PeRiyalI.com
Title
Periyali Restaurant
Description
The story of Periyali began in 1983 after Nicola and Steve opened Il Cantinori, a Tuscan-style restaurant in the heart of Greenwich Village. Every night, friends and customers would pester the pair to name a place in New York City where a great Greek meal could be had. There were none accustomed to eating in Greece.
The partners admit that at first they had a hard time imagining a demand for an upscale Greek restaurant in Manhattan. And the timing was les than perfect, too, since they were already committed to opening Aureole, which has since become their third restaurant. But friends who owned potential restaurant space on the ground floor of a brownstone in the Flatiron District of Manhattan were anxious to rend it reasonably. Still far from convinced, Nicola and Steve agreed to look. They look the space.The idea was to create a friendly, comfortable atmosphere where home-style Greek food, most of it rarely served outside the islands and provinces of Greece, would be refined and lightened just enough to appeal to the urbane taste of New York diners.
The name periyali. which has no exact English translation, is a romantic Greek word for Seashore or coastline . It was chosen for the restaurant because so much of the food would be served there originated in the Greek islands.
