superlative.

per se

“i would choose coming here over sex any day.”

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reasons were myriad as to why i considered per se the unattainable ideal: astronomically expensive, notoriously difficult reservation system, consistently ranked number one in food and service and most recently declared the “best restaurant in the americas” by s.pellegrino’s world’s 50 best restaurants list.   there’s also the fact that it’s the east coast twin of napa valley’s french laundry, whose reputation is as, if not more superlative.  for food geeks, these are the holiest of holies.

to think, then, that a little graduation money and some luck on opentable.com would dash what i considered an unfordable gap between me and per se.  i guess it was silly for me to have put so much distance between us.  it is, after all, just a restaurant (…), and given the ridiculousness of my eating habits as of late, it was only inevitable.  a cousin of mine has been wanting to go for longer than i have so i always knew i would have someone to go with.  the ease with which everything fell into place confirmed that it was indeed fated, and so on may 19th, at 9:30 pm, i had dinner at per se.

it started with “a tonic and gin per se“, a $20 cocktail containing junipero gin, house-made tonic water w/ raw quinine powder, lime and simple syrup.   some searching around found me at an interview with per se mixologist brian van flandern, whose reasoning for making his own tonic water comes down to the fact that commercial tonics just aren’t good enough.  raw quinine powder apparently gives a tonic water a tighter effervescence and a natural sweetness that allows for the flavor of the alchohol and supplements to sing on their own.  one would think then that they’d distill their own gin, grow their own limes, but why bother when the gin is this smooth, nearly undetectable save for floral notes and the warming sensation of imbibed liquor.  lime tastes as it should but in surprisingly large proportion, making it at first taste seem like a glorified limeade.  but it’s a complex drink, its nuances revealed in subsequent sips, and there’s certainly a lot of it to enjoy–it comes in a large glass better suited for a pint of guinness.

after waiting a half-hour for my cousin, fearing that we’d lose our table and nursing the shit out of my immaculate cocktail, she arrived in a huff and we were led to our table.  as i got up from the waiting area with drink in hand, one of the waitstaff warmly informed me that they would bring it to the table and that i should leave it there.  god forbid a guest do any work while at per se.  figuring that there isn’t a better place to be ruffied, i oblige.

describing the dining room isn’t a task i’m willing to undertake at the moment.  all that needs to be known is that it’s flawless, a two-tiered palace of a room with a view of columbus circle and central park from the perfect level of elevation that contributes to the sense that one has achieved nirvana.  i believe the entryway to heaven is not, as popularly assumed, marked by pearly gates but rather the blue door that adorns the facade of per se.  (a note must be made of the lampshades, subtly marked with laundry tag symbols as if hieroglyphics, an endearing nod to the french laundry.)

before elation and the giddy euphoria of being at a thomas keller restaurant could fully take hold, we were greeted by our waiter whose sardonic humor and down-to-earth warmth and charisma brought about a much needed reality check: i am still in new york, i am here to have dinner.  the waitstaff at per se are in fact the greatest service providers in new york but they also avoid putting on airs.  despite the lavishness of it all, there isn’t an ounce of pretension in the place.  no arbitrary high-brow highjinks, no snobbery; per se is what it is, and with the harmonious reconciliation of idealized projection and direct experience, what was expected to be and would become the greatest meal of my life began.

the meal:

(as with the name of the aforementioned cocktail, the per se menu is rampant with word play.  i’m including the dishes verbatim from the menu–they gave me a copy in a folder to take home)

amuse bouches (two thomas keller classics)
1. gruyere gougere - a crisp, light, buttery choux pastry filled with the silkiest melted gruyere.
2. salmon cornet w/ red onion creme fraiche and chive – a play on an ice cream cone.  the cone itself is made of a black sesame tuile, piped with the unspeakably intense and delicious red onion creme fraiche and topped with a “scoop” of fresh salmon, a lone “sprinkle” of chive.  ineffable in its expert combination of flavors and textural contrast.

oysters and pearls – “sabayon” of pearl tapioca with island creek oysters and sterling white sturgeon caviar
another thomas keller classic.  words fail me here.  this dish absolutely floored me and i’m not about to try to define what it is that gives this dish that quality. i will say that this was my first experience with sturgeon caviar and i now understand what the fuss is about.  our waiter put it best: “it’s stupid good.”

at this point in the meal, two different types of butter were brought out: one from california seasoned with fleur de sel and an unsalted sweet cream butter.  (i don’t remember where the second was from)  along with the two butters came a roll that i’m convinced wasn’t actually bread but a cloud, so soft and airy.  we were also offered an assortment of breads: french baguette, potato sourdough (my favorite of the bunch), alsacean rye (didn’t try this one, for some reason), and a pretzel roll.

sauteed hudson valley moulard duck foie gras w/ “gateua au pruneaux d’agen” (prune cake), purple top turnips, celery branch and duck jus
$30 supplement.  there was no way i was going to have dinner at per se and not have the foie gras, even if it meant adding to the ransom it already cost.  sauteed to perfection with a nice caramelized skin encasing the fatty, silky perfection that is foie gras.  turnips and celery branch make for lovely supplement, but the prune cake was a little overpowering when eaten with everything else.  it was best enjoyed separately as a sweet element to counter the savoriness of the rest of the dish.  i got to try a bite of the alternative course, the clean and refreshing asparagus salad with heirloom beets, confiture of meiwa kumquats, frisee lettuce and black winter truffle emulsion.  earthy deliciousness.

