plates. Lea had the triggerfish and cleaned hers as well. I had the handcut pasta with pheasant and mushrooms - I am still dreaming about it. Clean plate, all the way.

The restaurant is small and fairly quiet. They've got nice beers and a solid wines by the glass list, as well as cream sodas. Our waitress was kind and our bread plates were never empty (this may have been a bad thing...). It's located on a quiet corner down in the West Village, and really was just a perfect restaurant for a relaxing evening of good food and friends.

For more information, www.perillanyc.com. Photos courtesy of their website - much to Tim's disappointment, I didn't pull out my phone during dinner to snap away and capture the moment in fuzzy iPhone pics for the blog. That's more of an at-home hobby.

By the way, we caved on asking if Harold was in the kitchen. We liked the food too much and I was too embarassed. Plus, it would have been no fun to find out that he wasn't there!