What makes a restaurant one of the top 10 in the world? At first glance, this seems like a rather simple question, but when you start to think about it you realize that its certainly one of those answers that might not translate so well from words to actual execution (good service, good wine, phenomenal food...duh?). It's not every day that I dine in what has been ranked in the top ten of all restaurants in the world (believe me why I don't is something I wonder at quite frequently). I'm not going to begin to guess how a restaurant makes said list or what poor fool has the job of deciding, but I will tell you why I believe Per Se is one of the best places I have ever had the pleasure of dining.
Per Se definitely strives to achieve a "we know you" atmosphere while still somehow portraying a very special occasion vibe. The results are an overwhelming success with, for Susan and myself, one tiny hiccup in the road to culinary heaven/top ten-dom (I'll get to that shortly).
When you call to make a reservation at Per Se, it feels more like an interview than anything. Seriously, they asked me more questions then even my mom does on our typical phone call. When would you like to dine with us, what time, any food allergies/dislikes, have you dined with us before, any special occasions that you're celebrating, yes...lovely whats the birthday girls name, etc? As soon as we entered (might be a good time to note that you enter through the conspicuous sliding glass doors on either side, rather than the GIANT-size blue door that would seem significantly more obvious), everyone wished Susan a happy birthday and staff continued to do so as we were led to our table.
The dining room is gorgeous...it overlooks Columbus Circle with breath-taking views of the park. In the center of the large windows, there's a mesmerizing stone fireplace that makes the room much more homey then it would otherwise feel. Our waiter brought us the wine list and asked if we had any questions. Not having a huge interest in attempting to select a wine for a 9-course meal, I asked if they offered a drink pairing. Here's where things were awkward. He said yes and I replied wonderful how much is that per person (an extremely logical question at a place with multiple bottles over $1,000). With the largest smirk I've ever seen on the face of a waiter in any place I've ever eaten, he replied "its not like that" without any further elaboration. Lacking more eloquent words I slowly exhaled an "ooookkkkaaaaaayyyy. I'll just look at the list then", and as our smirky-jerky waiter walked away, I was left speechless with a rather overwhelming wine list in my hand. Thank goodness for our much kinder sommelier that lead us in the direction of a beautiful bottle of California Cabernet, a 2005 Shelter vineyards "the butcher". Before we moved on to this delicious, spicy cab, we each had a glass of Schramsberg Blanc de Blanc. I have to say its a shame for that one awkward little blip with the waiter, because the rest of the service was impeccable. For example, the first few rounds were better paired with the champagne, so our sommelier filled up our flutes with more bubly rather than pouring us some of our red.
Our menus arrived and when I opened mine I had to stifle a laugh. On the top, right under Per Se it read "Happy Birthday Susan". When I pointed this out to Susan, she decided we had to have these menus. No sooner had Susan proclaimed "these will be ours", then our waiter approached to inform us that a copy of the menu and information on the bottle we had selected would be waiting with our coats at the end of the evening (no doubt he feared a scene of us low-brow patrons pulling apart our menus and rolling them to fit in our purses that sat on their own little stools by our sides). At that point, we began searching for the likely location of the microphone that we were now both certain was lying in wait on our table (we unanimously decided it was in the flowers).
With a sip of champagne, I relaxed and waited for our food journey to begin. Our first bite from the kitchen was a warm, mini-brioche stuffed with Gruyere. A tiny decadent bite that I couldn't help but love (mini-sized bread is too adorable looking not to love). The cheese oozed into your mouth in a flavor slightly reminiscent of brie in puff pastry but with a smoother, richer taste. Our next taste was a salmon cornet...salmon tartare with red onion creme fraiche in a black sesame seed tuile. These arrived in what looked like miniature ice cream cone holders with napkins perfectly folded around them. Thinking about the hours that someone must spend folding these napkins perfectly is a bit mind-numbing. Especially, when we dove right in without a second thought. Oh, but I'm glad we did. A perfect little crispy cone flecked with black sesame seeds filled with tart creme fraiche and topped with fresh salmon...truly phenomenal. Its tastes like this that make you want to keep a tub of creme fraiche in your fridge, mix in some red onion, and spoon it on everything.
