Well, where do I begin. WD-50 is herald as one of the most ground-breaking restaurants in the country as far as molecular gastronomy is concerned. Molecular gastronomy is "is a sub-discipline of food science that seeks to investigate, explain and make practical use of the physical and chemical transformations of ingredients that occur while cooking, as well as the social, artistic and technical components of culinary and gastronomic phenomena in general."-wikipedia……Taking cues from the famous Spanish Chef Ferran Adria- the chef who put the use of gastronomy with food on the map, Chef Wylie Dufrense has brought that ideal stateside being one of the first forward thinking chefs with this idea.
Of course, WD-50 was on my wish list of restaurants to dine at. I had just never gotten the chance to, until now. Like usual one of my college buddies was in town with her friends and we decided to go. I was extremely excited to go because just to witness how far someones imagination can go with food and to what extent ingredients can manipulated and changed but still taste delicious.
I think we were lucky because we are some of the few diners that had the pleasure of eating off the menu that made him know. Chef Wylie has decided to shake things up and change his entire menu starting the 2nd week of May. In a recent New York Times article-
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/dining/at-wd-50-wylie-dufresne-is-shaking-up-the-entire-menu.htm he goes into detail about the reason for the change and what diners can expect from the new menu.
So usually I go into great detail of critiquing the food that I eat however, this was a totally different experience. The entire course of the night I was in sheer awe of all the dishes that were presented to us. This blog entry will be an exception…. i will let the pictures speak for itself.
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| Peekytoe Crab Roll with Celeriac Noodles and Salt & Vinegar Chips |
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| Duck Pastrami- tasted like a pastrami on rye sandwich. |
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Aerated Foie Gras with Brioche Crisp
"..i think this is the best thing I have ever put in my mouth." Rachel |
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| Cold Fried Chicken with Buttermilk Ricotta, Tabasco & Caviar |
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| Eggs Benedict Florentine- Spinach "paper", congealed egg yolks, fried hollandaise sauce nuggets. Delicious |
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| Scallop Ravioli- the "pasta" was actually scallop along with the filling |
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| Sesame Flatbread- "Its amazing how they got it paper thin yet so flavorful.."Natalia |
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| Fried Skate, Sunchokes, Sunflower Seed Puree and Giardeneria Vegetables |
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| Duck Breast, Mushroom Dumplings, Consommé |
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Liquid Churro, Spicy Dark Chocolate Sauce, Gelato
On appearance the churro looked like it was crisp, freshly fried. However, with the swipe of a spoon it had a creamy texture |
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| Chocolate Ganache, Beet Powder, Chocolate Pebbles |
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| Rootbeer Float- it was like an airy vanilla rootbeer foam. |
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| Chef Wylie let us take a peak into his kitchen |
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| This is where they store all of the powders, gels & gums that help manipulated food into different textures & forms |
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| He even took a picture with us :) |
