villrest

Issue #44

Last Update March 2, 2006

Reviews Village Gems by David Katz New York's Greenwich Village is rich in excellent restaurants, especially Italian ones. Two restaurants, P. J. Charlton and Gene's, at opposite ends of the village, combine good food, excellent service, and comfortable ambiance into a delightful and relaxing dining experience.

PJ's is an unassuming place at the end of Charlton Street, at Greenwich. Particularly at lunchtime it caters to a business clientele: advertising agency people, graphic artists, government employees and local artisans and office workers of all kinds. The bar is well stocked, the drinks are generous, and the food is excellent.

The menu is not ambitious; the limited number of regular dishes and specials allow each dish to be carefully prepared with the freshest ingredients. Nevertheless, there is something on the menu for every appetite. Especially noteworthy are the eggplant parmegian, any of the fish dishes (the fish is always absolutely fresh), the veal piccata and the shrimp Fra Diavolo. A good selection of pasta dishes is available to serve as a main course or an accompaniment to one of the meat or fish entrees. The house salad is also especially good, a mixture of radicchio, lettuce, endive and pine nuts, lightly coated with a mild vinaigrette dressing.

The wait staff, attractive young women all, are friendly, attentive and extremely competent. The atmosphere is relaxed and homey.

Gene's, on 11th Street just off Sixth Avenue, is a more formal room. The menu is quite large, with an enormous selection of pastas, meats, and fish and shellfish. The clientele is a pleasant mixture of local residents, New School faculty and students. Many are regulars, and the waiters know them and their preferences. Despite the formality of the room, the emphasis is on customer comfort. From the dish of radishes, celery and carrot strips that appears as you sit down, to the loaves of white and brown bread and marvelous breadsticks, to the bottle of anisette that accompanies your espresso, everything is done for your complete enjoyment.

The quality of the food is in keeping with this philosophy. Shrimp cocktails contain enormous shrimp, with the snap of perfect cooking, served with a tray of horse radish and hot sauce that allows you to spice up the excellent cocktail sauce to your own taste. Portions are generous. The pork chops, perfectly grilled, are thick and juicy, enough for a second meal if you are into doggie bags. The liver, bacon and onions are a delight. Veal piccata is tangy and tender. Such a large menu allows the inclusion of steaks, roasts and fish dishes not usually found in an Italian restaurant, and there are daily specials (try the tender and flavorful lamb osso bucco with gnocchi if you get the chance) that are unusual and tempting.

Desserts, including the chocolate mousse cake, the plain chocolate mousse, the large Comice pear in raspberry sauce, the creme caramel ..... are all anathema to dieters but heaven for the more fortunate.

Service here is extremely attentive and very friendly. The waiters know their job and their customers, and are willing to take the time to recommend, to chat and to follow up.

The common clue to the excellence of both PJ's and Gene's is the intimate, hands on involvement of management. Both Phil and Michael are in the room with the customers, seeing that they are happy, the food is good and the service is excellent.

P.J. Charlton, 549 Greenwich St., NY NY 10013 (212) 924-9532 pjchltn@aol.com
Gene’s, 73 W. 11th Street, NY NY 10014 (212) 242-9185