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Per Se (restaurant)
Encyclopedia
Columbus Circle
Columbus Circle, named for Christopher Columbus, is a major landmark and point of attraction in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway, Central Park South , and Central Park West, at the southwest corner of Central Park. It is the point from...
in New York City, on the fourth floor of the Time Warner Center
Time Warner Center
The Time Warner Center is a mixed-use skyscraper developed by AREA Property Partners and The Related Companies in New York City. Its design, by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, consists of two 750 ft towers bridged by a multi-story atrium containing upscale retail shops...
. It has been called the best restaurant in New York City by the New York Times. The chef is Eli Kaimeh.
Development
The owner is Thomas KellerThomas Keller
Thomas Keller is an American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook writer. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Foundation, notably the Best California Chef in 1996, and the Best Chef in America in 1997...
who is also involved in the restaurants French Laundry
French Laundry
The French Laundry is a French restaurant located in Yountville, California, in the Napa Valley. The chef and owner of the French Laundry is Thomas Keller....
and Ad Hoc
Ad Hoc (restaurant)
Ad Hoc is a family-style comfort food restaurant in Yountville, California. Owned by Thomas Keller in the fall of 2006, Ad Hoc was meant to serve as a temporary cafe until Spring.-Early years:Thomas Keller opened Ad Hoc in 2005 to serve as a temporary cafe...
in Napa Valley, Bouchon
Bouchon
A bouchon is a type of restaurant found in Lyon, France, that serves traditional Lyonnaise cuisine, such as sausages, duck pâté or roast pork. Compared to other forms of French cooking such as nouvelle cuisine, the dishes are quite fatty and heavily oriented around meat...
in Napa Valley and Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, and Bouchon Bakery, which is also located in the Time Warner Center in New York. Per Se opened in February 2004.
Keller chose restaurant/hotel designer Adam Tihany
Adam Tihany
Adam D. Tihany is an American interior designer and interior architect. He was named one of the greatest American interior architects by The New York Times in 2001 .-Career:...
to draw together subtle references to The French Laundry and elements from both his and Keller's pasts, for example, the decorative blue door to the right of the main entrance is modeled after the blue door at The French Laundry.
The restaurant features a salon, bar, and wine cellar
Wine cellar
A wine cellar is a storage room for wine in bottles or barrels, or more rarely in carboys, amphorae or plastic containers. In an active wine cellar, important factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a climate control system. In contrast, passive wine cellars are not...
. Like Keller's previous project, The French Laundry, Per Se features two daily prix fixe menus, one of which is vegetarian.
As of February 2010, it is one of only seven restaurants in the United States to be awarded three stars in the Michelin Guide
Michelin Guide
The Michelin Guide is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars...
, along with New York restaurants Daniel, Le Bernardin
Le Bernardin
Le Bernardin is a Michelin Guide three star, Zagat-rated restaurant in New York City. It was started in 1972 in Paris by Gilbert and Maguy le Coze and moved to New York in 1986....
, Jean-Georges
Jean-Georges
Jean Georges is a restaurant at 1 Central Park West on the Lobby Level of the Trump International Hotel and Tower, Manhattan, named after its owner Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Jean Georges remains one of the few restaurants in the city awarded four stars by The New York Times...
, Masa
Masa (restaurant)
is a Japanese and sushi restaurant in New York City's Time Warner Center. The restaurant was opened by Chef Masa Takayama in 2004 and is considered one of the most expensive restaurants in the world. Located next door to the restaurant is Bar Masa, a less expensive and more accessible restaurant...
, Chef Keller's California restaurant The French Laundry, Alinea
Alinea (restaurant)
Alinea is a restaurant in Chicago that opened on May 4, 2005. Its head chef and owner, Grant Achatz, is known for his preparations and deconstructions of classic flavors....
in Chicago, and Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
.
The restaurant currently has four stars, the highest rating, from the New York Times (awarded in 2004 by Frank Bruni and again in 2011 by Sam Sifton), and it was listed as one of the 2011 Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S. by Gayot. It was named as the 9th- best restaurant in the world by Restaurant Magazine in 2007. Restaurant
Restaurant (magazine)
Restaurant is a British magazine aimed at chefs, restaurant proprietors and other catering professionals that concentrates on the fine dining end of the industry. It produces an annual list of what it considers to be the best 50 restaurants, based on the votes of 600 "chefs, restaurateurs, critics...
ranked Per Se number 10 in the world in 2011.
Per Se's former head sommelier
Sommelier
A sommelier , or wine steward, is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional, commonly working in fine restaurants, who specializes in all aspects of wine service as well as wine and food matching...
, James Hayes is currently the associate beverage director for the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group.
Phoebe Damrosch's Service Included, a non-fiction account of her employment as a waiter at Per Se, was published by William Morrow and Company
William Morrow and Company
William Morrow and Company is an American publishing company founded by William Morrow in 1926. The company was acquired by Scott Foresman in 1967, and sold to Hearst Corporation in 1981. It was sold along to the News Corporation in 1999...
in September 2007.
In 2010 Jonathan Benno, who had been chef de cuisine since the restaurant opened in 2004, left to be executive chef of a Patina Restaurant Group restaurant at Lincoln Center called Lincoln.
Meals
On a typical night, each diner is given the choice of one of two prix-fixe menus: a nine-course vegetable tasting menuTasting menu
Restaurant tasting menus offer small portions of several dishes as a single meal. Some restaurants and chefs specialize in tasting menus, while in other cases, it is a special or a menu option. Tasting menus may be offered to provide a sample of a type of cuisine, or house specialties, or to take...
or a nine-course chef's tasting menu; each costs $295, which includes non-alcoholic beverages and service. Menus frequently include up-charges for luxury ingredients such as foie gras
Foie gras
Foie gras ; French for "fat liver") is a food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened. This fattening is typically achieved through gavage corn, according to French law, though outside of France it is occasionally produced using natural feeding...
and truffles. The price has steadily increased since the restaurant's opening when a tasting menu was $150 without tax and a service charge.
The private room can accommodate approximately 10 people, while the west room can accommodate 62 – the same number of seats as the French Laundry.
External links
- Official site
- Slideshow nytimes.com