Thomas Keller Announces Corey Chow As New Chef De Cuisine At Per Se

Corey Chow will replace Eli Kaimeh as chef de cuisine at Thomas Keller's Manhattan flagship restaurant, Per Se. Kaimeh, who started at Per Se in 2004 and has been head chef since 2010, is taking a three-month sabbatical.  Chow joined the staff at Per Se in 2007 after working at Alan Wong's in Honolulu, and at the NoMad and Torrisi Italian Specialties in New York. Keller says Chow is well-suited for his new position, as he has been preparing for the upward move for more than a year. 

Keller is also well-known for his Napa Valley restaurant The French Laundry — which, like Per Se, has three stars from the Michelin Guide.

Per Se serves an impressive $325 nine-course prix fixe menu and offers an award-winning wine list featuring more than 2,000 bottles. The restaurant suffered a blow when influential New York Times critic Pete Wells blasted the place in early 2016, demoting it from three stars to two, but since then its reputation has rebounded. You can find this review, and more like it, in the worst reviews for the best restaurants in America.