Perigee Restaurant

South Lee, MA
http://perigee-restaurant.com/

Two friends came with me to try Perigee, which replaced Sweet Basil about six months ago in a tavern-like building near two inns on the South Lee/Stockbridge line. The first floor is particularly cozy with beamed ceilings, a six-seater bar, and a handful of tables. Unfortunately, the upstairs is in need of a re-do, with carpeting that looks to be of 70's "colonial dining" era and tables and chairs to match.

Much to my surprise, the weekend before memorial day, we arrived a little before six to find there were no tables and the bar was our only option. Given that we were enticed by the menu, particularly with a $34 prix fixe "farmed and foraged" menu, we opted to stay at the bar. This decision was also influenced by the persuasive skills of the owner and bartender - encouragement that flirted with the obnoxious but just about steered clear.

Two of us had the prix fixe and it can be summaried as follows: Course one: small asparagus salad with buttermilk dressing and orange garnish - lovely. Nice balance of flavors and a dressing so tasty I asked for more bread to sop it up. Course two: "foraged" soup - the description was lovely - potatoes, mushrooms, etc with a flavoring of chorizo. It was bland, under-seasoned and over-processed so the consistency was baby-food like. I counted three tiny tidbits of chorizo. Course three: Strip steak with a brandy peppercorn sauce, mashed potatoes, ramps. The strip steak was enormous, particularly for one included in a four-course prix fixe. Impossible to eat the whole thing. The steak was done adequately although the color varied throughout - I ordered medium rare and parts were definitely on the medium to medium-well spectrum. However, the meat itself was so tender it could be cut without a steak knife. The pepper was much to much, however, and both of us are lovers of peppered steak. It overwhelmed the meat. The potatoes were fine and the ramps freaked me out in their little crunchy pinwheels - not the fault of the chef, however. Just not my thing. Course four: OK - this was the real Waterloo of the prix fixe. It sounded quite delightful - a mixture of fig and date in a dessert wine sauce with a touch of chocolate. I imagined a small, finely diced fig and date tart-like dessert. Instead it was a large dessert plate filled with barely sliced large pieces of fig and tart, with a sickly sweet sauce. I could barely eat two bites. The bar tender told us she had complaints about it earlier in the evening - just completely misguided.

The third in our party had a caesar salad that she reported was excellent, and a vegetarian tortellini in a cream sauce that she said was very tasty but too heavy.

We drank a bottle of local Cabernet from Furnace Brook Orchards after the bartended kindly let us sample (generously) from that and another wine. Service was friendly and efficient and the house made breads were terrific. However, even though we were at the bar, it still took a little over two hours to get in and out - the kitchen is not so swift.

All in all, we deemed Perigee to be ambitious but not quite able to live up to their menu just yet. However, they are adding outside tables and that just might make it tempting enough for us to return.