The chef’s tasting menu at @perseny was my first foray into super fancy many-hour fine dining experiences all of the way back in 2011. I didn’t like much seafood at the time as a farm-raised Ohioan, so I had to work up the nerve to eat oysters before I could make my reservation, on account of their famous Oysters and Pearls dish. And I’m so glad I did! I went back for the fifth time a few weeks ago with several of my friends who had never been there before, and it remains the very most elegant tasting menu in NYC with food that’s better than ever. Here’s the Oysters and Pearls, and you can swipe to see more of the amazing dishes we got to eat that day. (By the way, I recommend making a lunch reservation! The menu is the same as dinner, and you get the benefit of the beautiful lighting from the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Central Park.) 2) Unveiling the first dish on a stack of Per Se’s signature plates, 3) salmon cornet amuse bouche. 4) cheese and cracker amuse bouche, “Ritz-style”, 5) Royal Ossetra caviar with a smoked trout pierogi, 6/7) Hudson Valley moulard duck foie gras with the flower of different salts to top it with (always my very favorite course), 8) Anson Mills farro verde salad, 9) Montauk fluke sashimi, 10) herb-roasted Maine sea scallop with crispy bone marrow.⠀
Photo taken at: Per Se