After these bites, the waiter brought over rolls and two dishes of butter, one sweet and the other salted in-house with fleur de sel. Then came one of my favorite dishes of the evening. Two little bowls with lids were brought over to the table and uncapped with great fanfare and two mother of pearl caviar spoons magically appeared on our place setting. Viola...The "Oysters and Pearls" - a sabayon of pearl tapioca with island creek oysters and white sturgeon caviar. First of all, oysters with "pea
rls"...very clever Keller. This dish was amazing...the sauce was a more complex take on something close to a Bearnaise with a bit less bite and a lot more richness with soft little bites of pearl tapioca and wonderfully briny beads of caviar...oh right and some oysters. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I spooned up every last bit of sauce and caviar.
The next plate, slow-roasted butternut squash with goat cheese, pumpkin seeds, and pomegranate gelee, was tasty but I have certainly had more memorable butternut squash dishes. The plate had a long wedge of butternut squash with pomegranate gelees glued to it with "catskill" mousse that tasted to me like goat cheese. Like I said, very flavorful but not a "wow".
Well the table mic must have heard my pleas for a "wow", because the next dish was undoubtedly one of my top three dishes of the night. Sauteed fillet of atlantic halibut with mushrooms a la grecque and heirloom carrot and celery salad. The halibut was beautifully crisped on one side and tender as could be. The mushrooms a la grecque, carrots, celery, and delicate sauce left me speechless (believe me...an astonishing feat). This led Susan to exclaim that she needs to start ordering more fish when she goes out to eat and me to say I need to know how to make this at home.
But this feeling was fleeting as the next dish appeared...Butter poached lobster with beets, radishes, pecan crumble and a black muscat reduction. As the plate was placed in front of me, I couldn't help but inhale the wonderful buttery aroma. On top of the tail, there was a light sprinkling of breadcrumbs and around the plate there was a splash of the muscat reduction sauce. I'm most certainly going to attempt chef keller's butter-poaching method for cooking lobster and I really loved the crunchy crumbs on top of the lobster. Each bite of lobster melted in my mouth and the love between the slightly sweet muscat reduction sauce and the buttery lobster was indisputable. Susan was even sadder then I was, when we had finished this dish. Courses like this are why I eat at restaurants like Per Se.
The next dish was poularde (a hen raised in a particular way so as to result in a fatter bird) with a sunchoke relish, cocktail grapefruit, a confit of chicken leg in a wilted spinach leaf, and a sauce perigourdine (a truffle based sauce typically with veal stock). The sauce was extraordinary but there was not enough of it. The chicken was cooked perfectly but I wanted more flavor and more of that sauce. But, I think the problem was truly the grapefruit and sunchoke relish, which didn't work for either Susan or I. The best part of the plate was the chicken leg confit that was rich and paired nicely with the spinach leaf.
Oh, I wish I liked lamb. As you all know, I keep trying it in hopes that maybe this time I'll like it. But every time I do, it still tastes like lamb and well that just doesn't work for me. As you might have already guessed, our next dish was lamb. Lamb with creamy cheese polenta, caramelized artichoke, sweet peppers and a red pepper glaze with lamb jus (right...just what I needed enhanced lamb flavor!). The texture of the lamb was perfect and the polenta was so creamy and wonderful (I wish there was a lot more of it on the plate). The polenta did reduce the gaminess of the lamb but still not enough for my weak lamb palate.
Next, we moved on to the cheese interlude before we headed for the sweet dishes. This was no ordinary cheese plate. It was a creamy ricotta with fennel bulb, eggplant confit and meyer lemon with chickpea puree and a thin melba on top. I thought the ricotta had a nice flavor and texture, but I didn't like the confit and the meyer lemon. It was all a bit too much contrasting flavors and textures for me.
