That's a spicy (duck) meatball!

Today is my birthday, a big one, and it's been fun of love and joy. I went to New York for the weekend and spent time with my best friend Alison, my cousin Amy and her husband Paul, and my pal Ben. Last night, we headed to Perilla for dinner, as I wanted to blend my love of Top Chef, pop culture, good food, and good friends.

As Alison and I were prepared to grab a cab, the heavens opened up and wept. Or more accurately, they sobbed all over us. Cabbies laughed at us, I fell off the curb because the water level was higher than the curb and I couldn't tell where it met the street. Alison was drenched, while I, armed with an umbrella, stubbornly (and ultimately futilely) refused to give my hair over to the elements. We jumped on the subway and, after wandering around the Village for 20 minutes, found the restaurant.

All was soon well.

Please indulge a bit of navel (or piehole) gazing, as I run down my meal:

• Gin and tonic (with some boutique gin), natch
• Spicy duck meatballs with quail egg (Ben had risotto, Alison had the special: fois gras with cashew/banana mash and pomegranate sauce)
• Hanger steak with creamed spinach and sunchoke purée
• Alison ordered creamed corn and I helped myself to several spoonfuls of the insanely good side
• Vanilla scented doughnuts with both Meyer lemon sauce and chocolate sauce (which Ben and I are munching on in the photo)

The meal was just perfection. There was no weak link. I often wind up wishing I'd ordered something else. That didn't happen here. The meatballs were perfectly spicy, the hanger steak was the most flavorful beef ever, and the doughnuts, oh my goodness, the doughnuts! I don't even like doughnuts that much, but apparently it's my new favorite dessert as evidenced by this post.

I can't wait to go back to Perilla, even though there were no Harold Dieterle sightings.