Peeping at Peep

Peep is a small, narrow Thai restaurant in SoHo. RRR, Marcello and I met up there on Friday night for a few drinks and some dinner.

We started our evening off with a few appetizers: crispy ginger calamari, grilled teriyaki duck and Emperor steamed dumplings.

The calamari was passable, however, the avocado, green onion and tomato dipping sauce with a nice bit of heat to it was truly the star of this app. I did find myself intrigued by the wine glass and lettuce presentation but maybe it was just the potent cocktails getting the best of me.

Marcello's duck was quite tasty with just the right amount of crispiness to the duck and a gooey sweetness to the teriyaki sauce.

The steamed dumplings with chicken and shrimp that I chose were pretty good but in a town full of dumplings; I've had better. Of course that didn't stop me from sopping up all the garlicky soy dipping sauce.

Marcello's main dish was the steamed striped bass and seafood noodle and RRR chose the garlic dish with beef. I found RRR's dish quite tasty and kept leaning over her to get a forkful of the tender spicy beef and used some of the sticky rice to sop up the sauce.

My main was the ginger-teriyaki glazed red snapper. The presentation was certainly interesting; basically the fish was hulled out and the fillets of snapper were placed on top. Despite a crunchy fish tail waving at me I found this dish quite enjoyable.

The sticky-sweet teriyaki sauce provided a nice balance to the fish and the crunchy bok choy was cooked just right. Peep seemed to skimp a bit on the mushrooms (I only found four small bits of mushroom) but the protein portions were so generous I decided to give them a pass.

Peep's claim to fame however, lies in the restrooms. The one-way mirrored bathrooms provided plenty of conversation material for our table and I'm sure many others.

Restroom curiousity might be what gets people to check out Peep but the loungey downtown vibe and unpretentious service would probably be what gets them to come back. Add decent food at gentle prices along with generous cocktails and you have a good starting point for an evening out on the town.