Perry St--Fun on the Westside

Imagine if Patrick Bateman, the serial killer of American Psycho, opened a restaurant in New York. What would it look like? It would probably be very modern and very minimalist to accommodate his OCD-like obsessions of daily rituals and behaviors. It would have to be decked out with a central bar with elaborate flasks of expensive brandy and gin to showcase his impeccable tastes and penchant for entertaining. And it would have to be very zen-like in atmosphere so that he can meditate before going to for the next kill.

So what I'm trying to say is that Perry St. feels like a restaurant that Patrick Bateman would run and operate. It's very beautiful to look at but not exactly warm and inviting. You appreciate how everything is perfectly coordinated, but you're a little afraid to mess things up and self-consciously feel the eyes of the rigid staff burning a hole in your back. It's a little bit of an uneasy experience.

I went to Perry St. for Restaurant Week and also for my sister's bday dinner. Each time, the staff was very polite and a little aloof. Unless you sit at one of the booths, the tables are a little cramped for parties bigger than two, so you start making a concerted effort to avoid knocking things down and making all the plates fit. The two senior citizen couples sitting next to us complained about the table size to the hostess, so it wasn't just my imagination.

The appetizers are a little hit or miss. The crispy calamari was crunchy and delicious, and the creamy yuzu dipping sauce (yuzu is apparently a japanese citrus fruit, I had no idea such a fruit existed) was perfect. The sauteed shrimp was also excellent, the texture of the herbs and the sauce was a great combination. The sashimi was just ok and a bit meager in portion size.

During Restaurant Week they served a chicken, which was probably one of the best chicken dishes I've ever had. It was similar to the Red Cat's style, where the skin was perfectly crisp, almost as if the outer layer had been fried, while the interior was very moist and tender. Too bad they didn't have it during the birthday dinner, I had to settle for the steamed red snapper with a balsamic sauce and mashed potatoes. Don't get me wrong, the red snapper was very good, but the chicken was more soulful and more memorable. My sister and my dad had ordered the beef tenderloin served in a liquid gruyere sauce and a side of spinach. I had read great things about this beef but according to them, it was just whatever, they'd choose BLT Prime over this dish any time. BLT's prices were comparable, the portions were bigger at BLT, and the steaks were tastier, so I can definitely see their point.

Again, the desserts are a hit or miss. Anything chocolate related is amazing, but the cherries jubilee dessert I had was disgusting, it was this mess of maraschino cherries and white chocolate. You're better off grabbing a cupcake or soft serve somewhere else.

(Photos courtesy of nymag.com)

Perry St.
176 Perry St. (West Side Highway)
Rating (out of 5 stars):***
Style: High End Asian Fusion
Prices: $19-$36 for entrees, $11-$18 for appetizers, $9-$10 for desserts
Summary: Fusion Asian in a very sophisticated but aloof atmosphere; too bad the food isn't a little tastier to lend the place some soul.

Out of Towner: San Francisco

When it comes to other cities' foods, New Yorkers can get a little snobby. We're always saying obnoxious things like, "Oh, it's not as good as New York," and finishing the meal in distaste and contempt.

And yes, I tend to compare everything to New York and am guilty of this food bias as well. But cities like San Francisco definitely give New York a run for its money for tasty, fresh food (after all, the greenmarket movement is HUGE in SF and probably originated here), so this blog is dedicated to some of the memorable meals I've had there.

Papalote on 24th Street
3409 24th Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 970 8815

Papalote is located in the Mission, which is basically San Francisco's equivalent of the Lower East Side. You'll see hipsters with facial hair and hats hanging out instead of working in the middle of the day (must be nice!). The place is colorful and kitschy, there are random dragons hanging from the ceiling. I had a great, inexpensive fish taco there, which was served with crunchy nachos--wish it were nearby so that I can try the other menu items!



Out the Door
1 Ferry Plaza
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 861 8032

I had heard great things about Slanted Door, a Vietnamese/Asian Fusion restaurant located in the Ferry Plaza in SF. The Ferry Plaza is great; it's this gigantic, clean and sparkling indoor marketplace with lots of great restaurants and food/gourmet shops. I read that it's hard to get a table and it's usually occupied with high-powered business types during the day, so I opted for the cheaper, take-out version Out the Door. I ordered this crispy, juicy duck with an amazing side of salad and fresh fruit. New York's Vietnamese food is pretty bad, so maybe there was a low bar to clear, but Out the Door's fare was a home run. There's nothing like it in New York, you just have the oily (but yummy and very frequented) Saigon Grill and some bland pho/bun places randomly dotting Chinatown and Seamless Web. I'd welcome Out the Door to my front door any day!

