Buckle your seat belts, this is a long ride...
First on my list of deliciousness to tell you you about is a (sort of) recent excursion to a restaurant the Fiancé and I had been dying to try. We are avid watchers of "Top Chef" and all its many incarnations (Masters, Just Desserts, All-Stars, etc), and had been introduced to Wiley Dufresne and his wonderful world of molecular gastronomy through that show. Whenever he is on, as a judge or contestant, we get excited to see what he'll do or say. So WD-50 was on the top of our list of "Top Chef Masters" restaurants to go to. (PS--others we've been to include Rick Bayliss's Frontera Grill in Chicago, Susur Lee's Shang on the LES, Tom Colicchio's Craft in NYC, David Burke's David Burke Townhouse in NYC, Cindy Pawlcyn's Backstreet Kitchen in St. Helena. I think that's it. Though not a Master, Zac Young of "Just Desserts" is the pastry chef at Flex Mussels, where I go frequently! Next up is Jonathan Waxman's Barbuto!)
It was the Fiancé's birthday early in May and I made a reservation at WD-50 for two weeks later (combination of the idea coming to me late in the game and there being too much going on during his birthday week to do it then!). It was a complete surprise for him! In doing some research before heading to the restaurant, I discovered they just recently changed their menu format. Diners now have a choice between a 5-course tasting menu and a 12-course tasting menu. Or one can order any two courses from either menu for $25 with any additional courses for another $15. In my mind, I envisioned us ordering the 5-course menu with the wine pairing.
We were meeting a block or two away from WD-50 so as to keep the surprise in tact--I wanted to walk him over to the restaurant and see the shock and happiness on his face! Before meeting, I stopped in the restaurant and was greeted by a friendly hostess and a bow tie-wearing, dapper-dressed maitre d' (according to the website, his name is Chris). I loved the place already! I informed them that I was bringing my fiancé in for a surprise birthday celebration (never hurts to let the people in charge know this should be a special experience!) and questioned whether there was any pork or shellfish on the 5-course menu, as he eats neither. They assured me they would take care of that situation and off I went to meet up with the birthday boy!
As we walked up to the restaurant, he still didn't really know where we were going. We rarely go to the Lower East Side, so he was at a loss. He finally sort of guessed that it might be WD-50 right before we walked up to the sign. Needless to say, he was pretty thrilled! Patting myself on the back!
We were once again greeted by the hostess and Chris and shown to our table. We swiftly (though not feeling rushed) decided on the 5-course tasting menu with the wine pairing. Because how can you possibly NOT do the wine pairing? And the extra fun tidbit about this pairing was that all the wines were domestic -- very cool.
The decor at WD-50 is sort of an understated cool. It's relatively small, seating 65 people in booths and tables and the bar. The walls are subdued primary colors and all work together really well. The place was actually designed by Wiley Dufresne's brother! Guests can see into the kitchen but not in an overwhelming way. If there were a catastrophe in there, they'd be able to hide it if they so chose. All in all it's a comfortable, inviting atmosphere to spend a couple hours in!
To help control our appetites while waiting for the meal, we happily munched on their crispy flatbread. They are paper thin, so you don't fill up on them at all!
Oh, yes, they had already poured our first pairing, which happened to be Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs. What's great about that wine is that we have actually been to the Schramsberg winery! I love when we can enjoy wines from places we've been to! Before our first course came out we snacked on an amuse bouche! As you can see, it was a fish tartare of some sort. It's been long enough at this point that I just can't remember what it was! But accompanying the fish was finely chopped herbs and apple and toasted barley. Delish!
But on to the first course! Another pour of the Schramsberg started it off right! Out comes the Scrambled Egg Ravioli, Charred Avocado, Hamachi. Holy guacamole! I was obsessed with this, whereas the Fiancé wasn't quite as crazy enthused over it. It had been molded into that square but the inside was warm and soft with an amazing texture. Basically it was like the best lightly scrambled egg I'd ever had. And the charred avocado? Like velvet. It was served with little crispy potato confetti. Basically a deconstructed omelette with home fries! Oh, and a piece of hamachi to go with it!
Next up: Pickled Beef Tongue, Fried Mayo, Tomato Molasses, Onion Soil, Romaine. Can you say roast beef sandwich?? That's basically what this dish tasted like when you created a super bite: a little bit of every element on the plate on one fork!
Now, I'm not sure I've ever had tongue. I've never really been all that hot-to-trot to try it either. However, given our location and the fun and fancy on the plate, I decided that nothing was off limits! I just had to pretend it was another cut of beef as I ate it! This was another amazing dish! What a play on the concept of a simple sandwich! The tomato molasses was rich and dark, the fried mayo (fried mayo!!) was disturbingly good. What you can't see so well in the picture is the macerated lettuce and pulverized onion to the side. Wow. Just wow. I'm still not totally sold on tongue. But I was definitely sold on this dish!
