How does Americas top chef expand his franchise without sacrificing his pursuit of perfection?
By TERRY MCCARTHY From the Feb. 09, 2004 issue of TIME magazine It is mid-January, and Thomas Keller, one of the country’s most celebrated chefs, has just arrived from Napa Valley, Calif., to the coldest weather in New York City in 10 years. Over the weekend the pipes froze and burst in the new high-rise Time Warner Center building where his restaurant, Per Se, is located, so there is no water. The floor in his kitchen is being re-laid for the third time to get it level. The fire alarm keeps going off with flashing lights and a deafening siren, and platoons of electricians, plasterers and carpenters are working frantically to get the place ready for the building’s opening in three weeks. None of this bedlam fazes Keller, 48, who is used to the organized chaos of a busy kitchen. Instead he has zeroed in on a minor detail, the tiny labels on the Garnier Thiebaut linen that has just arrived from France. “Especially made for the French Laundry” they read, referring to Keller’s four-star re
