Daily Pampering: The Pierre Hotel’s organic caviar and oyster tasting

When the Pierre Hotel wants to celebrate, it celebrates in style. In honor of the hotel’s 80th anniversary, the Pierre in New York is recapturing the glamour of its past with a tasting flight of a trio of organic caviars with wine and vodka pairings.

Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from October 22 – December 31, 2010, Executive Chef Stephane Becht will debut the caviar tasting menu and The Pierre’s Two E restaurant. Enjoy a hand-selected tasting menu of organic caviar as well as North American oysters with wine and sprit pairings. The tastings start with three organic American Caviars served with blinis and crème fraiche for $65. The caviars served include:

AMERICAN PADDLEFISH: From the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, these glistening steel gray eggs rival Sevruga from the Caspian Sea
MOUNTAIN LAKE WHITEFISH: From Montana, these crisp and golden eggs burst with a fresh, mildly salty flavor WILD
HACKLEBACK STURGEON: This dark, silky caviar from the rivers of Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee offers a refined, nut-like flavor with a semi-sweet finish

If oysters are more your liking, choose from Neguac, New Brunswick shells, Kumamoto from California, Oregon, and Washington and Chesapeake Bay oysters.

Add wine or vodka pairing for $14 that includes: Chablis Domaine Roland Lanamtureux 2007 Burgundy; Muscadet ‘Clos de la Senaigrie’ Luc Choblet 2008 Loire; Picpoul Saint Garrigue 2007 Languedoc. Vodka options include Russian Standard Imperial; Belvedere and Chopin.

Want more? Get your daily dose of pampering right here.

The Pierre spends $100 million for five diamonds

It took $100 million in renovations, but The Pierre is now open … an occasion celebrated almost immediately with a AAA rating of Five Diamonds. The Pierre is now among only 113 hotels in North America and the Caribbean. Set just up from the corner of Central Park South and Fifth Ave and with amazing views of the park, The Pierre is inches from any luxury offering you could possibly want.

Heiko Kuenstle, the hotel’s general manager, says, “We are honored to receive this award in our first year of re-opening,” which he describes as “a tribute to our staff and our pursuit of excellence.” Kuenstle continues, “Our determination, from the moment we took over management of this hotel in 2005, has always been to be recognized as among the very best hotels in New York — which of course is tantamount to ranking among the world’s best. We say that with a full understanding that our job now only gets harder and that is to live up to the five diamond rating, every day and in every interaction with every guest.”

The Pierre is a Taj Hotels property, and Raymond Brickson, CEO and managing director of the parent company, is obviously psyched about the news. “Taj has always prided itself on running some of the best hotels in Asia,” he notes, “a fact that has repeatedly been acknowledged in international ranking going back decades. In India, our home base, Taj has always been synonymous with the very best.” Brickson explains, “We are just delighted with this AAA Five-Diamond award because it is an acknowledgment that Taj style and ongoing pursuit of excellence have been successfully transferred to North America.”