Per Se, New York City

A Taste of Napa Valley

Tell：+1 212 823 9335

Adress：10 Columbus Circle Time Warner Center New York, NY 10023

Website：http://www.perseny.com

 

Having triumphed in California, Thomas Keller returned to New York with this elegant dining room overlooking Central Park in the Time-Warner Center. Per Se upholds the standards set by The French Laundry, and — despite the defection of longtime chef Jonathan Benno to open his own place (Lincoln) — it remains one of the outstanding dining experiences in the city.

 

The main dining room, February 2008

Per Se is a restaurant owned by chef Thomas Keller located at Columbus Circle in New York City, on the fourth floor of the Time Warner Center. 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 Keller who is also involved in the restaurants French Laundry and Ad Hoc in Napa Valley, Bouchon in Napa Valley, Las Vegas, Nevada and Los Angeles, and Bouchon Bakery in Napa Valley, and the Time Warner Center and Rockefeller Center in New York. Per Se opened in February 2004.

 

Keller chose restaurant/hotel designer Adam Tihany 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. 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, along with New York restaurants Daniel, Le Bernardin, Jean-Georges, Masa, Chef Keller's California restaurant The French Laundry, Alinea in Chicago, and The Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena. 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 ranked Per Se number 10 in the world in 2011.

 

Per Se's former head sommelier, 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 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 menu 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 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