The Bloggers Who Came to Dinner

What would Columbus think of such an opulent dinner?

Lots of mainly mommy bloggers from all over are in NYC for the BlogHer 2010 conference. I hadn't heard of it until I was invited to Per Se for an intimate dinner hosted Thursday night by Samsung, to welcome some of them.

Live Large
The restaurant is tucked away behind tall blue doors on the fourth floor of the Time Warner Building [one floor up from the Samsung Experience], near a windowed wall framing a crisp view of Columbus Circle and the statue of Christopher Columbus. I have loved this city forever and walked by that statue a zillion times but never really saw it until I looked through that glass wall. It is beautiful.

I could never afford to eat at a restaurant like Per Se these days. Years back, H. and I celebrated special occasions [anniversaries, my birthday] with meals at '21,' Gramercy Tavern, Windows on the World, Union Square Cafe, the Ryland Inn in rolling horse country, the Highlawn Pavilion in West Orange. It wasn't often, just enough to get a taste for the good life. We really couldn't comfortably drop $100 or more for dinner too often. With Sis and our friend Edie, I also had memorable meals at places like Tavern on the Green and the Sign of the Dove--the three of us celebrated our birthdays together for years. And Sis and Don have taken us to the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich, which is also divine.

I read about Per Se before I went. A five-course meal is $175; the regular tasting menu is $275. I won't lie, I felt like I had won the lottery when I was invited for the former.

One for the Memory Book
Here's the truth. We were in a lovely private dining room for more than three hours, with flickering candlelight and elegant floor-length tablecloths. Men served us baguettes and sourdough rolls and fine wines and fabulous foods on beautiful white dishes. In other words, I was not at home eating Mrs. Paul's Healthy Selects Crunchy Fish Sticks and coleslaw that H. made with a bag of preshredded cabbage and some Marie's dressing, and then loading the dishwasher.

The 18 of us at dinner were in assigned seats, and that made it fun, too. To my right was Eugene, a tuned-in listener/hipster/techie--and nice person--who studied engineering, has two teen daughters, lives in NJ, wears cool glasses and works perfecting Samsung fridges and other home appliances so that they're cutting-edge and everyone wants them. He picked my brain for the dream list of what I wish a fridge could do. [Among other things, I said I wished it could have a built-in smoothie maker and soundtrack for my favorite songs. Hey, he asked--and by then, I had had a couple of glasses of fine wine, so my inhibitions were gone.]

To my left, in from California, was Charlene, a pretty blonde mom of two baby girls. Her blog is called My Frugal Adventures. We talked about a lot--not just the gougères [impossibly good French cheese puffs slightly bigger than a peanut] and heirloom tomatoes [Charlene had the vegetarian menu] but also about balancing motherhood and career, and about how blogging has made it possible for moms to have more work freedom and flexibility yet still set up their own businesses, their own recognizable brands. Charlene's blog: www.myfrugaladventures.com.

Next to Eugene was Suzanne, NYC mother of three and founder of Techlicious [http://www.techlicious.com/], also fascinating. Next to Charlene sat Kurt Jovais, Samsung's director of marketing for home appliances. Tall, good-looking, funny, charming, successful and smart. Grew up in Texas. Very good dinner company. Kurt and his wife are expecting their first baby. And across the table, an attractive woman with great blonde hair and nice lipstick who homeschools her nine-year-old twin boys in North Carolina and blogs at CarolinaMama1.blogspot.com.

On to the Food
Okay, let's cut to the chase. It was great. My favorite courses were the last three we had, listed below:

Herb Roasted Snake River Farms' Beef Rib-Eye

Chanterelle Mushrooms, Glazed Greenmarket Carrots and Pea Tendrils with "Sauce Bordelaise"
The quite petite round of meat was incredibly fork-tender and luscious, never had beef so good.
"Burrata" 
Heirloom Tomatoes and Young Zucchini with Garden Basil

This was the cheese course, fresh and delicious.

"M&M's"

Pretzel Chips, Candied Peanuts and Madagascar Vanilla Mousse with Mast Brothers' Chocolate Ice Cream

Can you believe it? I just discovered Mast Brothers chocolate the day before, and now I was having it in my ice cream. Stroke of luck.

Extra Cherries on Top
Ah, then instead of ice water or iced coffee or a glass of skim milk, I sipped a perfect little cup of cappuccino from a white cup and saucer. Placed in front of me: a three-tier silver tray with dainty "Mignardises"*....a chocolate tart the size of a button and a pale-green macaron no bigger than a thimble. Lucky me, Eugene was too full to indulge.

You don't leave the place stuffed. The chef, Thomas Keller, is reportedly all about giving you just enough in each course to wish you could have another bite--and then on to the next course.

I sipped fine wines--a carefully chosen white and later, comforting red, which the waiter kept pouring into my dream glass. I used many, many different pieces of burnished silverware, big and small, rounded and sharp.  And we each left with a parting gift--a bag of small, square butter cookies sandwiched with creamy discs of chocolate filling.

Bittersweet Note
I had to pay the piper for this treat in terms of travel, lost sleep and stress. Had to fit in my visit with my Dad at 7:30 in the morning that day because I knew I couldn't go that night, and H. was in Texas, so he couldn't go, either. Then, bus into the city ran late. Did a 5 P.M. phone interview with someone in Seattle while balancing my notebook near a payphone at the Port Authority, commuters streaming by. [Never mind, got great quotes.] And it's not lost on me that I reveled in this beautiful dinner while my Dad--always a food lover himself--was lying in a hospital bed in room 3207 and eating very little, except maybe doll-sized portions of applesauce, mashed potatoes and yogurt. What an ironic twist of the highly polished silver knife--my chic portions were pricey and precious; his are keeping him alive.

But I would still have to say it was a meal and a conversation I will savor in my mind for a long, long time. Good night.

*Per wikipedia: "Mignardises are tiny, bite-sized desserts sometimes served at the end of a meal; they are a type of petit four. Mignardises frequently include tiny cookies or chocolates, as well as other edible delights."

P.S. I just learned [via my friend google] that Snake River Farms is in Boise, ID and a purveyor of top meats. At first, being afraid of snakes, the name put me off. Now I see it as the name of a river, and that's okay.  No matter, that perfect portion of beef was so buttery and delectable! Eugene agreed.