Unforgettable Per Se

I thought I would finish the story and say that the Per Se dinner on our 3rd wedding anniversary was one of the best dinners that my husband and I had ever had.  We were treated with such great service.  I had written them an e-mail not knowing if anyone was going to read it, but they sure did!  I shared with them our story about our fund and how we had been saving for a few years to go there.  They made our experience truly memorable...and the food wasn't so bad either ;)

Here are some pictures from our dinner:

Gougeres and Salmon Cones

Personalized menus

Oysters and Pearls - heaven in your mouth!
"Oysters and Pearls"
"Sabayon" of Pearl Tapioca with Island Creek Oysters and Sterling White Sturgeon Caviar

Per Se reservation confirmed!

We had our date set on May 31st to go to Per Se as it would coincide with our 3rd wedding anniversary.  Before church today, we called in at 10am and of course, we were put into the hold queue for a person to take our reservation.  When Wil finally got through after 15 minutes on hold, we were happy to find that a reasonable time was still available since we didn't want a 8 or 9 course meal at 10pm!  Yes, we actually high-fived each other (and maybe I jumped up and down a little bit).  I think I forgot to tell you that I'm weird? 

Well, the wait is on!  30 days and counting!!!!

Blondies

 

I made blondies last week for fellowship and it was my first time making them.  They turned out pretty well.

Here was the recipe that I used:

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/blondies/

I added chocolate chips to them.  They say blondies are brownies with no chocolate, which if you know me, is perfect.  I like my chocolate in moderation or none at all.

French Laundry Fund becomes Per Se Fund

So we began depositing 15 dollars into our French Laundry fund and it grew steadily.  We were still living in California at the time as Wil applied to different graduate schools across the country.  He decided upon Columbia University in New York City and left in 2007.  I joined him in the fall of 2008 after we got married.
Even at our wedding, The French Laundry made it in!  We had place cards with some of our favorite restaurants and our table was..you guessed it.

I had heard of Per Se but not as much as the French Laundry.  So our fund now became the Per Se Fund.  What is behind the name Per Se? "People ask Thomas whether the new restaurant will be the same as the French Laundry, and he often replies it will not be the French Laundry 'per se'.  The name sticks."

The French Laundry Fund - The beginning

We have lived in New York City for about 2 1/2 years and are transplants from the other side of the country, California. My husband (Wil) and I (Andrea) are huge foodie fans and have gone to some really great restaurants around the country and the world (I will get to some of our favorites in other posts). We knew about Thomas Keller since we lived in California and loved going to the Napa Valley. We have actually tried all of his restaurants except Per Se and The French Laundry (yeah, I know, those are the big ones). My husband had a great idea to start a French Laundry Fund where we would deposit a small amount each month so that we can build up our fund.

The fund was started at least 4 years ago (need to figure out when we actually started it) and it has finally reached the full amount. Wil wanted me to blog about it and share our story so that you know that YOU can also go to one of the restaurants in the world with a little bit of patience!

Come join us as we lead up to the day when we eat there =) (oh, and we will post other cool things about our food journeys too!)