East Coast French Laundry-Per Se

[Rod Hagen]

For my October NYC trip I've been trying to get reservations at Per Se since the NYTimes's Four Star! review last week. Problem is, during reservation hours I've called more than 60 times, and the phone has been busy every time. I asked the Mandarin Oriental, also in the Time Warner building, for an alternate number, and they had none.

 

Does anybody know how I can get through? Can someone stop in on my behalf?

 

THANK YOU.

 

p.s. I tried OpenTable.com and NO luck!

[al]

If you're staying in an upscale hotel, perhaps the concierge

can arrange a reservation.

[Ignoto]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, here are what a couple of online reviewers thought:

 

>>I have eaten at the French Laundry so I know what Tom Keller is capable of. Althought I thought the food was good, it lacked the surprises of the French Laundry. It also assumes that Per Se diners have not eaten at the FL, as some of the dishes are stepchildren of the FL menu, like Oysters & Pearls and the salmon tartare amuse bouche. The courses were served so quickly, I resented shelling out over $600 for dinner. While one plate was being cleared, another was being set. The service was trite, not attentive and frankly cavalier. I am surprised this was all Keller could muster up. If you are at all a foodie, you will be disappointed in this restaurant. I would try and eat at the French Laundry, the food and service will mesmerize you. Otherwise, search in vain for another good restaurant. Try Atelier.<<

 

>>I have NEVER been so dissapointed in a celeb-chef's restaurant. The back of the room has absoulutely no view. Extremely rude treatment from the floor manager. The tasting menu was delivered at a break-neck pace, leaving no time to enjoy the wine or even digest the food. After asking them to slow down by the third course, everything came to our table cold, tasteless (or over-salted) and unappealing. Supposedly the best food in NYC...I've had MUCH better at Daniel, Bouley, Ducasse & DavidBurke for about half the price! Don't waste your time, money or anticipation eating at Per Se!<<

[Lankypeters]

When you get to town, stop by the restaurant and sign up for the cancellations list.

 

On the other hand.....dinner here costs as much as a good 'scort, who probably promises more pleasure.

 

Lankypeters

[bigguyinpasadena]

Well the NYtimes critic really liked the place-please state your sources.I really don't care what the restaurant reviewer for the Hoboken Shopper has to say about the place.

[Ignoto]

>Well the NYtimes critic really liked the place-please state

>your sources.I really don't care what the restaurant reviewer

>for the Hoboken Shopper has to say about the place.

 

Do your own Google search.

 

Or subscribe to New York magazine, which reveals that this is less a restaurant and more a real estate amenity to get locals to visit the expensive shops downstairs and wealthy investors for the condos upstairs. They couldn't be less interested in your patronage, if you were from Hoboken:

 

>>something is definitely wrong at the Time Warner Center complex of restaurants. The center, which officially opened in February, was heralded as a world-class food mecca, the pinnacle of culinary sophistication. On the fourth floor would be sushi master Masa Takayama and his $300 prix fixe lunch; Thomas Keller’s estimated $16 million temple, Per Se; and Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s new steakhouse, V. The third floor would be home to Kunz, who had received four stars at Lespinasse but had not found a suitable stove since, as well as Chicago’s most famous chef, Charlie Trotter.

 

But six months after the launch, this recipe for culinary greatness appears to be seriously flawed....

 

Then there’s Keller. His Per Se got off to an inauspicious start when he was forced to close for months because of a fire six days after the opening. And as another thorn in the side of his landlord, he has reportedly disparaged the building’s atmosphere and asked for a private elevator so his diners don’t have to go through the shopping area. Last month, the building installed a separate doorman by the 60th Street elevator to shuttle diners directly to the fourth floor. “Per Se is the biggest challenge,” says Kenneth Himmel, president and CEO of Related Urban Development, a division of the Related Companies, the developer of the building.

 

Both Keller and Vongerichten were given princely deals in which they barely put up any capital and were handed rooms tailored to their every whim. Reactions to the food and service at Per Se have been ecstatic, but the pressure is really on to get four stars. And with the French Laundry in the midst of a tenth-anniversary celebration, he’s here only one week a month. Some say his perfectionism has ruffled the feathers of his landlords.

 

“All restaurants are plagued by problems, and five restaurants with high-profile chefs compound the issue,” says Keller. “Ken Himmel and I are partners. I have no problems having disagreements with my partners. Sometimes we run into roadblocks and challenges, but we are ironing them out.”...

 

It’s hard to imagine how a $16 million restaurant could make a profit with sixteen tables and dinners that can last four hours. “It would have to do phenomenally well to recoup that outlay,” says Michael Batterberry, editor-in-chief of Food Arts.

 

At this point, the restaurants are loss leaders, adding cachet to the stores and to the condos upstairs, which have sold extremely well—one penthouse brought $40 million. “It’s smart strategy to bring an extraordinary group of restaurants together,” says Tim Zagat. “It would have been better if everything had come together a little earlier. It doesn’t matter if they make money as restaurants. Instead of being some property too far over on the West Side, suddenly you’re in fancyland.”

 

“This wasn’t done to sell ten more condos at a greater price per square foot,” insists Himmel. "The restaurants and bar are living up to our expectations. They’ve only been open a couple of months. It takes three to six months to go through a ramp-up period.”

 

“Vertical retail and restaurants together is an idea not natural to New York,” explains David Rockwell.

 

“Well,” says a smiling Vongerichten, “they call it vertical retail; I call it a mall.” <<

[basket]

I don't understand why people would go to such trouble over a meal. There are hundreds of restaurants in New York City. Is this a status thing?

[Rod Hagen]

I'm on the waiting list. Thanks everyone.

 

RH