• Perry St.

  176 Perry St., 212-352-1900

  There’s a steakhouse on every corner of the city these days, but when we want to enjoy a really fine piece of beef in clean, even contemplative surroundings, we repair to Perry St., Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s stylish little canteen overlooking the West Side Highway. True, the chef is better known for more lofty, complex creations. And true, the diners at Perry Street are perhaps overly thin by steakhouse standards, and there are no steer horns on the wall of the cleanly modernist, perhaps too muted room. But the beef tenderloin sure tastes good. It’s expertly grilled and presented in pinkish, finger-thick slices. Order the creamy puréed potatoes as a complement, but don’t neglect the little mound of savory-sweet onion jam that comes with the beef, or the mustard tinged with sour cherries. If you don’t feel like steak but are in a meat-eating mood, the lamb chops are just as good.

From the 2006 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine