A little bit of magic behind blue doors

Yes, my birthday lunch at Per Se this past weekend was a beautiful treat. I could not have asked for anything more. Even though I felt like I waited for this meal forever, I really wasn't sure what to expect. The dining room is small, hushed, and elegant. There is a lovely view of Columbus Circle and Central Park. Everything just feels very personal, notably the menu which was printed with a "Happy Birthday Alice" note and the exceptional service. I decided to be a bit daring and seize this opportunity to shoot my meal in film (since the light was so great in that dining room), and I'm so glad I did. Because I was limited to the few rolls I brought with me, I pretty much had to get each shot just right, and because I couldn't preview my shots, I paid more attention to the meal and experience. (Ok, I will admit that I brought the 5Dmkii as a backup. :P) I thought the Fuji Pro 400H performed excellently for this and I want to shoot more film more than ever now. There really is an inimitable quality that I cannot achieve with my digital images.

I ordered the Tasting of Vegetables (my choices are on the right) but got to sample all of the regular Chef's Tasting Menu dishes anyway (on the left). I'm not going to go into laborious detail over each course (mostly because this post took me over six hours to complete from waiting for film developing to scanning negatives to fixing all the dust/scratches to finally putting together the collage - all worth it, I hope), but I may post a picture of the menus a bit later this week. This post is a bit overwhelming as it is anyway!

Cheese, desserts, coffee and mignardises below.

So...when can I go back?? :D