Per Se Fire, Reopening, Rescheduling

[rich]

When things return to normal, will they be taking reservations 30 days out, or 60?

Sixty days out is what they said to me. That's what it was before the closing.

Edited April 16, 2004 by rich (log)

[gmi3804]

When things return to normal, will they be taking reservations 30 days out, or 60?

Sixty days out is what they said to me. That's what it was before the closing.

I've got some time to plan for a Thanksgiving Week reservation!

Thanks, rich.

[Andy Lynes]

Does this mean no Keller at Per Se ever??? I wouldn't think so, but the dates seem to overlap too much.

Insight anyone?

I was having lunch in the press room at the American Food Revolution event at Le Manoir in Oxford, England, and Thomas Keller came over to speak to Jefferey Steingarten who was sitting at the same table as me. As it was an open conversation in a public place, I didn't feel too bad about ear wigging. Keller told Steingarten that per Se would re-open May 1, French Laundry May 15, that there would be some "smoke and mirrors" required during that time and that "people will ask "where is Thomas Keller"".

He expressed huge regret that the three months he intended to spend at Per Se whilst The French Laundry was closed to train people up was now all lost. I didn't get all the detail on this next part, and it may be public knowledge by now anyway (I haven't read all 11 pages of this thread) but he said that the kitchen had been inspected after the fire and that the walls behind the stoves were found to be partly constructed from wood.

This meant that the stoves had to be ripped out and the walls rebuilt. He had around a dozen men on site (an electrician, plumbers, carpenters etc) each day at an approximate cost of $100k a week and the work had taken 8 weeks.

[Jinmyo]

Egad.

Can he afford that?

[oakapple]

Egad.

Can he afford that?

I read that he's taking action against the original contractors, who knew (or should have known) that the wall behind the ovens was not built to code. I'm sure he also has business interruption insurance, and of course fire insurance.

[sacre_bleu]

OT: If wood is banned in kitchen walls, what do they make them from?

[Andy Lynes]

Steel, concrete and other non-flammable material I would guess.

[Fat Guy]

Oakapple, do you remember where you read that?

[oakapple]

Oakapple, do you remember where you read that?

I am very sorry to say that I don't. It is a very reasonable question, but the Per Se fire has been a much-discussed topic, and I can't recall where I saw the comment.

[robyn]

Oakapple, do you remember where you read that?

I am very sorry to say that I don't. It is a very reasonable question, but the Per Se fire has been a much-discussed topic, and I can't recall where I saw the comment.

It's an important question. Accusing a builder of violating building codes is no small matter. By the way - if there was insurance (e.g., fire and business interruption) to cover all the losses - and a third party was thought to be at fault for causing the losses - the lawsuit would most probably be a subrogation case brought by the insurer (and the insured could join in to recover any losses - like deductibles - not covered by insurance).

By the way - I'm not aware of any codes - at least here in Florida - which absolutely prohibit wood inside the walls in a commercial kitchen (sometimes you need things like wood studs to provide support for things hung from walls). However you have to have insulating material between heat sources like stoves and what's in the walls that has very high fire ratings (e.g., the material can be subjected to very high heat/fire for a pretty long time).

As with most alleged construction defects cases where a lot of people were involved in the construction - I suspect this won't be a cut and dry matter. Robyn

P.S. I'm sure that New York - like Florida - also has rules which govern fire ratings in multi-story construction (certain walls in high rise buildings have to have higher fire ratings than walls in low rise buildings).

Edited April 19, 2004 by robyn (log)

[LJC]

are any egulletiers going tomorrow?

[snausages2000]

Regarding last week's discussion of the problem with the walls at Per Se, a friend of mine who works in the kitchen says the issue was that there wasn't proper insulation, or breathing room, between the various electrical wires in the wall. From his description, strands of cable were overheating because they were packed too tightly against each other. This is consistent with initial reports that it was an electrical fire. I don't know that much about it, so I don't want to claim any real knowledge here, but I hadn't been under the impression that wood was the concern.

[Mark Sommelier]

A very reliable source tells me that Per Se opened 3 days ago.

[rich]

The phone says they will open tomorrow and start taking reservations tomorrow for July 1st. So who is eating there from tomorrow (or three days ago) until May 20th? Can you just walk-in and be seated?

If no one is taking reservations before July 1st and the earliest re-scheduled people won't be going until May 20th, that's a three-week gap.

Edited April 30, 2004 by rich (log)

[gmi3804]

The phone says they will open tomorrow and start taking reservations tomorrow for July 1st. So who is eating there from tomorrow (or three days ago) until May 20th? Can you just walk-in and be seated?

If no one is taking reservations before July 1st and the earliest re-scheduled people won't be going until May 20th, that's a three-week gap.

I'm assuming those whose reservations were cancelled due to the fire, no?

[bilrus]

The phone says they will open tomorrow and start taking reservations tomorrow for July 1st. So who is eating there from tomorrow (or three days ago) until May 20th? Can you just walk-in and be seated?

If no one is taking reservations before July 1st and the earliest re-scheduled people won't be going until May 20th, that's a three-week gap.     

I'm assuming those whose reservations were cancelled due to the fire, no?

From al reports I have seen here and on Chowhound the earliest anyone with a fire canceled reservation was able to reschedule was the 20th of May.

Either way - its good to hear they are back up and running and we all (as far as I know) got out rescheduled reservations.

Good luck this time around.

[rich]

I say all egullet members show up tomorrow evening (after the Derby) and just go sit at an open table - there should be a lot of them.

[Fat Guy]

They must be taking friends-and-family, VIP, and other non-public reservations only. Per Se could easily fill its dining room for months and months that way. If that's the plan, they're actually, in a sense, doing a favor for "civilians" with reservations, because those post-May-20 customers will reap the benefits of the three-week training period.

Still, this is just the latest unsavvy and consumer-unfriendly PR move by the restaurant. Why Per Se's management persists in operating the restaurant in such an obfuscated manner is beyond me. The French Laundry's publicists had no problem bulk-mailing me and a zillion other writers the other day about the stupid Restaurant Magazine award yet as far as I know there still hasn't been a single press release issued about Per Se since the fire. As has been the case for months now, neither customers nor the media can get a straight answer about what's going on at Per Se.

[kurl]

Man, I tried at about 1 PM (stupid opening reservation lines on Saturday) and couldnt' get anything earlier than 10 PM for "late June."

I guess I'll keep trying and when I finally get something earlier than 9, I'll cancel my later reservation or something.

Can't wait for the reviews to start coming in in earnest!

[gmi3804]

I'm wondering if this is going to be one of those restaurants which saves its prime time reservations for VIPs, regardless of whether someone calls right when the phone lines open for any given day.

[bilrus]

That's interesting because you always hear stories about how the very famous have just as hard a time getting in to the French Laundry as us "regular folks'. Do you think this is part of doing business in New York versus little, out-of-the-way Yountville?

[SG-]

The phone says they will open tomorrow and start taking reservations tomorrow for July 1st. So who is eating there from tomorrow (or three days ago) until May 20th? Can you just walk-in and be seated?

If no one is taking reservations before July 1st and the earliest re-scheduled people won't be going until May 20th, that's a three-week gap.     

I'm assuming those whose reservations were cancelled due to the fire, no?

From al reports I have seen here and on Chowhound the earliest anyone with a fire canceled reservation was able to reschedule was the 20th of May.

Either way - its good to hear they are back up and running and we all (as far as I know) got out rescheduled reservations.

Good luck this time around.

I was offered May 8 for my reschedule.