Getting Intimate With Food – Per Se, NY

Tasting is an intimate gesture.  It’s about as erotic a relationship can begin with.  But with food and nature’s bounty created out of love in all of its art and science, we are nourished by it and sustained.  We sample it in little nibbles, sometimes licking before diving into the experience of getting to know its soul or essence. With it engaging our senses of sight, smell, and sometimes touch, any lack of love and passion in its intention can as much leave us bored, finding the experience common.  We’d soon forget about it, especially if we were simply famished.

I was looking to have some kind of a love affair with food and I wanted something trustworthy.  With one night stands out of the question, is a Michelin three starred restaurant worth returning to a second and third time?  The third most expensive restaurant in the world would have to be so special.  Undiscerning because of its good reputation, I was hopeful with Per Se but remained unsure that the journey through icy roads in snowy weather to its abode on the fourth floor of a building on Columbus Circle, in New York, was going to leave me truly enticed and satisfied.

I was expecting to be seated at the Salon for five courses, but was led to a fine table in the main dining room, where nine courses turned into twelve.  With first, a glass of champagne served by a charming lady, I noticed her smile radiated joy that matched the effervescence of the divinity she poured. I then couldn’t help but also notice the warmth that came from the flickering fire of a nearby furnace.  It was a pleasant atmosphere.

There were white roses on the table and I could still see the city through large windows, hazy as it was against a bleak, dark blue sky.  Then a daintily wrapped concoction in a cone was served, as if a ray of sunshine spiraled around it in a golden whirl.  Crisp to awaken me in its golden fervor, the little welcome kept me alert of what was about to come.

Then like unstrung baby black pearls, a gift of innocence in a delightful delicacy of Regiis Ova caviar, floating in a sabayon of pearl tapioca with oysters was delivered in a perfectly pristine white dish that seemed to have said, “Hello, dear Princess!”  I felt immediately cherished, oddly where the child in me was won.  When has caviar and oysters ever made an impression on a child?  But befitting a “princess” with neither heaviness of salt nor a hint of pungent sea water taste, it was light and of comforting quality that I knew immediately, this was going to be a special night, forgetting the cold I left outside and all of its days, forgiven.

Sabayon of pearl tapioca with Island Creek Oysters and Regiis Ova caviar

Hen egg custard in ragout of black winter truffles

Like an unhurried romance through poetry of notes  in chalices, egg cups and simple plates, there was not a hint of pretentiousness, even when the Captain brought a box of large bulbous white truffles, as if carefully hand picked by him from the land of Alba in Romania.  He was all too endearingly proud of them, and sincere in his quest to endear me with them.

Hand -cut tagliatelle with shaved white truffles from Alba, “Parmigiano- Reggiano” and “Beurre Noisette”

Carefully shaved over hand cut Tagliatelle, no storm outside could rock the calm that presided over every loving course.  They were all as if halo’d, even in the dim of light.

I was courted through waves of pleasure that came in carefully crafted epicurean creations, from Moulard duck foie gras with candied cashew streusel and pink peppercorn yogurt, to Hawaiian abalone with ruby beet butter and Scottish Langoustines with chestnut confit.  And there too was the herb roasted Montauk skate, Gougere which is a puff of choux pastry flavored with aged gruyère, plus the signature little doughnuts we’ve come to know from The French Laundry.

And not to be outdone was my table in a finalé of desserts that included Meyer lemon upside down cake,  double cream ice cream with blackcurrant flapjack disguised as a cup of cappuccino, gold foil speckled peanut butter brownie mixed with pickled honeynut squash and caramelized sorghum.  There were two others, but by then I was lost in its huge, sweet embrace.  And if that wasn’t enough…chocolate truffles to sample at hand or to go home with in Per Se signature boxes, after the kitchen was left squeaky clean in all of my awe!  It was like magic.

If there be a man who would follow suit in timely and perfectly paced renderings of love out there…please come forward, so we can grab a bite–per se!

At the Per Se kitchen when all was said and done.

A stunningly sparkling kitchen after a productive night for the three stars Michelin restaurant

Dessert Dansant!

*Per Se is a three star Michelin awarded restaurant in New York City.  It is considered to be the third most expensive restaurant in the world- owned by Chef Thomas Keller, whose first restaurant is The French Laundry in Napa Valley, CA–also a three stars Michelin awardee.