okay, back to regularly scheduled programming. for today's installment of 'best of nyc,' a tie, presented in chronological order of enjoyment:
1) jean george's silver marshmallow tongs and shears. after presenting the table with a generous selection of mignardises, in the form of superb truffles and a trio of sensational miniature macarons, the marshmallow cart was wheeled over. from a giant apothecary jar, filled with stack upon stack of rectangular slabs of house-made marshmallows, a single block of marshmallow was removed with what were doubtlessly purpose-built silver marshmallow tongs. using the equally custom-made silver marshmallow shears, individual pieces of marshmallow were cut, and placed onto the fine china with great ceremony. with unwavering pomp, this was repeated twice more, leaving the diner with yet another trio (vanilla, cinnamon and lemon, if I do not misremember) to join the macarons. (JG evidently works well in threes: the amuse - of caramelized grapefruit with pecorino; house miso with radish; and a composition of poached quail egg - was immensely successful)
2) per se's chocolate paper. following the first round of mignardises (apricot pot de creme and a lilliputian vanilla creme brulee), but preceding the third (rustic truffles, house caramels, chocolate-covered almonds, pistachio nougat), came the hand-dipped truffles. after providing us with a small silver plate to hold our truffles, the truffle waiter appeared to offer us a selection from his amply stocked silver tray of truffles ("there is no truffle police," he cooed. "take as many as you wish"). in order to accurately point to each truffle as he described it, as well as to grasp each truffle and transfer them from his silver tray to ours, he produced a thick piece of luxurious brown cardstock - the chocolate paper - no doubt a custom piece. (I must note that it was around this time that we experienced the most profound service gaffe of the meal: as the truffle waiter was returning to mila's side to serve her a final truffle, he dropped his chocolate paper. "oh dear, I have dropped my chocolate paper," he said calmly. he quickly glanced around, no doubt checking both for thomas keller, lest he fire the waiter on the spot, but also for a stray chocolate paper that he may have been able to grab in order to finish the chocolate service. needless to say, there were no stray chocolate papers in the dining room. fortunately, mila sprang to the poor waiter's rescue and offered to pick up the chocolate using her own fingers, and transfer it to her plate. disaster averted, I suppose, but it is certainly a good thing I am so relaxed and tolerant of incompetence, because anyone else would probably have yelled profanities at the waiter and overturned the well-appointed table, before storming out of that slipshod restaurant for good.)
