Wednesday, August 31, 7:00 pm
Members $100, guests $125

Like pilgrims to a temple, New York foodies have been flocking to Per Se since it opened in the Time Warner Center in February 2004. The city’s toughest critics have been equally impressed; in rapturous language normally reserved for romance or religion, the New York Times’ Frank Bruni described his meal as ”wondrous,” “sensational,” and “sigh inducing,” while Adam Platt of New York magazine wrote, “The food is beautifully conceived, elegantly presented, and as varied as the colors of the rainbow.” Per Se has inspired lust and loyalty from culinary professionals and connoisseurs alike, and in turn it boasts a waiting list of up to two months. Those diners lucky enough to secure reservations arrive at Per Se expecting a once in a lifetime dining experience—and they don’t leave disappointed. As Bruni promised in his four-star review of the restaurant, “The return on that patience and that investment is more than a few mouthfuls of food that instantaneously bring a crazy smile to your face and lodge in your memory for days and even weeks to come.”

Owned and overseen by Thomas Keller, celebrated chef and owner of the French Laundry in Napa Valley, Per Se’s kitchen is manned by chef de cuisine Jonathan Benno. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Benno is a veteran of such notable New York kitchens as Daniel, Gramercy Tavern, and Craft, as well as Aqua and the French Laundry in California. He draws upon a dedication to superior ingredients and meticulous preparation to create elaborate and imaginative menus consisting of approximately nine courses, “each one a decadent little masterpiece,” according to the Washington Post’s David Segal, who added “It’s a party your mouth will never forget.”

While his appreciation of the finest ingredients was fostered in California and his talents honed in France at Gilles Goujon’s Michelin-starred Auberge de Viex Puits, it’s Benno’s return to New York that has rendered him a key player in one of the city’s great culinary success stories. The winner of the 2005 James Beard Foundation award for Best New Restaurant, Per Se has, according to Pascale Le Draoulec of the New York Daily News, “raised and updated the city’s fine-dining bar.”