Dinner at WD-50

I’ve been to every 4 star restaurant in New York City, and dozens of other restaurants in the area over the years. I am fortunate enough to be able to afford such pleasures now and again (that's the humble way of saying I worked my ass off to get where I am), and as a foodie and a serious home cook, this is one of the things that I really like to do. WD-50 has always been on my mind to go to, but in the back of my head it was relegated to second-tier status. I finally remedied the situation over the weekend, and now I am kicking myself that it took so long. In a nutshell, the food is thought-provoking, and more importantly, delicious.

WD-50 and its chef, Wylie Dufresne, have gotten lots of press over the years, chiefly because of chef Dufresne’s use of what is called molecular gastronomy. Personally, I think that is a stupid term, but what it describes is the use of science to present food in a different way. Chef Dufresne has been featured on Top Chef as a judge and contestant, and has a way about him that is certainly intriguing. But what about the food?

You see, gimmickry gets you nowhere unless the food tastes great. Any idiot can throw unusual random flavor combinations together, or use liquid nitrogen or gelling agents to create odd textures. At its heart, this is what I feared about WD-50 and what kept me away so long. I don’t want to go to a restaurant and be shocked. I want to eat great food, period.

My wife and I showed up on Saturday evening for our reservation. The staff were attentive and engaging, and we were never left hanging. So far so good. We quickly decided on the tasting menu, and then waffled on whether to get the wine pairing as well. In the end, since the restaurant is offering the awesome deal of 50% each bottle of wine when you order the tasting menu, we quickly decided to go it on our own. We had a bottle of Pichler Riesling to start, which turned out to be a fantastic combination with the first half of the menu.

Note: There are pictures of many of these dishes at the WD-50 website. They are worth a look!

The amuse, “bay scallops, white chocolate, mustard, beer” was the weakest dish of the night, but was still interesting. Since the various items on the plate were so small, I had a hard time to figure out what each individual thing was (besides the scallops). There were curlicues of some sort of crispy thing (mustard flavor, I think), bits of a “cake” (beer flavor?) , a couple of tiny scallops, and a white puree (chocolate?) on the bottom. Taken all together, there was an interesting combination of the scallop with a taste of what evoked for me horseradish cheese spread, of all things.

Next was “everything bagel, smoked salmon threads, crispy cream cheese”. As a Jew who has eaten bagels and lox his entire life, this one really tickled me. It is also a great play on the restaurant’s location, the lower east side of Manhattan, which was once one of the biggest enclaves of Jewish immigrants in the US. What threw me for a loop, though, was the fact that this perfect little “bagel” was.... ice cream! The smoked salmon threads were a flossy/cotton candy texture, but with intensely smoky salmon taste. There was also crispy cream cheese (no idea how they did that), and some really nice pickled onions as well. Again, this was a taste from my childhood transformed into something very unique texturally.

Things were getting interesting after the bagel, and next came “foie gras, passionfruit, Chinese celery”. I am a foie gras nut, especially when cold, so I was pretty excited about this one. The cylinder of foie, when cut, released a lava flow of intense, sweet/acidic passionfruit puree. It was sitting on top of crystallized celery which has sort of a granita-like texture to it, with a slightly sweet taste. The richness of the liver with the sweetness of the passionfruit was absolutely delicious. What was even better was the pairing with the Riesling we were drinking, which itself had intense passionfruit notes. They both played off each other, creating what I would say was one of the top ten combinations I have had in my restaurant dining career. This was an utterly fantastic dish.

Next up: “Scrambled egg ravioli, charred avocado, kindai kampachi”. This was essentially two dishes in parallel, each excellent in their own way, one very homey and traditional, and the other more stripped down and modern. The egg ravioli was a cube of scrambled egg, fluffy and tender, and there was a “gravel” of potatoes. Taken together, you could have been eating classic US diner food – eggs and homefries. At the same time, there was a strip of perfectly fresh, raw tuna and a cylinder of avocado puree that had been charred with a torch. This was a very nice combination as well. I liked the play on classic and modern with this dish, and the way they played off each other.

