The Foodie Report

Take a look in your kitchen. What sort of stuff do you see? Probably basic staples like salt, pepper, flour, sugar, a toaster oven or a microwave (or if you are an undergrad, more like a hot plate and ramen noodles…). In Wylie Dufresne's kitchen at WD-50, you are more likely to find a blowtorch and a thermal immersion circulator than a microwave, and the spice rack looks more like a chemist's storage closet. Chef Dufresne is the most recognizable face (in New York City at least) of an innovative and experimental style of cooking known as molecular gastronomy, which uses scientific methods and innovation to enhance the dining experience. His restaurant WD-50, located at 50 Clinton Street in the Lower East Side, is the location of my latest foodie adventure, and this time I'm sparing no expense and going for the 12 course tasting menu. I think I may have passed out from fullness somewhere between courses 9 and 10, but I'll try my best to describe some of the dishes that really showcase what molecular gastronomy is all about.

Deconstruction is one approach to cooking that is often seen in molecular gastronomy. It involves taking a well-known dish and separating and manipulating the ingredients, resulting in a new preparation that still maintains the flavors of the original dish. Most of us have had bagels and lox before: smoked salmon, cream cheese, and red onion served on a bagel. The deconstructed version at WD-50 replaces the traditional smoked salmon with "salmon threads", a dehydrated salmon hash. I wasn't in love with the texture of the threads, but they did maintain a strong salmon flavor. The cream cheese came in the form of a crispy sliver, similar in shape and texture to a thin shaving of white chocolate, but flavored like cream cheese. The onions were pickled, adding tartness and strengthening the onion flavor. But the real magic in the dish was the "bagel" which was actually made of ice cream (!) sprinkled with poppy and sesame seeds. The illusion was so complete that I honestly didn't know it was ice cream until I tried to cut it with my knife. Aside from looking just like an everything bagel, the ice cream actually tasted like an everything bagel as well. Now while I won't be going to Pinkberry anytime soon and ordering up a cone of bagel flavored ice cream, it worked for the dish. Take a little ice cream, coat it with some salmon threads, add a piece of onion, and a flake of cheese and you've got your classic bagel and lox, in a completely new way.

Next up, we had a big cylinder of foie gras topped with some wispy Chinese celery. Cutting into the rich and creamy chunk of foie revealed a hidden depository of passionfruit syrup, which oozed out like the yolk of an egg. The passionfruit was extremely concentrated and flavorful, almost overwhelmingly tart when eaten alone, but when paired with the fatty and rich foie gras the two struck a pleasant balance. For you aspiring chefs out there, in general it's good to balance out particularly rich, or fatty foods with a little acid. That's why you often see fattier meats like duck and pork paired with fruits like orange, apple, or plum. In addition to balance in flavor, textural balance is also important. In this case, the crunchy Chinese celery balances with the soft mushiness of the foie gras. Textures would also play a big role in the next course.

After the foie gras we had scrambled egg "ravioli", with cured kampachi (a fish similar to yellowtail), charred avocado, and potato pellets. This dish is about manipulation of textures: taking simple ingredients that people are familiar with and changing the textures while maintaining the flavors. The scrambled eggs were just eggs shaped in a perfect cube. They were firm enough to hold shape and provide resistance to a knife, but the center was perfectly cooked and creamy. The avocado was as light and airy as whipped cream but I'm not sure what the charring added, other than giving the chef an excuse to play with a blowtorch. The potatoes were fried to a crisp and extremely crunchy. It was like eating tiny hash brown-flavored tic tacs. Again, eggs, avocado, and potatoes are all familiar flavors, but slightly tweaking the textures creates a new eating experience of everyday ingredients.

For dessert we are going to address a food trend that I don't particularly agree with: the foam. The idea behind foam is basically the infusion of flavor into air. It's flavor without substance. I'll admit you can get a surprising amount of flavor into a foam and there are certain practical applications, but over the last few years, chefs have gone foam crazy. Fruit foams, meat foams, lobster foams, mushroom foams… I think you can foam just about anything and recently chefs have been doing just that and covering their dishes with foams, often resulting in what appears to be a big pile of spit on an otherwise beautifully plated dish. We encountered two foams with our desserts at WD-50: First was a chicory foam paired with a hazelnut tart (I still have no idea what chicory is) and next an almond foam with an apricot and buttercream brioche. I tended to treat the foams like a sauce, adding a tiny bit to each spoonful of dessert to add an extra layer of flavor that was actually pleasant. But the almond foam definitely looked like spit…

I don't have the space to go over all of the courses, but in general everything was enjoyable. We definitely got more than enough food and by the end of the meal I had eaten far beyond capacity. I certainly got to see and eat some things that I've never experienced before. Cost of the 12 course tasting menu is $140 which is steep but I figure if I skip dinner for the next 10 days, I'll basically be even... Chef Dufresne was on hand at the restaurant all night and was even willing to explain the inspiration behind some of the more puzzling dishes on the menu. After our meal we got to step into the kitchen and take a brief tour. There was an entire wall filled with jars of powders and gums, emulsifiers and hydrocolloids, the secret ingredients to some of the "magic" we had just eaten. I didn't spot the blowtorch but I know it was hidden somewhere. If you do visit WD-50, don't hesitate to ask for a tour of the kitchen. It's definitely an interesting insight into what goes on behind the scenes at a top notch restaurant and the staff is very friendly and accommodating. Would I go back to WD-50? The menu is seasonal and changes every so often and I'd love to see what other crazy things they cook up there. So yes, maybe after I get an internship at a money printing factory.