Perry St. - View this location on map  After the high-concept flamboyance of 66, Spice Market and V Steakhouse, Jean-Georges Vongerichten retreats to a subdued (though extremely lovely) setting for less gimmicky food that reflects his culinary strengths and sensibility more tidily than any of his restaurants since his flagship, Jean Georges, which opened in 1997. The menu is concise, but the best dishes: a cracker-encrusted tuna appetizer, a frisee salad with crystallized wasabi, roasted chicken in a smoked chicken broth beautifully capture his instinct for flavor and texture combinations, his usually keen sense of equilibrium and, of course, his recruitment of traditions and ingredients from Asia, which seduced him before others. This one's from the heart, not the head. -- Frank Bruni 176 Perry St., New York, New York Restaurant |