Food For Thought

I took my sister out to WD~50 last Friday night. For her it was a first ime and for me a second visit, and I must say that I enjoyed the tasting menu more on this occasion then I did a year ago. I did not take photos, as my camera can't handle the low light and I really hate it when I'm distracted by flashes coming from near-by tables, not to mention that flash and food don't mix well. The collage at the top of the page is taken from the WD~50 website, and isn't completely representative of what we actually ate.

For those of you already familiar with molecular gastronomy (a very broad term, actually, for many, many current trends-- and one rejected by most of the chefs associated with it) you already know it's all about techniques and technologies for preparing and presenting familiar foods in new ways with unexpected textures and taste combinations. The big names are Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck; Grant Achatz of Alinea; Ferran Adrià of El Bulli; and, of course, Wylie Dufresne of WD-50. Unfortunately I have only been to Mr. Dufresne's restaurant thus far, though Jack and I have sworn we'll be going to The Fat Duck at the earliest opportunity. 

There's a lot of science back in the WD~50 kitchen: lab equipment, flash freezing, chemical powders and lord knows what else, but for me it's the fun is in the presentation and how each dish creates a little cognitive dissonance as you reconsider the ingrained habits of your palate. Looking at what appears to be a sunny-side-up egg but tasting coconut and carrot married together with olive oil, smoked maple syrup and cardamom forces you to pay attention to what is on your tongue. This sort of food makes you sit up and use your words. Instead of just saying "This is delicious," you find yourself making statements about "deconstructionism" and "witty" and "elemental." You find yourself trying to isolate flavors.

You also find yourself experiencing memory flashes, or at least my sister and I did. As we ate the lamb belly (top right in the collage), both of us agreed it "tasted like Grandma's cooking," and then spent quite some time trying to figure out why, given that Grandma certainly never served us anything like lamb belly with black chickpeas and cherried cucumber. Finally we agreed it was the unctuous taste of fat. Grandma was never afraid to cook with plenty of fat.

Giggling with surprise and pleasure is another common reaction. When the pizza pebbles (alternating rows of dried pizza spices and pepperoni emulsion with dried shiitake mushroom chips) arrived we listened solemnly to our waiter as he described the dish. He had a bit of an accent so I misheard "emulsion" as "lotion" (which, frankly seemed perfectly plausible). But the real giggles came when we first tried the balls of pizza spices and decided they would more appropriately be named "pizza poprocks."

There were some real stand-outs, starting with the Knot Foie (absolutely gorgeous and I wish the WD~50 website had a photo). A terrine of foie gras tied into a knot and garnished with dots of kimchi puree alrernating with sultana raisin puree and then sprinkled with tiny rice crisps. The texture of the foie was very light and airy while the taste was extremely dense. Lovely dish.

We were intrigued by the French Onion Soup (bottom right in the collage)-- a deconstructed classic consisting of beef broth with madeira and two floating balls of encapsulated gruyere. Balanced on the bowl were two thin pieces of crispy toasted brioche, one of them topped with caramelized onion puree and another encapsulated ball of warm ozzing gruyere. This dish required that you make a mess of it to get the full effect, and we promptly crumbled our toasts into the broth and broke open the gruyere balls. The only criticism I had here was that the beef broth was a bit thin.

My hands-down favorite was the Eggs Benedict, consisting of fried cubes of hollandaise sauce, cylindrical shaped egg yolk, and thin crispy pieces of bacon. I'm going back soon just to have it again. Awesome.

Of the desserts, the hit of the evening was the toasted coconut cake, with carob, smoked hazelnut, and brown butter sorbet. The cake was dense, buttery and fabulous and the brown butter ice cream in combination with powdered smoked hazelnut just... well, it made my eyes roll back.

The restaurant itself is comfortable. Hip without being pretentious, and the atmosphere and service is attentive without being obsequious. We were challenged, surprised, delighted and sometimes confused but never disappointed. Try it. You might love it.