Colibri
438 Geary St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 440 2737

Everyone raves that California's Mexican food is so much better than anywhere else. I grew up in Southern California, but I never went for the authentic taco trucks, I was a big fan of those chicken mayonnaise tacos from Del Taco and of course, that awesome Grade Z meat nonsense from Taco Bell. My family always ate out at chains like El Torito and Mazatlan but never those hole-in-the-wall treasures that you're supposed to go to. Since I got my taco fix at Papalote, I needed to end the Mexican food day with some guac. I am obsessed with guacamole, I'm a big fan of Dos Caminos, so I had really high expectations for Colibri's, supposedly a restaurant that serves the best guacamole in SF (according to yelp and chowhound). Eh, it was ok. I definitely like the guac at Dos Caminos better, maybe it's the lemon juice and salt ratio that they use that gives it that memorable flavor, or maybe I'm not used to the fresh, unadulterated avocados of California and my taste buds are messed up? But Colibri was just ok. I ordered a random fish dish because I felt bad about just ordering guac. But really, the fish was an afterthought, I came for the guac and it sorta let me down. But that was the only disappointing food experience in San Francisco, everything else was so fresh and so clean clean.

BLT Prime Time

I'm not really a steak person. Whenever I go to a Del Frisco's, Strip House or Wolfgang's, I always seem to order either a sirloin steak or filet mignon, cooked medium, usually with a nice char around the meat for the sirloin, and it all seems to taste the same. Granted, it's tasty and I totally appreciate that, but it's not like that piece of steak is the most fabulous, amazing thing I've ever had in my life. For the price I'm paying for that steak ($40+ at least!), you would think that you deserved a little piece of heaven on a plate, but I just never felt that way about the steaks I've had. In fact, I might even say that I found the sides more memorable--have you ever had the incredible and decadent crisp goose fat potatoes at Strip House? Now talk about heaven on a plate!!

But I think I now know why I've had a lukewarm reception to steak. I just haven't had the right cut. And now I know what my meat soulmate is--hanger steak. Yes, that humble, a bit stringy meat that resembles fajita meat. It's definitely cheaper than all the other strip steak, prime ribs, rib eye and other cuts on the menu at any restaurant. I'm not sure why, it's much more flavorful than the lean but bland filet mignon, but not too rich and fatty-tasting like the rib eye. And it's very tender too, the knife cuts right through it and if you melt some butter over it and eat it pure without any sauce, it's literally the most fantastic thing ever. I hope the restaurants never catch on that there might be more hanger steak fanatics out there, I'm definitely a convert and would be heartbroken if the best bang-for-your buck steak item suddenly doubles in price when management discovers this pricing inefficiency.



I've been to BLT Prime several times to satiate out-of-town guests who want to experience the extravagance of the NY steakhouse experience. Where else can you walk into a restaurant and see meats aged for 2-3 weeks on display in a glass room?? (Vegetarians should avert their eyes).


I've tried the filet, strip, rib eye and hanger, and the hanger knocked all of them out of the park. Of course, if you want more of the masculine, meaty steak experience, where the steaks are a little dryer than the hanger and get more of their flavor from marbled, juicy fats and delicious sauces, then the strip and rib eye are definitely for you. If you're watching your figure, I guess the filet is a great choice, but it's not a very soulful or memorable piece you're going to be chewing on.

I would say the sides here are very good, but they aren't decadently good in the way that Strip House's goosefat potatoes are. The leek hash browns had a nice golden crust on the outside, just how like a good hash brown should! I tried the baked potato skins, which were slathered in cheddar and bacon and was a little too salty and rich for my tastes. The seasonal creamed corn and truffles weren't my thing either, I think I like the lowest common denominator creamed corn that resembles the buttery stuff out of a can, so I probably couldn't appreciate Toroundel's delicate and more subtle creamed corn, but oh well, that's how I feel about it. The creamed spinach was also pretty good, but again, Strip House and even Wolfgang's was probably a teeny better.

Dessert is pretty awesome for a steak house. BLT Prime offers more than just the proverbial chocolate cake and ice cream. The strawberry sundae is a superb concoction of ice cream and delicious nuggets of short cake in a tall cup. We also had the seasonal specials of delicious huckleberry crumble and panna cotta and peach melba and ice cream, both of which made good use of glorious, seasonal fruits and creamy, lucious complements.

What didn't I like about BLT Prime? For starters, the staff can get a little aggressive in pushing all these other menu items on you so that you'll rack up a higher bill. They're pretty obvious about it, maybe it was just coincidence that several waiters used this approach, but it was slightly annoying. And food comes out really fast, and the waiters pounce on you to clean up your plates quickly too, even on a slow day where the table turnover isn't especially high. And the clientele isn't too diverse, it's made up of business types mostly, along with couples and some families. But with such glorious hanger steaks and crisp, warm popovers up its sleeve, BLT Prime can get by with these kinks in its otherwise magnificent steak machine.


(Pictures courtesy of nytimes.com, flickr.com, and nyjournal.squarespace.com)

BLT Prime
111 E. 22nd St. (Park Avenue and Lexington)
Rating (out of 5 stars):***** for the hanger steak, ***1/2 for other steaks and sides
Style: High End Casual American
Prices: $26 for the fabulous hanger steak, $40+ for other cuts; sides are $8-$9; desserts are $10; appetizers range from $10-$27
Summary: BLT serves steaks in their prime, especially if it's a hanger steak! Their steaks are a cut above the rest.