wd~50... Honestly I'm a bit frightened

[Winterpool]

The only time I've dined on Wylie Dufresne's cooking was over a decade ago, when he was still at 71 Clinton Fresh Food. I don't remember much about the meal, though I think I was slightly disappointed. It was also, I believe, the first time I'd dined in the Lower East Side...

At my friend's urging, I've booked a table for wd~50 on Friday. I read discussions like

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/433914

which seem to confirm everything I fear about Dufresne's cuisine. Reviewing the current menu online does little to assuage my doubts, given many of the ingredients I recognise don't seem to match each other. Or I simply dislike outright [black licorice!].

(I should perhaps confess at this time that I'm no fan of excessive formalism in music or the visual arts. Yes, I am a bourgeois philistine...

)

Anyhow, a practical question: ought we to go in for the predetermined wine pairings? This seems the way to go given how unconventional Dufresne's flavours can be -- I wouldn't know where to start [other than champers]. But I've also read that the restaurant tends to pair mediocre wines. I don't recognise most of the producers amongst the pairings listed online [other than Schramsberg and Heitz].

[Winterpool]

Well, that went much better than I feared. I certainly wasn't sick [which was my worst-case scenario], though an entire meal of dishes like the fish with licorice sauce could have got me there. I will say most of the dishes were very good, and the demonstrated technique often excellent. I was pleasantly surprised by some of the dishes, eg the jasmine, cucumber, and honeydew 'sorbet course', which is not the sort of thing I would generally order but proved to be superb.

Didn't go in for the wine pairings, instead drinking cocktails, Pierre Gimonnet champers, a very affordable bottle of Corton-Charlemagne, and a glass of red Burgundy. I don't remember who made the red, but it was alcoholic and jammy, almost portlike in its nose. The white was from the domaine des Croix and lovely in its mushroomy unami and creamy pastry bouquet.

[archiangel]

I went recently and really enjoyed the food. We did opt for the wine pairing but I think it isn't really necessary.

[Shichman]

Cancer... that's something to be afraid of.

Food is just food. and at WD-50 its fantastic!

[Winterpool]

Is going with the cocktails a better idea than the set wine pairings?

http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2012/06/kevin-denton-best-cocktails-at-wd-50.html

http://ny.eater.com/archives/2012/05/...

[yankeedoodleandy]

YES! The cocktails are phenomenal -- in particular, pairing the pho gras with the pho cup was mind-bogglingly good.

[sgordon]

First, Dufresne isn't formalist - Formalism suggests that the only meaning to something is the thing itself, wheras Dufresne's cuisine is actually a melting pot of numerous styles and references - sometimes not so obvious. If one were to make an visual art comparison, he'd be closer to a Pop Art collage. In music... I don't know what he'd be. John Zorn (esp. Naked City era) would be a good musical equivalent, I think. Without the jarring transitions.

I often use a duck dish that WD used to make as an example of the way his culinary mind works: Duck breast, apples, cheddar cheese, and kimchi-infused couscous. Now, on paper, that sounds like a trainwreck, sure - cheese and kimchi? But there's a logic behind it. While the protein might be the central element of the plate, the central flavor element is... the apples. Apples and duck - classic. Apple pie with cheddar cheese - classic. Apples are also often added to kimchi. So it all works, because there's this bridging element between the unexpected flavor pairings.

Or scallops in spice bread consomme with cranberry fruit leather - a dish I'm hoping shows up on his "from the vault" menu. Sure, spice bread and cranberries, but with seafood? Well, it worked - all the flavors are evocative of New England in autumn. There was a nostalgiac, comforting element to it.

Some dishes might have been simply reformation of famous flavor combinations - a ham & cheese on rye becomes sous-vide pork belly in Swiss cheese consomme with rye dumplings (another dish I'm hoping makes a return from the vault some day...) - or his famous "eggs benedict" - a show-offy dish, for sure, but absolutely delicious.

As to the sole with black licorice: I hate black licorice as well. Hate hate hate hate it. Yet I liked that dish, go figure. It's applied deftly enough that it doesn't overpower the rather delicately-flavored fish. I was quite surprised at how much it worked for me.

[Sneakeater]

Definitely John Zorn.

[Winterpool]

Oh dear, John Zorn...not terribly reassuring, heh.

Perhaps 'modernism' would have been a better word, though 'formalism' does seem a common element to many modernisms. I employed the term 'formalism' because it seems to me that many modernist chefs are divorcing their dishes and flavours from culturally-grounded referents, and stressing technique / method above the consumer's experience or satisfaction [certainly this seems to have been a criticism of earlier Dufresne]. Well, I'll see for myself on Friday.

I am somewhat reassured by SGordon's report, though I confess I hate kimchi almost as much as black licorice...

[sgordon]

Dufresne & Zorn actually did an event together two years ago - a celebration of new catch herring for Russ & Daughters at Astor Center - Wylie made a special dish, Zorn provided appropriately Yiddishe musical accompaniment. Two great LES minds meeting at last...

My comparison with Zorn would be to that of Zorn as composer, not as saxophonist. His music - as Dufresne's cuisine - does reference outside things, it's not purely self-referential, only about the math and the process than the final product. Wylie touches on many different cuisines the way that Zorn might combine abstract expressionism, punk rock, klezmer, and 1950s sci-fi movie soundtracks into one piece, but one that stilll works and is fun for what it is.

[Sneakeater]

Some of his music is quite listenable. It's not all skronk.

Like Wylie, he's perceived to be more of a wildman than he actually is.

[sgordon]

Agreed. You're talking to someone who grew up one foot punk and one foot avant-gardist, so I'm actually very infuenced by him - I think I quite literally own every note of music he's ever recorded. I was just seperating the musician from the composer, for the analogy - clearly different roles for him. He's good (if a bit limited) as a saxophonist, but as a composer he's one of the most extraordinary figures of the century - probably the most important since Cage, really.

(Er, okay, now we're REALLY off topic. Okay - who's the culinary equivalent to John Cage, then?)

[Sneakeater]

You wouldn 't eat it.

(And I say that as a huge Cage fan.)

ETA: Now that I think of it, John Cage cuisine would be mushrooms. As I'm sure you know, he was an expert.

[sgordon]

And foraging for them... maybe Redzepi? Working with "found food" isn't a far cry from "found sounds" after all...

[Sneakeater]

Yeah, but Cage would include EVERYTHING he found.

[Cheeryvisage]

I'm not sure. That thread is from 2007, you realize.

I dined at wd-50 once last year. The appetizers were sensational while the entrees were good but didn't blow me away. If the menu hadn't changed, I'd go back for those same appetizers in a heart beat (Corned Duck and Cold Fried Chicken).

[Winterpool]

Quite. I noticed that Ulterior Epicure posted a review in 2010 that was distinctly more pleased than his 2006 experience.

http://ulteriorepicure.com/2010/06/17/review-batman-and-robin/

Katie Ett dined there last week. Looks like the menu we're likely to see on Friday.

http://www.donuts4dinner.com/2012/08/...