The menu with wine pairings:

King oyster noodles, pine nut, pickled ramp, basil
Gruner Veltliner 'Punkt Genau' Brut Ewald Gruber NV (Weinviertel, Austria)

Pizza pebbles, pepperoni, shiitake
Gruner Veltliner 'Punkt Genau' Brut Ewald Gruber NV (Weinviertel, Austria)

Hamachi tartare, wakame, sake lees tahini, grapefruit-shallot
'Thalassitis' Gaia Estate 2006 (Santorini, Greece)

Knot foie
Miyasaka 'Yamahai 50 Nama' Ginjo Sake (Nagano-Prefecture, Japan)

Eggs benedict
'Thalassitis' Gaia Estate 2006 (Santorini, Greece)

French onion soup
'Old Telegram' Bonny Doon Vineyard 2001 (Santa Cruz, CA)

Cuttlefish, squash, chamomile, orange, toast oil
'Old Telegram' Bonny Doon Vineyard 2001 (Santa Cruz, CA)

Lamb belly, black chickpea, cherried cucumber
Shiraz 'Reserve' Old Gnarly's 2004 (Barossa Valley, South Australia)

Wintergreen parfait, walnut, avocado, chartreuse

Toasted coconut cake, carob, smoked hazelnut, brown butter sorbet
Cerdon du Bugey 'Methode Ancestrale' Renardat-Fache NV (Bugey, France)

Soft white chocolate, potato, malt, white beer ice cream
Commandaria St. John NV (Lemesos, Cyprus)

Chicory ice cream-coffee

Comments

[Adele]

If I'd heard about molecular gastronomy when I started college, I might have majored in Chemistry rather than Fine Arts. There was a NYT article a few months ago that described some of the processes used by these chefs. I know it mentioned the knot foie gras - very interesting stuff.

[Manggy]

Fascinating. I think I am a decade, thousands of miles, and paychecks away from such an experience though ;) By that time, I hope molecular gastro will not yet have been a distant memory!

[Bellini Valli]

I have seen similar places on the net and on TV at times. It is fascinating how they've taken food and turned it into scinece...which I guess it has been all along. They take it to the next level.

[Lisa]

As the recipient of this really incredible meal (thank you Ann), I have to weigh in. I had never even heard of molecular gastronomy. Initially I was disappointed to think I would leave the table hungry. Not the case. It was great fun to linger and to question every tiny fork full. Ann is a witty and intelligent dinner companion. A meal like this requires that. I can only imagine how different the experience would have been had I been paired with a companion who didn't dissect each flavor with such pleasure. We had such a good time and I was quite stuffed! Here's to more great sister time......next time it's on me.....xox

[Aran]

Wow Ann... how lucky that you get to live in NY and be close to so many fabulous restaurants! I have heard great things about WD-50. He spends a lot of time in Spain (where I am from) because that's where a lot of the molecular gastronomy chefs are. He participates in a lot of demos and tradeshows so he is quite known overseas. So I'm so happy to read your review. Thank you!!

[Jack]

You said this tasting menu was better than the one we had and I have to say, it looks it. Not that ours was bad...!

We must go again soon, now I'm back. And now I'm back I'd better get weaving on some posts. You've been holding the fort alone too long!

[Pasticcera]

I've been hearing about this coming from Spain and even one in Italy, surprisingly. I'm glad to hear it is filling and tasty,because I have been more than skeptcal, but of course very curious. Thanks for forging ahead for the rest of us.

[dhanggit]

i love this idea of molecular gastronomy!! there is one very popular festival they organize in one of the major cities in france..really interesting you can meet all these famous chefs and their creations :-)we are planning to go this year. great idea to post on this :-)

[Zenchef]

I've been very close to the molecular gastronomy movement for a while. I'll share a secret with you someday. Willy Dufresne is awesome, I met him on several occasions and I ate at WD-50 a few times.. Not the same can be said from all of them... Sometimes it's too much about the chef's ego and not enough about the food.

[Unlikely Nomad]

Hi There!
Great blog, and I love your food entries!

I love the collage tool,(SAw it on Lulu's bay) and I have been looking for something like it for ages, where did you find it and it it available on the web?

If you feel like sharing can you leave me details at my email address a h.bmont@sympatico.ca or on my blog navelgazingagain.blogspot.com

[Chef walter]

WD-50 is good with food alteration by quimics, but isn't so great with flavours