Per Se

New York, New York, United States

Per Se Entrance

Per Se is a 3 michelin star restaurant by Thomas Keller located in the Time Warner Center, NYC. Although the food was all world class, the real reason to go to Per Se is the service. They do an excellent job making you feel like a king for the duration of your visit. Their attention to detail was unmatched. The staff are friendly, and everyone seems willing to go above and beyond the call of duty to make your visit memorable.

Dress

Jackets are required for men, and nice clothing of a comparable level for women.

Cost

A 9-course tasting menu is available for $275/person (including gratuity).

The Experience (Service & Detail)

The service at Per Se is unbelievable. After arriving, we told them our name, and were immediately wished "Happy Anniversary!" by the staff. They must have had the reservation list memorized. Our menu, which was personalized, also wished us a happy anniversary.

Everyone just seemed so willing to help out or be friendly. When the staff noticed we were taking notes (for this review), they offered to give us "Per Se" paper to write on. After being seated, when the waiter noticed one of us had a purse, he offered to bring a small stool for the purse to sit on. When my spouse went to the bathroom, one of the waiters chatted with me until she returned. After chatting about this review site, we were offered a tour of the kitchen.

The kitchen was unbelievably busy. I was impressed with its cleanliness and organization. They kept track of each visitor - someone came in saying "21 is up!", informing the kitchen staff not to plate anything for table 21 until the guest returned. Even though the kitchen was a busy place, the head chef still came over to us, shook our hands, and wished us a happy anniversary.

More than anything, Per Se makes you feel important. Long after the delicious food is gone, we will remember the fond memories we received from the excellent service at Per Se.

Reservations

Reservations are mandatory, and hard to get. They accept reservations 2 months in advance. We called 2 months (less a day), and were only able to get a 5:30pm table on Monday.

Chef's Tasting Menu

Gruyère cheese ball

Gruyère cheese ball

The gruyère cheese balls were small, bite-size pieces of cheese that were breaded, and probably lightly fried. After biting down on it, the warm melted cheese burst out and filled your mouth with flavor.

Salmon Tartare

Salmon Tartare

The salmon tartare looked like little ice cream cones. The cones had a strong sesame flavor, with some cheese on the inside, topped with salmon tartare. They had a light citrus flavor, and didn't taste very fishy.

Oysters and Pearls

Oysters and Pearls

This dish had pearl tapioca on the bottom, which tasted a little bit like cream cheese. The sauce was very rich and buttery. The dish was served with a mother-of-pearl spoon to prevent silverware from affecting the 'delicate taste of the caviar' (as our server described it).

Egg custard with a truffle sauce

Egg cream with a truffle sauce

One member of our group didn't enjoy the Oysters and Pearls, and our server said he wanted to bring something we'd enjoy, so he brought out this egg custard dish. The most amazing part was how it was served - the top part of the egg was removed, with the custard inside.

The custard was creamy, and topped with a dark asian-style sauce, with a paper thin potato chip on top. It tasted excellent, although the presentation in the egg shell was probably the best part of this dish.

Salad of Big Island Hearts of Palm

Salad of Big Island Hearts of Palm

We had a choice for this course - a duck foie gras was also available for an additional $40. Both of us opted for the beet salad. Like most items, the presentation was excellent.

We also received a small hot roll with this course, and two types of butter. Supposedly one butter was from France, and the other local, although they both tasted like butter to us.

Sauteed Fillet of Florida Red Snapper

Sauteed Fillet of Florida Red Snapper

The red snapper was served with a couple small vegetables, and a "seafood-style sauce". It was sauteed on the outside, and raw on the inside. It was pretty good on its own, and even better when coated in the delicious sauce it came with.

More Breads

Bread

One of the servers presented a basket of bread - the choices for today were rye, a pretzel stick, sourdough, and a white french bread. We each took two pieces so we could try them all. The pretzel was our favorite, and we ended up with a small gift bag at the end with a couple extra pretzel buns.

Butter Poached Nova Scotia Lobster

Butter Poached Nova Scotia Lobster

The best part of this dish were the peas. They were incredibly flavorful, and even more intense with the pea puree they were sitting in.

I have always thought lobster is quite bland, although this one had a little bit of flavor. The little bits of bacon also had a surprisingly strong apple flavor.

Liberty Farm's Pekin Duck "Roti Entier"

Liberty Farm's Pekin Duck Roti Entier

There were a number of great flavors in this dish. The turnip puree was a little bit like mashed potatoes, but with lots of flavor. The duck was quite tasty, but the real star here were the cherries - they were slightly cooked, and had a fantastic fruity cherry flavor. I think they must have been marinated in something.

Herb Roasted Saddle of Elysian Fields Farm's Lamb

Herb Roasted Lamb

This course presented a choice - lamb or beef. Since we were a party of two, we chose one item each so we could try them both.

The lamb was served with lamb bacon. While it tasted quite good, the lamb was just a little bit chewy. The polenta/veggies were all quite good, although there was really just a bit of each.

All Day Braised Blackmore Ranch's Wagyu Brisket

All Day Braised Blackmore Ranch's Wagyu Brisket

This was part of the same course as the lamb (reviewed above). The beef was probably the most tender beef I have ever had. Supposedly it cooks for 48 hours before being served.

The potato puree was also quite good, and an excellent accompaniment to the beef.

Timanoix

Timanoix

The cheese course was probably my least favorite course, and it was still quite good. I found the prosciutto and crouton (which were sandwiching the cheese slice) quite salty. The puree had an incredibly intense tomato flavor.

Mango Sorbet

Mango Sorbet

The combination of flavors here was extraordinary. I usually don't like sorbets, but this dish tasted vibrant and "alive". Although this was probably a relatively simple dish, the intensity of the flavors made this the most unexpectedly enjoyable item we received.

"Truffe Au Chocolat Et Pistache"

Truffe Au Chocolat Et Pistache

This dessert course also offered a choice between a chocolate/pistachio course, and a raspberry parfait (reviewed below).

The presentation was beautiful. The dessert consisted of a number of different items to try. Each piece felt like a different form of the same flavor, with different textures.

Iced Raspberry Parfait

Iced Raspberry Parfait

This was part of the dessert course - the other option, chocolate/pistachio, is reviewed above.

Just like the chocolate/pistachio dessert, everything looked beautiful. This dessert also had a number of different items and textures, all with the same raspberry and nut theme.

Mignardises

Mignardises

By this point in the meal, we were quite full. We ordered a cappuccino and espresso, and were able to enjoy them with a selection of chocolates and homemade candies. Unfortunately, we were too full at this point to properly enjoy all the chocolates. We shared a couple of bite-size chocolates and cookies, all of which were excellent.

Take Home Gift

Take home gift

To end the meal, we were each presented with a package of shortbread cookies with chocolate in the middle. Since we were too full to really enjoy the chocolates at the end of the meal, our waiter also gave us a small box of chocolates to take home with us.