Tl;DR for the people who don’t want to read and just want to look at pretty pictures: In terms of execution, Per Se is flawless. Every ingredient used in every dish at the bare minimum achieved an ideal texture and flavour, hitting all the right notes. Service was splendid and calculated like they were watching your every move. Was it worth the price tag and is it worthy of 3 Michelin Stars? In my humble opinion, yes.
Per Se originally opened in 2004 and is the esteemed Thomas Keller’s interpretation of the iconic restaurant “French Laundry”. You can find it located on the highest floor of the Time Warner Center.
If you’re coming you might as well splurge and get the full menu. Here’s what I had when I went, but the menu changes pretty much every day. There are staples that tend to remain on the list like the classic “Oysters and Pearls”. The entire meal lasted about two hours, I stuck to the normal menu but substituted the foie gras ‘pastrami’ to replace the Farm Beets salad.
The meal starts with an amuse-bouche of salmon tartar wrapped in a cone of sesame tuile. It’s a simple, refreshing bite that gets the appetite going. The tuile is exactly as crisp as it should be, and the salmon is fresh.
The pea soup is served with lemon and fresh cream sorbet. Minor notes of sweetness from the sorbet and the perfectly crisp snap pea lift the light savoury notes of the soup. In the summer, this is extremely refreshing!
A classic — the butter poached oysters have a wonderfully just-strong-enough note of seafoody brine that shines with the addition of the generous knob of caviar. The slight springiness of the tapioca pearls adds textural contrast. As a whole, the dish is rich and silky, filled with the sense of luxury.
Incredible creaminess from the egg custard melded with the earthy notes of truffle.
This pate of Hudson Valley Foie gras is wrapped with pastrami spice and served with a selection of salts. Of course, there’s not even a hint of that usual gamey funk you might get in a lower quality/badly processed foie gras product. I will say that this was definitely still good, but if I had to pick a least favourite dish for the meal this would be it. It was just good foie gras.
The doneness on this piece of fish was surreal, fork tender. AS you eat it, it leaves you with a pleasant feeling in your mouth like a gentle caress.
This was their take on sausage made with lobster and tarragon, served with a tantalizing lobster cream with the lightest notes of something reminiscent of a cinnamon spice.
The tomato English muffin was good, but it’s the butter that stole the show here. It’s infused with the beef lardo from a cow aged for a hundred days. It’s like a more elegant version of bone marrow, and the fatty beef notes are cut by the acidity and perfect warmth of the bread. It’s simple, but often times seeing how restaurants like this jazz up the basics is what’s most entertaining. We’ve all had bread and butter several times, so how do they take it to the next level?
The saddle was wrapped in bacon… along with the foie gras dish, I will say this one was the closest to missing the mark for me since the tapenade on the left was a bit too salty for me.
Perfect doneness on the meat, nice notes of added umami from the black garlic sauce.
Another example of beauty in simplicity, this crispy outer shell gives way to a bomg of creamy truffle flavour. It looks very basic, but it’s so decadent in the best way possible.
The amount of courses is pretty deceptive! For dessert lovers, this is probably a dream come true.
Of the many desserts, I would say my favourites were the semifreddo (I like coffee based desserts since they tend to be less sweet, and had this relaxing fluffy texture) and the tea consomme lady finger. Crystallized rose petals are scattered on top, imparting a lot of layered complexity in a single bite.
As if that wasn’t enough, they come by again and let you choose from a treasure chest of unique house-made truffles. Flavours like miso and raspberry matcha are just scratching the surface. They pack up a few for you after as a souvenir along with some cookies.
This was a good once in a life time experience for me, but I don’t feel like I’d go back again. It’s not that I didn’t like it, there’s just so many places to try and so little time.
Price: $420 USD (with foie gras change and tax included)
Rating: 89/100
Website: https://www.thomaskeller.com/perseny
JeffKCW Food & Travel 