pan roasted fillet of atlantic halibut w/ globe artichokes, confit of meyer lemon, and “piperade” with nicoise olive oil
an overcooked piece of fish at per se is unfathomable and yet there it was, sitting in front of me.  easily my least favorite dish of the night and the only real misstep.  it doesn’t help that i find halibut to be boring and almost unpalatable in its blandness.  to be fair, somehow only half of my fish was dry and stringy–the other half had the moist flakiness of a perfectly cooked fish and there was a nice crust on the top for texture, but it was still flavorless.  the “piperade”, a confit of what tasted like peppers and maybe tomato, was fantastic, its savory robustness countered by the acidic bitterness of the meyer lemon.  the dish had an unidentified black streak on the bottom of the plate that held everything together, though on its own wasn’t exactly pleasant.

butter poached nova scotia lobster w/ compressed belgian endive, thompson grapes, wood sorrel and verjus emulsion
an unexpected texture in the lobster made for a very unique experience, and while it wasn’t as euphoric as the langoustine i had at le bernardin, it was a stellar preparation.  borderline chewy, there was a resistence in the lobster that allowed for a prolonged appreciation of its succulence and the awesome flavor of having been poached in butter.  the verjus emulsion enhances the richness of the whole thing exponentially, itself tasting like it was made with a healthy dose of butter.  endive and grape provide a much needed acidic counterpoint while the bitter wood sorrel grounds the dish from being overwhelmingly decadent.

herb roasted thomas farms’ squab w/ “boudin de cuisse”, “pommes maxim’s”, creamed nettles, butter poached morel mushrooms and “sauce perigourdine”
if i remember correctly, the “boudin de cuisse” was a very moist, very delicious sausage made of squab thigh(?) sitting on top of the creamed nettles.  “pommes maxim’s” was a disc of thinly sliced, layered potatoes fried to a crisp.  “sauce perigourdine” is made from madeira (a portegeuse red wine) and truffles.  the squab was sigh-inducing, the kind of utterance that can only be the result of pure satisfaction, dwarfed in comparison to the absolute silence forced by the butter poahced morels.  upon sticking a fork in one, opaque and creamy butter came oozing out of every little pore.  it was by far the best mushroom i’ve ever consumed.  one of my favorite dishes from the night.

snake river farm’s “calotte de boeuf grillee” w/ horseradish croquette, pickled sweet onions, watercress leaves, and north star cherry jus (also had radishes)
upon first bite, i uttered–very maliciously according to my cousin–the words, “fuck peter luger.”  this is the single best piece of beef i’ve ever put in my mouth.  the “calotte” of the dish’s name refers to the cut, the cap of a ribeye which is heavily marbled and fall-apart tender, expertly grilled.  rarely is beef this elegant and subtle, its depth of flavor almost making the tenderness regrettable–i wouldn’t have minded chewing it all night.  the horseradish croquette was as great as it sounds, the briney sweetness of the pickled onions–plated as a vegetable-as-pasta component better than any where else that i’ve seen it done–and the lovely cherry jus rounding out the gamut of flavor in this dish.

cheese course:
piave vecchio w/ “pain de campagne” melba, spring pole beans, ramps, garlic scapes, pickled mustard seeds and aged sherry vinaigrette
served with two cheese breads, one i can’t remember (but it was great), the other i recall being told was a lemon poppyseed bread.  the cheese itself was firm and reminiscent of a sharp parmigiano reggiano.  the “broth” of sherry vinaigrette along with all the other elements made for a very lovely cheese course.  it was also surprisingly refreshing.

dessert

strawberry sorbet w/ pistachio “panna cotta”, rice wafer, and pistachio “pain de genes”
very refreshing; a very good palate cleanser.

coffee and doughnuts (cappuccino semifreddo with cinammon sugar donuts)
edges out the chocolate egg at le bernardin as the best dessert i’ve tasted.  yet another french laundry classic, it completely redefines the familiar, at once evoking memories while providing a new experience.  the presentation of the semifreddo is adorable, served in a cappuccino cup with a dollop of foam and cinammon.  the perfect dessert.

“mud pie” – dark chocolate mud cake, liquid caramel, chocolate “cremuex”, and caramel parfait with sassafras ice cream
unfortunately not nearly as successful as the dessert that preceeded, this is more interesting than delicious as it features some very unconventional, perplexing flavors, starting with the sassafras ice cream.  the caramel elements didn’t taste like any caramel i was familiar with and the chocolate was overpowering, muddling the whole thing.  it’s a nice dessert but one in which ambition is prioritized over taste.

“mignardises”
a bevy of treats, starting with a selection of nine truffles–we asked for all of them, each–ranging from cherry vanilla and creme fraiche to coffee cardamom and bacon chocolate (i was most excited and subsequently disappointed by this one).  they were all very high quality, some tasty and others “interesting.”  there was also a to-die-for peanut cherry nougat, similarly fantastic butterscotch, a few more truffles of the traditional sort (tempered shell encasing ganache), and some small hard candies.  if ever one wanted to know what it would be like to be inundated by sweets, per se is more than happy to oblige.  to cap things off, they brought us a packages of some sort of confection the name of which escapes me at the moment–i ate them as i started this entry.  they were fantastic.

nearly four hours had gone by.  the restaurant was empty when we received the check, and at that point i was too deliriously full and sated to the point of hyperbole to be phased by the ungodly amount of money this one meal set me back.  i can say with full confidence though that i would gladly do it again, that for an experience like this, the price is but a number.  payment at per se is an act of patronage in the oldest sense of the word.  what you’ve paid for, or supported rather, is the work of artists and craftsman of the highest order.  to be in the presence of such skill, dedication, and passion, and to enjoy the fruits of their labor is truly moving.

who wants to go?

per se
10 columbus circle
4th floor
new york, ny 10019