The egg dish was followed by “Cold fried chicken, buttermilk-ricotta, tabasco, caviar”. This was a cylinder (Chef Dufresne seems to be a big fan of this geometric shape) of cold fried chicken, cooked to perfection, accompanied by fresh ricotta made from buttermilk, thickened Tabasco sauce, and caviar. There were many groans of pleasure during this one. The chicken (not white meat, but not sure exactly what cut it was - perhaps a terrine?) was flavorful and crisp, the soft, tangy ricotta and spicy/vinegary Tabasco cut through it, and there was a subtle brininess from the caviar. Again, a very homey dish spun in a different way. I think the use of Tabasco with caviar is very clever, and something I wouldn’t have thought made sense before I tasted it. The unctuous quality of the fish eggs is often paired with creamy, tangy sour cream, but I think that detracts from their delicacy. Is there a play on the classic blini/sour cream/caviar dish going on here, with the sour cream being replaced by the ricotta? Or perhaps a "Chicken McNugget" provocation? Who knows, but it was very good.

“Perch, kohlrabi, 'dirty' grape, cocoa nib” followed the egg, and I was slightly apprehensive. I really don’t like kohlrabi much; it has a very earthy and musky quality that I find off-putting. This dish was a piece of sauteed perch on top of a verjus (an acidic juice from unripe grapes) gelee, with halved red grapes and small baton of raw kohlrabi on top. There were small shards of cocoa nibs scattered about, which I presume is why the grapes were “dirty”. Fish and cocoa sounds like an odd combination, and perhaps it is, but overall this was a very successful dish for me. The tender fish, sweet acidity of the verjus, and the grapes are a natural partner. However, the musky/bitter quality of the cocoa nibs and kohlrabi kept the dish from being too 1-dimensional. Without the nibs, I think the dish would have been unbalanced. I found that the cocoa created a lingering quality in the mouth as well as an interesting textural counterpoint.

Next was the mysterious “beef and béarnaise”. I had no idea whatsoever this dish was going to be, and it surprised me when a soup bowl was placed in front of me. There were several “béarnaise gnocchi” floating in an intensely-flavored roasted beef consommé. The texture of the gnocchi was yielding and soft - I believe it was "encapsulated sauce", and the broth was unbelievably powerful. When combined in the mouth, it was like eating the very essence of this dish, but in a new way. This dish brought back some intense taste memories for me, since eating Chateaubriand and béarnaise sauce at a local restaurant with my parents growing up is something that has stayed with me. This dish just blew me away.

“Lamb loin, black garlic romesco, soybean, pickled garlic chive” was another dish that got a stunned “wow” from me after the first bite. The Colorado lamb was cooked to perfection, and the garlic Romesco sauce was intensely flavored. However, the thing that took it over the edge for me was the edamame, which were dried into a very crunchy pebble form. That intense vegetal bite balanced out the richness of the lamb and created an unusual and delicious combination

“Caramel apple” was an apple sorbet filled with a center of liquid caramel. A refreshing palate cleanser after the meat dishes

“Hazelnut tart, coconut, chocolate, chicory” had a soft consistency, with the bitterness of the chicory complementing the chocolate.

Looking at my copy of the menu, “Carmelized brioche, apricot, buttercream, lemon thyme” came next. Oddly, I have no memory of it whatsoever. Perhaps too much wine?

Lastly, there were "Cocoa packets, Chocolate shortbread, milk ice cream". Little balls of chocolate that turned out to have ice cream insie, and odd rectangular chocolate packet with some sort of crunchy chocolate in side (the shortbread?).

If there was one annoyance, albeit completely expected, it was the coffee. Why oh why do fine restaurants spend so much time and effort on the food only to serve barely passable coffee? I had the same experience at Per Se where an absolutely transcendent meal was followed by an average Cuppa Joe. A couple of people, including my wife, have suggested that these restaurants have a "coffee Sommelier" or some such, and it makes sense for me. New job for Scotto anyone? After all Thomas Keller serves three different salts and multiple butters with some dishes; are you telling me he can't offer a few different coffee origins to complement dessert? Time to get with the program, guys!

Throughout the meal, I was facing the kitchen watching Chef de Cuisine Jon Bignelli work the pass. I was disappointed that Chef Dufresne was not there, but lo and behold he appeared at the bar later in our meal. Our server took us into the kitchen to look around after, which was neat. I could not believe how calm it was given the intricacy of each plate that had to be put together.

Lastly, I couldn't resist interrupting Wylie at the bar as we left to thank him for a wonderful meal. He was very nice to us, and took the time to chat for a moment. I am regretting not getting a picture with him, but that would have been a bit geeky. I know how hard these guys work, and I felt a little guilty about bothering him when he was trying to relax a bit.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I needed to write it down so the memory would linger longer. It was a fantastic evening.