Perry St. - Worth The Reservation Hassle!

After reserving a MONTH in advance (yes, you have to call at 9am exactly one month before you want to go and you still can basically only get a 6pm or 10pm), last night I finally made it to Perry Street, the new Jean Georges in the Richard Meier towers on the West Side Highway. The space - small, cozy and minimal with off white banquettes, big overhanging lights and great low playing supper-club type music. All the employees were very friendly with no attitude and the service was exceptional. The food revolves around the flavor, not so much as the base ingredient (meat/fish/chicken). I started with the rice-crusted pan-seared tuna which came out looking like a peacan roll and had a crunch that couldn't be beat! For a main I had the cod which was prepared in a spicy aromatic broth with sweet potato puree. DELISH! I think it was truely the best piece of cod I've ever had! Mark had the pepper crab dumplings with snow peas to start (which he loved) and the butter poached lobster (they use the meat from a 1 1/2 pd lobster) on top of endive with slivers of apple on top with an endive & apple compote on the side (a slice of heaven). Other entrees included arctic char, rabbit, lamb, snapper, chicken and beef tenderloin. For drinks, we had the Jean Georges signature ginger margaritas (a carry-over from Spice Market) that were tasty as usual. Surpise treats included the complementary starter, a maple syrup and cerely root soup (sounds weird but was soothing and sweet) and desert, 2 types of homemade chocolates (tahini raspberry and ginger). Thank you Jean George! (Price range: $10-12 appetizers, $28 avg main course)