“I believe a modern chef can have six or seven restaurants but only one kitchen. Mine is the French Laundry.” So says Thomas Keller, whose highly anticipated Per Se restaurant opens this month in New York’s Time Warner Center. The perfectionist and control freak has tapped Jonathan Benno as head chef and 18 other French Laundry alumni to work the new kitchen. But when he heads back to Yountville in Napa, he’ll be literally looking over their shoulders with a state of the art plasma screen and live video link. The French Laundry is currently closed for renovations while Keller puts the final touches on Per Se’s opening. He’ll be heading back west sometime in the spring. (2nd link via Saute Wednesday)