And I can't forget to tell you about the wine. I almost forgot which is a crime! This wine has now become a favorite of ours and I even wrote to the winery to find out where they sell it in NYC! Over the last few years, my taste in wine has grown (thanks to the Fiancé) and I have come to love big, oaky, creamy chardonnays. Well, this Santa Maria Valley La Fenetre 2009 Chardonnay from Santa Barbara blew our minds! And with beef! It held its ground and would not be overpowered. Nor did it overshadow the food. THIS is why you get the wine pairings! The lovely staff of WD-50 who put this together know their stuff! Just thinking about this wine makes me want to pop open the bottle sitting in our wine fridge at home! I'm drooling.
Ok, moving on. The next course was actually my least favorite, though I don't have any major complaints. I think coming off of the amazing dish and wine we had just finished, nothing would compare! Course three was Mediterranean Bass, Artichokes, Bamboo Rice, Halva, Chicory. The bass was cooked to perfection with a crispy skin on top, the artichokes were fine, though some of the other flavors sort of outdid the flavor of the hearts. I'm one who loves artichoke hearts (especially fresh, not canned), so losing that flavor was slightly disappointing. The standout of this dish was the halva. It was powder! It added a very different flair to a regular fish dish. But again, I wasn't over the moon about it. Some of the elements just seemed added on there, without much purpose. I'd love to find out from Chef Dufresne what was behind the concept. Wine pairing: Pino Noir Rose, Red Tail Ridge Winery in the Finger Lakes. A very good rose that I would definitely have again.
Course four was Lamb Loin, Black Garlic Romesco, Pickled Ramp, Dried Soybean. Just like all the other proteins we'd encountered, this was the most perfectly cooked piece of meat! Pink and juicy. This was paired with a North Fork wine, Merlot Paumanok 2007. Great pairing once again, but by now in the experience this should have been expected. Yet we were completely in awe of how well the wine went with the dish. I would have loved more of the pickled ramp. You see, I have only recently discovered ramps and I can't get enough! The dried soybean (or edamame) was a great compliment to the lamb, as was the black garlic romesco. Like the tomato molasses, this was full of flavor and I could have had it rubbed all over the lamb and been a happy girl! However, a little goes a long way and the smear available was sufficient for the portion!
And finally...dessert. What was great about the 5-course menu was that neither of us were so stuffed that we felt like dessert simply had to be fit in that special "dessert" part of our stomachs! You know what I'm talking about. You've eaten so much you could roll out the door, but when the dessert menu comes, you can somehow make it happen. We didn't have that feeling. Which was a good thing! We were excited to have dessert. You would be too. It was "French Toast" with Brown Butter Ice Cream and Raisin Puree. I have to be honest. I don't know why the french toast is in quotation marks. It felt, looked and tasted like french toast. I'm assuming it was made from something that isn't normally used for french toast. We were so busy eating it that we didn't even ask. But see for yourself...it looks like french toast! Amazing!
And then, as a birthday treat from the restaurant, they brought us out a special dessert. It looked like a votive candle, only chocolate!
The base was chocolate, the candle inside was wrapped in an edible material, couldn't even begin to tell you what it was! There were also 2 madeleine cookies with it! Both desserts went deliciously with the Port Lot Three Marietta Cellers from Napa. What an amazing ending to the meal.
But...it wasn't over!!! While our fellow diners listened with envy, Chris (remember the bow-tied maitre d'??) comes over to us as I'm signing the bill and says that if we can hang tight for a couple minutes he thought we might like to see the kitchen. What?? Of course we'd like to see the kitchen! Well, the parts of it not visible from the dining room!
Chris brought us back to the kitchen and had us stand in a VERY specific place and emphasized that we shouldn't step back or forwards, otherwise we'd be in the way. He proceeded to rattle off all the different areas of the kitchen and what happened in each one. We were standing just a few feet away from "the pass" where Chef Dufresne was putting finishing touches on everything! Such a fast moving and exciting place. Also, I noticed, very clean! On our way out the door, we got to quickly say hello to Chef Wiley Dufresne himself! He couldn't really stop what he was doing but he did thank us for coming and we got to tell him how much we enjoyed everything before floating on our cloud nine out of the kitchen!
Our dinner at WD-50 ranks at the very top of my "Best Meal Ever" list. Everything from the service to the food to the wine to the complete nirvana I felt at the end of the experience was completely top notch! Get there as fast as you can!
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