Photo by Stephanie Breijo
Every meal at Perly’s is huge fun in every way. Playing on larger-than-life and tongue-in-cheek themes, it’s a Jewish-ish delicatessen that opened two years ago in a space that housed the 50-plus-year-old restaurant of the same name.
A Snyderman sub comes laden with roast beef and overwhelmed by horseradish sauce and pickled peppers. Garlic-and-dill-spiced fries, one of the nine side-dish options, could be a meal unto themselves, hot, crispy and piled so high they use the under-toasted sub roll like a crutch.
Less scrambled and more omelet, the Breakfast Bagel — so big it could be split between two people — is filled with scrambled eggs, onions, provolone and your choice of meat or fish. Good bagels are tough to locate in Richmond, but Perly’s bagels are a dream, brought straight from New York for those who crave the boiled round.
Latkes come thin and crispy, smothered in applesauce and atop sour cream studded with chives. Pierogies follow a traditional-ish route as well, combining duck with potato in stew-like fashion. The Jewbano may read jokester, but the sandwich isn’t: beef tongue, beef brisket, havarti, pickles and cherry peppers layered artfully. Fun is the Schnorrer, a combine-it-all breakfast with eggs, meat, latkes and coffee. For dinner, try a little of column A and a little of column B with rye-fried rainbow trout accompanied by matzoh polenta and duck ham.
The sandwich pickle is the only letdown at Perly’s. It isn’t crunchy or even that tangy, an afterthought in a place that seemingly has thought of everything, from stylized walls to laminated place mats; an easy fix for a restaurant with the tagline “It’s Yiddish for Delicious.”
3 out of 4 forks
Perly’s Restaurant & Delicatessen
111 E. Grace St.
912-1560
Hours: Monday to Saturday: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Prices: $2-$18, handicapped accessible
