Spice Market

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13th Street on Ninth Avenue, New York City
212/675-2322
$150 for three, with three drinks, without tip

You walk into Spice market and you immediately think, This place is massive! The place is beautifully decorated, if not a little too dark, and utilizes a lot of wood instead of glass like 66, another Jean-Georges restaurant. Spice Market is bustling. There are staff members constantly running around. Some of them in backless salmon-colored pantsuits and tunics, some in short mini-skirts. The less attractive ones, I noticed, were wearing black sweaters and jeans. Our table was for 8pm and the place was already hoppin’ by the time we got there. The constant traffic is a little disorienting but I do not expect less from a restaurant in the Meatpacking District. In this neighborhood, you go to party, not to eat.

The food is typical Jean-Georges. You are encouraged to order several dishes to share with your group family-style. We started with the black-peppered shrimps with pineapple. The sweet and sour mixed with the spicyness was a good introduction but I ate more pineapple than I did shrimps for $14.50. The lime noodles were served with too much lime and I was cringing at every bite. I like my pasta al dente but I prefer my noodles soft and slippery. The mussels and the chicken wings, I felt, did not belong in the menu even though they were smothered with chili sauce and basil leaves. Good thing I had my Singha to match.

The green papaya was delicious as well as the squid salad. We were finally eating Thai food without the frills. I liked the halibut which was perfectly crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. I also loved the shaved tuna sashimi which came with small tapioca pearls in coconut milk. It tasted clean and pure. The mint tea was a great end to the overwhelming flavors that fought for my attention. By 11pm, nothing else mattered.

I’m satisfied with simplicity. I don’t need the entire production to be impressed.

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Perry St.

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176 Perry Street on West
212/352-1900
about $150 for two, with two drinks, without tip

Whenever I tried to make a reservation at Perry St., my only option was either 6pm or at 11:30. When I met my dining partner at our table in the back, the restaurant looked very empty at six. Perhaps they were reserving the tables just in case Nicole Kidman or Lenny Kravitz, residents of the Richard Meier building that also houses the restaurant, decide to drop by.

Perry St. is Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s eighth restaurant in Manhattan and it shows. The modernist interior welcomes the sunset glow along the Hudson River; it screams New York City. Diners look like the more affluent version of Spice Market’s fans but are a little older than the people in 66, two more of Jean-Georges’ establishments. The food is more “new American” but still focuses on the simplest Asian fares like red snapper sashimi, crab dumplings and roasted cod. Our fig dessert was served on a warm biscuit with ice cream, a delightful offering that was similar to one I had in London’s The Farm. They do not have a lot of wine available by the glass but a few good Belgian and German beers can be ordered from the bar.

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