Had I known, that's exactly what I would have asked for! For the unfamiliar, the Zagat restaurant survey rates restaurants based on diners' reviews. They rate the food, decor, service, and cost based on a 30-point rating system and often include witty, pithy comments by the wanna-be restaurant critic, who lurks within all of us. According to Zagat's, the average cost to dine at Per Se Restaurant in Columbus Circle, in New York City, is $300........per person!
I received an email from their California corporate office, The French Laundry, where Chef Thomas Keller's restaurant group is located. Per Se had just been awarded "Outstanding Service" from the 2011 James Beard Foundation's Restaurant and Chef Awards and they were being sent a congratulatory greeting from the Left Coast.
I was to sing to the staff, who gather for the evening's instructions, just before the doors opened for dinner, highlighting a few names of those that made the award possible. I had suggested a singing chef, but the corporate office opted for the tuxedo instead. I wrote the song to "Food, Glorious Food", from the musical "Oliver" and was politely received with "golf claps"!
I left with some "parting gifts" -- Per Se chocolates, which I promptly scarfed down, as soon as I left the building. But DINNER.....in lieu of payment, definitely, I should have just asked them for "dinner for two" as compensation for my efforts!
(sung to the tune of "Food, Glorious Food")
It can't be ignored
So Congratulations
You won the award
From the James Beard Foundation
No restaurant deserves it more
How could you be nervous
Since Per Se won it for
"The Best Service" !
Just look at this team
There's not a bunch sweller
You went to extremes
So thank you, Chef Keller
For giving Per Se the keys
That's part of the plan
And it was Laura
Who let you drive
As fast as you can!...................
Kerry
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