Nothing Vong at Jean-Georges

I doubt that Jean-Georges Vongerichten would lay claim to being the progenitor, precursor or prime mover of fusion cooking – he seems far too modest for that sort of thing – but the first time I came across it (in the form of Oriental ingredients cooked with French techniques and saucing) was at his Vong in the Berkeley Hotel in London. I thought it must have been in the very early 'nineties, but J-G reckons he had Vong for about ten years from 1995, so I feel very slightly less decrepit.
Value, value, value ... always value. I'm thinking of doing a New York version of the lark I got up to for The Spectator last year when they gave me a total budget of 200 quid to have a Michelin-starred lunch every day for a working week, tips included.
I'd definitely go to JoJo on Lex at 64th. Not because it was the first of Mr. V's ventures in NYC (which now has spawned around a dozen more, with a few others dotted around the globe in humdrum spots like Nassau and Shanghai) but because three, substantial "small plates" at this level of loveliness for $26 would be a serious steal anywhere, especially with some slinky wines by-the-glass from $9. It's the wine that's the problem with this sort of thing, of course. Doing the London version, I came seriously unstuck on day one with a glass of dessert wine at Pied-á-Terre and spent the rest of the week playing catch-up. I pulled it out of the fire on the Friday with dim-sum at Hakkasan.
If the same budget was, what? - $320 at today's exchange rate? - I would definitely do my sums so that I could also go to Jean-Georges, the three-star mother-ship, and have the same sort of deal offered at JoJo but at $16 a plate. Yes, that's sixteen bucks each (with a minimum of two) for plates of three-star Michelin food from one of the world's great chefs. I reckon I could get out for about $80 if I had just one glass of wine. But I'd want two. Problem solved – they do them by the half-glass. But would I be able to stump the extra $5 for the sublime brulée-topped foie grass? This is how it all starts ....