Going to Per Se for my father’s 60th birthday tomorrow night and I’m trying to decide whether to do the wine pairing or not. I had this same conundrum in December when the best friend (my fiancée) and I went to Le Bernardin, and I’m glad Aldo Sohm talked me into it while sitting at the wine bar waiting on our reservation. It was spectacular, but I said I’d never do it again. 60th birthdays are such a special occasion though, so I’m in my head again about the situation. Will I miss the money? No, but I could also do a bottle at that price as well. Anyone that has been recently, please chime in. TIA!
FWIW Per Se doesn’t really do a traditional wine pairing. There’s not like a standard pairing, that is. You can talk to somm and discuss a budget and pairing, I think is the way it goes.
I’ve always bought by the bottle there. I love Per Se, but the wine list is not the strength. Personally, I would recommend getting a good but not super expensive bottle that goes with a variety of food, like Riesling, and focusing the enjoyment on the food and service. Oysters and pearls, coffee and donuts for dessert hit the spot every time IMO!
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I’m glad you posted. I’ve been thinking about going, and had a quick look at the wine list. No surpris that it was.incredibly expensive, but what did surprise with how young the wines were.
The restaurant began opened in 2004, so I would expect the cellar to have a fair percentage of older wines, mostly from release but also from the secondary market, and producers own cellars. If I’m going to salivate over a wine list, I have to say my mouth was a little dry.
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I would just BYO
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I would be somewhat disappointed with that as well at a restaurant of this caliber . . . but perhaps they are finding their diners really do not care and that’s why they don’t have older vintages? Just a thought
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I would definitely BYO as well. The big corkage fee restaurants are a good excuse to open drc, Rousseau chambertin, Leroy, etc
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Or purchase a less expensive white off the list to offset the corkage fee on the wine you bring, right?
Cheers
Nah, I’d just bring Salon and DRC and call it a day. No point in messing around.
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I understand the thinking of special wines for a special restaurant, but I’m more aligned with what Rob said upthread: either let the food or the wine be in the spotlight…not both.
A friend recently went to Per Se. He’s not wealthy but this was a one-time thing for a special occasion. He decided that he could get better value and older wines with corkage x 2 than anything off the list. He brought a 2012 Grand Cru Chablis and a 2010 Ruchottes Chambertin. Great wines but not trophy-level producers. The sommelier was really impressed. He gave them a kitchen tour.
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People say that, and it makes little sense to me.
I’ve been to many wine dinners and the food has mostly (but not always) been mediocre. Would it take away from the enjoyment to have better food? Absolutely not, in my opinion. I brought 96 salon and older RC to TFL and really enjoyed it. Would I have enjoyed it more with a mediocre meal?
Life’s too short for bad food or wine. I’m not advocating for that. I’m suggesting that there should be a star and a terrific supporting cast. But if both are battling for the spotlight, the overall experience and my appreciation of each tends to diminish. I’m not saying you (or anyone else) shouldn’t, if it works for you.
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What you bring should just feel good at the corkage tariff. A bunch of us here have been to Per Se many times, I’m sure with both great and more modest wines. I almost always BYO there and my BYO level is based on the people I’m with and occasion not really the specifics of the food. It’s fairly rich French food - goes pretty well with a lot of French wines.
Sure…hard to open an inexpensive wine (even a really good one) at a cost of $200 corkage.
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When I went in 2006 I brought a 1993 Arnoux Suchots (young), a Pernot BBM (forget vintage), 1966 Latour - and bought champagne.
The 1966 was smashing.
I was glad to go with that wine approach to go with the food.
I was there a few years ago and did the pairing - they had a standard pairing and a premium pairing. Did the premium pairing, I want to say it was something like 400-500. I thoroughly enjoyed it - thought the wines were reasonably high quality/value, and paired well. They seemed well chosen/paired as well, which is not always true of pairings. But the funniest part was a friend eating with us who chose the standard pairing and at every course they would bring both wines… mine was always “the exceptional, single vineyard, etc etc” and his was “and this is a … very good wine…” lol.
p.s. for more amusement, if you get I think it was the cheese course with some cheese from vermont, ask them what the names of the sheep are - they were completely unphased and told us ROFL.
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