And now for the sweets. The first sweet course was popcorn and peanuts - a popcorn sherbet with salt and peppered peanuts and hibiscus pate de fruit. I really liked the sherbet because it managed to capture that magical, buttery movie theatre popcorn flavor. The peanuts and pate de fruit tasted like a spoonful of delicious PB&J. An excellent segue into the sweet side of life.
For dessert, there were two options. So, Sue had the Mont Blanc and I had the Pear and Caramel. Sue's was a chestnut genoise with swiss meringue, chocolate juniper cream, rum parfait and chocolate ice cream. Mine was a vanilla poached pear with caramel mousse and pear jelly with a brown butter glaze. These were both very pretty, but I'm sad to say that neither of these two desserts bowled me over flavor-wise. BUT, I'm very happy to say that they also brought out one of their signature desserts with a candle in it for Sue's birthday. The plate arrived with a sugar crusted donut with a donut hole on top and a cup of cappuccino mousse. We both quickly ignored our own desserts in favor of this one. The cappuccino mousse tasted like the best coffee I've ever had in chilled, creamy form, and I'll never be anything but thrilled with a hot sugar crusted donut in front of me...warm + sugary + doughy yet airy = heaven.
Just when we thought we were done, the "
mignardises" arrived (this may very well become one of my favorite new words...if I can only figure out how to say it). The first was a tray brought by our waiter of 20 or so beautiful truffles from which to select. Sue and I didn't know what the appropriate number to select was so we each choose two. Sue had the brown betty and the balsamic, and I had the maple pecan and pear (figured I'd stick to the pear trend). The balsamic was excellent and among the most unusual, unexpectedly good chocolates I've ever consumed. The maple pecan was also extremely good. After we finished these, a little white dish of chocolates, a little dish of the tiniest individually wrapped sugar drops, and a three-tiered diabetic tower of terror that was rolled open when placed on the table were laid in front of us. If someone would have taken a picture of Susan and I at that moment, the expressions on our faces would have certainly read kids in a candy shop. I quickly determined my strategy would be to climb the tower of terror, then jump into the bowl of crispy chocolate bites, and finish my sugar high with a sugar drop. Climbing up the tower began with 3 different types of truffles in the first tier. The first was a milk chocolate, the second a dark chocolate, and the best for last - white chocolate coconut. As I moved up the tower, I made a mental note to go back for another coconut one (honestly, I eat a lot of coconut flavored candy and this may be the best I've ever had). The next tier was nougatine, which was good but since its not my favorite sweet I moved on to the third tier after just one. The final tier was creme caramels that were so rich that they melted in your mouth without sticking to your teeth. The mini chocolates that I then dove into were good, but I had to go back for another coconut bite. The mini sugar candies were like life-savers and were more adorable in how tiny they were then anything. They tasted excellent but were so little that the flavor was fleeting.
Our parting food gift was this multi-layer cookie cake. The morning after I eat at a restaurant like this I love nothing more than to unwrap the treat they send home with you. The layers were cakey and joined by a thin marzipan. So delicious with my morning coffee and dreams of hitting all the top ten.
Save this one for a special occasion...you deserve a top ten
Our last dish of the entire semester was scallops in a butter thyme sauce. We rinsed the scallops and patted them dry. Then we seasoned them with salt and pepper. We got a saute pan smoking hot and then added some oil and the scallops. We didn't move the scallops around, but rather let them sit there and caramelize and repeated on the flip side. Once these were browned, we added an aggressive bit of butter, lemon juice, a thyme branch, and diced shallots. We continuously basted the scallops with this until they were cooked. I loved this and thought it was very delicious. It would seem that on Christmas eve eve I had my own little feast of the (shell)fish!
Bet you think I forgot about the lobster eggs, huh? No such luck. Chef took the forest green eggs and mixed them in with room temperature butter to make a compound butter. When he was plating his scallops, he put some of this butter on the heat and like magic it turned this vibrant red color as it cooked. This green to red thing was a bit too strange for me so I skipped that on my scallops, which were heavenly just on their own.
