The flight to New York was uneventful. We snacked lightly looking forward to our huge dinner at Per Se. It was raining when we landed and the taxi ride seemed magical as we watched the skyline get closer and closer.
We were dropped at the SoHo Grand and checked in. The new cruelty has a tight hold on this place. The lobby was so dimly lit that I couldn't see across the room. It had an industrial feel to it and was smartly decorated with creative flair. But no one even offered to show us to our room or help with our baggage. We were on our own and it certainly wouldn't have taken any one's help to find your way around the minuscule room... but it did have a view over the corner into TirBeCa with all it's quaint water towers.
We spread out, unpacked and put on some music, got dressed and were ready to go to dinner. The taxi ride was blustery and the city lights were blurred by more rain. We were dropped in front of a large elegant corner mall overlooking a corner of Central Park. Per Se has a decidedly sophisticated city-sleek air about it. It's in stark contrast to the charming warmth of the French Laundry, Keller's other flagship restaurant. But the entrance into Per Se gives a nod to the garden courtyard on the property of French Laundry in Yountville, CA with a few wooden benches, an archway entrance and flower beds which I'm sure are used as a waiting area on busy nights. That night however, there were no crowds. We seemed to be among the last to arrive for the night, our reservation being for 10:30pm.
I'm not going to go over each dish here, I just won't . I can't remember it all and there were LOTS of courses. I believe we opted to add in the fois gras to our menu. We had wines paired with each course. Everything was wonderful. I spotted a crosne on at least one dish (article to follow). The only dish I had a problem with was the lobster. I always have problems with the lobster. I couldn't eat the lobster at French Laundry and I couldn't eat the lobster at Per Se. They were just too tough. Poached in butter, but as far as I'm concerned, too tough to eat. Yuck. But the rest, phenomenal. The service? Fantabulous. Absolutely attentive but only as chatty as you'd want them to be. They could tell we were excited and happy to be there and they were too!
We rolled out of there around 1:30am. Taxi'd back to the room to pass out. Day 1, done.
Showing posts with label Per Se. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Per Se. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
The Tale of the New York Trip (part 1)
We had never vacationed in New York City together. We had a layover once on a long flight and managed to squeeze in dinner at Gramercy Tavern and live Jazz at some club, but that was the extent of my New York experience.
For my big Four-Oh, we decided to plan a long weekend in the late fall. But where to eat? So many choices, so few vacation days.
Daniel
Per Se
Mesa Grill
Les Halles
wd~50
Balthazar
The list kept growing. We had to weed through them all and plan accordingly. We called Per Se 3 months to the day before the Friday of our stay. By the time I got through on the phone, only lunch reservations were available. Now that may not seem like such a bad thing. But we had been to French Laundry only once and it was for lunch. I really wanted the dinner experience. I asked the nice reservationista if there happened to be anything available late the night before (the night we were flying in). Yes, she said that someone had called in and cancelled a 10pm reservation and that it was available. I snagged it. Our flight was scheduled to arrive around 6pm. Ten pm eastern time is seven pm pacific time, which was just perfect.
As the trip got closer we booked other dinners, wd~50 (Wylie Dufresne, uber-tech-chef); Daneil (Daniel Boulud, class act French chef) and bought tickets to the Sunday matinee of Spamalot.
Well travelled friends recommended the SoHo Grand hotel. We booked a corner room. Two weeks later I saw that the Oprah show's designer guy picked it as his favorite place to stay in NY. We were set.
Two weeks out we found out that the well traveled wife would be in NY during our stay. We added one to our reservation at wd~50 for Friday night.
A coworker of Bruce's who telecommutes and lives in NY wanted to arrange to meet us for dinner one night. We offered him our last night in the city, Sunday, after Spamalot. We were looking forward to meeting them in person.
For my big Four-Oh, we decided to plan a long weekend in the late fall. But where to eat? So many choices, so few vacation days.
Daniel
Per Se
Mesa Grill
Les Halles
wd~50
Balthazar
The list kept growing. We had to weed through them all and plan accordingly. We called Per Se 3 months to the day before the Friday of our stay. By the time I got through on the phone, only lunch reservations were available. Now that may not seem like such a bad thing. But we had been to French Laundry only once and it was for lunch. I really wanted the dinner experience. I asked the nice reservationista if there happened to be anything available late the night before (the night we were flying in). Yes, she said that someone had called in and cancelled a 10pm reservation and that it was available. I snagged it. Our flight was scheduled to arrive around 6pm. Ten pm eastern time is seven pm pacific time, which was just perfect.
As the trip got closer we booked other dinners, wd~50 (Wylie Dufresne, uber-tech-chef); Daneil (Daniel Boulud, class act French chef) and bought tickets to the Sunday matinee of Spamalot.
Well travelled friends recommended the SoHo Grand hotel. We booked a corner room. Two weeks later I saw that the Oprah show's designer guy picked it as his favorite place to stay in NY. We were set.
Two weeks out we found out that the well traveled wife would be in NY during our stay. We added one to our reservation at wd~50 for Friday night.
A coworker of Bruce's who telecommutes and lives in NY wanted to arrange to meet us for dinner one night. We offered him our last night in the city, Sunday, after Spamalot. We were looking forward to meeting them in person.
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