On Friday nights many people go on the quest for a good beer but take that simple idea to Per Se restaurant in New York City and the idea gets a little more complicated (and fabulous). Tomorrow, September 18, Per Se is hosting a beer-paired tasting dinner with brewmaster Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery. Brooklyn Brewery Beers will be matched with a seven-course tasting menu. Among the other offerings, this is your first chance to taste "Reinschweinsgebot" an innovative beer infused with bacon from Benton's Country Smokehouse. You can't go wrong with bacon. This event will take place in the Per Se Private Dining Room and costs $350 per person.

Thomas Keller's Per Se restaurant in New York City is launching a new series of wine dinners called An American Table at Per Se. The series explores American winemaking through three different themes expressed with three different winemaker-hosted dinners one on May 28, the next on June 11 and the final one on June 22. Each dinner will consist of a standing reception followed by a seated dinner with a tasting menu paired with wine selections served in Per Se's private dining room. Chef de Cuisine Jonathan Benno will create each evening's special menu and Head Sommelier Roxane Shafee-Moghadam will join each winemaker to help with guest questions.

The series launches on May 28th with Wells Guthrie of Copain Wine Cellars who will discuss old world inspiration in American winemaking. He will share his own wines along with additional selections from some of his most beloved French winemakers and influencers including Jean-Louis Chave, Sylvain Cathiard and Thierry Allemand.

On June 11, Per Se hosts a discussion on the importance of the land with Greg Brewer of Brewer-Clifton, Melville Winery and Diatom Wines. The six-course tasting menu will be designed to bridge the regional reference points, from Japan to Chablis, reflected in Brewer's accompanying wine pairings.

The third dinner on June 22 looks at modern winemaking with Abe Schoener from Scholium Project. He will showcase a variety of wines from his portfolio including selections from his Southern France collection and a preview of wines from his latest project, Red Hook Winery, an urban winery in the Red Hook region of Brooklyn which produces wine from New York State grapes.

Each dinner costs $325 per person plus tax and reservations are limited.

At the start of March, one of New York City's priciest restaurant's Masa dropped its menu price. It's a good time to eat in New York City for less because, as the Wall Street Journal reports, another of the city's premier dining destinations, Thomas Keller's New York restaurant, Per Se is introducing an à la carte menu. Since the restaurant opened, Per Se has only offered two multi-course dinner tasting menus at $275 a pop.

The à la carte menu which is served only in the restaurant's lounge, lets customers sample a few of the famed chef's dishes. You don't even have to make a reservation months in advance, you can simply walk in. The menu changes nightly and includes items that are part of the tasting menu served in the dining room. Of course you'll still be spending quite a bit, wine and cocktails start in the $15 to $20 range and most dishes are around $30 to $40.

Those who can spend $1,500 might want to get into French Laundry on December 9. That's when Thomas Keller and Grant Achatz are hosting the third of three spectacular 20 course dinners. The first was held at Keller's New York restaurant Per Se, the second was held at Achatz's Chicago restaurant Alinea and the third will be at Keller's French Laundry in Yountville, California. The chance to have two of the top chefs in the U.S. cook for you is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Those who can attend can expect Keller's exquisite attention to detail and Achatz's inventive cuisine on course after course bound to feature truffles, caviar, foie gras and other expensive ingredients.

Coffee company Illy created limited edition coffee cups in collaboration with some of the top names in the arts from 1992 to 2005. Now they are offering a unique chance to get all those cups in one spectacular display. The Illy Cup Collection Chandelier features approximately 330 cups designed by Julian Schnabel, James Rosenquist, Robert Rauschenberg, David Byrne, Francis Ford Coppola and others. The spiral chandelier is valued at $60,000 and one of two in existence. One is in illy caffè's home town of Trieste, Italy. The other will be offered for auction at illy's Annual Cup of Kindness event to be held at Per Se on December 4, 2007, hosted by Martha Stewart and Andrea Illy, with co-hosts James Rosenquist and Thomas Keller. The evening's auction benefits Share our Strength. Tickets to this event are $1500, and all proceeds raised will be used for schools in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee.

The chandelier will be on display to the public at New York's Time Warner Center from December 3 to December 29 at illy's Push Button House, a fully functional and sustainable home built inside a standard industrial shipping container. In just 90-seconds with the push of a button the shipping container turns into a five-room home with a kitchen, dining room, bedroom, living room and library. Visitors to the Iilly Push Button House can enjoy free coffee and donate money to support Share Our Strength. Pictures of the Illy Push Button House are in the gallery below.

This is the time of year where special occasions and rare visits from family and friends are plentiful, and although home cooking is a big part of the season so is eating out -- because when people are in from out of town you hardly want to take them down to the local "all-you-can-eat for $4.99" buffet to celebrate their visit. But if you don't want to get stuck choosing between either the buffet or McDonald's then you might want to plan ahead, because as we all know everybody else in town is going to have the same idea!

If you have plans to hit the local fine dining hot spot this holiday season you better check to see if it's on this Forbes list of the top ten toughest to score restaurant reservations:

What does it take to be the best restaurant in the world? Ask El Bulli, who holds the honor for the second year in a row according to Restaurant magazine's ranking of the top 50. Last year El Bulli squeezed out Fat Duck for the top spot, and this year all top six spots remain the same. The United States made a respectable showing also, with two restaurants in the top 10: The French Laundry and Per Se, and among others Alinea in Chicago made the list for the first time this year at #36.

What are the 20 best restaurants in the world? According to Restaurant magazine, El Bulli, Ferran Adria's iconic restaurant in northern Spain is now top on the list, upsetting last year's winner the U.K.'s Fat Duck (shown here), which is now number two, where El Bulli was last year. Both restaurants specialize in experimental cuisine. French Laundry was tops in the U.S. at number three four and Thomas Keller's New York restaurant Per Se ranked eighth.

1. El Bulli (Spain)
2. The Fat Duck (U.K.)
3. Pierre Gagnaire (France)
4. French Laundry (U.S.)
5. Tetsuya's (Australia)
6. Bras (France)
7. Restaurant le Louis XV (Monaco)
8. Per Se (U.S.)
9. Restaurant Arzak (Spain)
10. Mugaritz (Spain)
11. Can Fabes (Spain)
12. Nobu (U.K.)
13. Gambero Rosso (Italy)
14. Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road (U.K.)
15. Restaurant Alain Ducasse (France)
16. Jean Georges (U.S., New York)
17. Le Cinq (France)
18. Daniel (U.S., New York)
19. Oud Sluis (Netherlands)
20. Chez Panisse (U.S.)