Straight out of 1997: Jean-Georges’ empire-birthing original NYC menu will be re-created for one month at the Four Seasons in Philadelphia

Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s eponymous restaurant debut in 1997 at New York’s Trump International Hotel & Tower was nothing short of triumphant: a rare four stars from Ruth Reichl in the New York Times, and the James Beard Awards for restaurant of the year and chef of the year in 1998.

Vongerichten went on to create a dining empire that spans 60 restaurants around the world, with a Jean-Georges location landing in Philadelphia in 2019, atop the Four Seasons Hotel on the 59th and 60th floors of the Comcast Technology Center near Logan Square. The restaurant was closed seven months later by the pandemic, reopening in March 2022.

To mark the restaurant’s fifth anniversary, chef Colin Henderson, who arrived four months ago, is re-creating classics from Jean-Georges’ 1997 tasting menu for the month of August, starting July 31. As Jean-Georges menus evolve constantly, most of these dishes are only brought out every so often for nostalgia’s sake, like the Disney vault.

The meal will be a splurge, for sure: The prix-fixe is $248, and the pairing tacks on an additional $215 — but you can order à la carte.

Like all Jean-Georges experiences, the meal starts with amuse-bouches: tuna ribbons with avocado, radish, ginger dressing, and chili oil; toasted egg yolk, caviar, and herbs; and trout sushi. Next is “egg caviar,” a brown egg whose top is sheared off and filled with vodka whipped cream, topped with caviar. Then come two diver scallops, perfectly seared, topped with caramelized cauliflower and served beside a sauce of raisins, capers, seasoned with sherry vinegar, and enriched by butter. Next is turbot with Château-Chalon sauce, followed by lobster tartine with sugar snap peas in fenugreek-lemongrass broth, and then squab with preserved lemon, onion compote, and spiced jus. Raspberries with pavlova meringue is the designated dessert.

The recipes in hand, the real challenge, the team found, were the wine pairings. It would be impractical, if not impossible, to re-create the list from 1997, so Henderson and beverage director Dawn Trabing looked to 2019 — a particularly good year in many French regions.

One afternoon last week, Trabing, with input from assistant food and beverage director Andras Bodor and sommelier Max Pinsky, set out buckets full of bottles to narrow their selections.

Henderson prepped the menu, working out details of the plating, over which he has some discretion. “At the same time, I won’t stray too far from what [Jean-Georges] has set up for me,” said Henderson, a Canadian-born chef who came up in the Daniel Boulud orbit. Immediately before he arrived in Philadelphia, he was working with the Jean-Georges team in New York, which offered a similar classics menu earlier this year. “I’ve seen some of it and it was phenomenal,” Henderson said.

After the amuse-bouches, Pinsky pulled out a Marc Hebrart Special Club Champagne, which ultimately made the cut, for the egg caviar. Thumbs up for the Brut’s bubbles and the caviar’s brininess.

For the scallop, Trabing considered something from Deiss, in Alsace. The choice: Deiss’ Altenberg de Bergheim.

For the turbot with Château-Chalon sauce, Trabing was thinking of the Domaine du Pelican Savagnin Sous Voile, from Jura. A sip, a nibble, and smiles. What’s particularly impressive about this dish is the sauce, which is made with wine but gets a finishing splash off the stove with raw Château-Chalon wine. (Henderson only had a 2013 on hand for this tasting — way off the charts, price-wise).

The consensus was that a red would pair best with the lobster tartine. Trabing had Patrimonio Blanc “Carco” Antoine Arena from Corsica on a notepad, but the winner was an Albert Bichot Pommard from Burgundy.

A red was suggested with the squab, and Château de Valois won over Château Le Puy.

Pastry chef Danielle Siepp was tasked with the raspberries with pavlova meringue, which will be paired with Chavost Ratafia Champenois, a vin de liqueur made from Chardonnay and Meunier must fortified with grape brandy.

Each dish may be ordered individually as part of the a la carte menu. The restaurant’s vegetarian prix-fixe menu ($198) also will be offered.

“If people just want to come in and want to try the scallop, they can come in and just try the scallop,” Henderson said. “It’s not like someone has to come in and spend $248.”