Sunday, 6 April, 2014 – USA Food and Wine Tour

Another day of mixed emotions.

We go to Harry’s Bar for Brekkie which is the same restaurant as we were in last night. To say the least, it was a disappointment. Julie ordered the Continental Breakfast and got the fruit salad and the basket of pastries, loaded with sugar. But no toast until near the end and then no butter and a jam selection of 3 bottles that were all the same. My omelet was ordinary but OK but again toast was very late and it was cold, no butter and generally unacceptable.

This slow start lifted dramatically at the middle of the day. We are headed to a 3 star Michelin the other side of Central Park. On the walk over Colin insists that some of us go on a Horse and Carriage ride around Central Park.

The Driver, Luis from Brazil, was very knowledgeable and informative. He said that it was the last day for the ice rinks and the first day for areas such as the theatre area where the Simon and Garfunkel concert was held. He also talked about the restaurant that we were going to and its counterpart in Napa Valley.

Yes, we are going to Per Se the NYC restaurant from Thomas Keller who has the French Laundry in Napa, among others. This is a 3 start Michelin and was very good. There are going to be a lot of pictures following as this was 9 courses plus a few freebie extras:

We then switch to meats which means we also switch to red wine.

This is interesting because Lancaster is where my Mother was born and raised. We will be visiting Lancaster on the second part of the journey with GB.

The steak was stunningly tender and flavoursome. Another family coincidence – my Father was born in Idaho near the Snake River. Then it is on to three courses to finish up the meal.

We told the staff that I did not do dessert so they brought me two courses of fruit while the others had their dessert. I also asked for more red wine instead of the sticky.

This was a simply stunning meal, the best I have ever had in the USA. The serving staff was very good with the two main guys long time Per Se employees extremely knowledgeable and helpful. Their two support staff “Daniels” were also quite good and knowledgeable. All in all a great time. Highly recommended albeit it ain’t cheap.

http://www.perseny.com/

The Lunch lasted most of the afternoon and I went back to the room for a couple hours of sleep. Then things go down hill for me. I had been feeling bloated since Breakfast but still managed to soldier through the 12 courses. But back at the Hotel room I was feeling worse and worse. So I thought I would try an experiment – having a glass of wine. One sip did the trick and I then had perhaps my biggest chunder of all time, losing all of the great food that we had had for lunch (too much information). Remarkably after that, I felt much better and was even able to have a few sips of the wine. I am perfectly fine the next day.

So a day of downs, stunning ups and finally downs.