New York City: WD-50 (January 2011)

My spouse and I dined at WD-50 in mid-January 2011 after much anticipation, and the restaurant lived up to the hype in our opinion. It’s very unassuming, both from the street and inside, a really comfortable atmosphere, even though the tables are quite close together. We used Open Table to make our reservation a few weeks in advance. The food was beautifully presented, using unique ingredients and feature the innovative preparations for which chef Wylie Dufresne is famous.
Our tasting menu follows. We did NOT do the $85 wine pairing (10 glasses). This was a pricey dinner, but very interesting and memorable.

• Spanish mackerel, green tea yogurt, rutabaga, orange
• Everything bagel, smoked salmon threads, crispy cream cheese
• Foie gras, passionfruit, Chinese celery
• Scrambled egg ravioli, charred avocado, kindai kampachi
• King oyster udon, sweetbreads, banana molasses, pickled ginger
• Scallops, bone marrow, parsnip, black sesame
• Beef and béarnaise
• Squab breast, cheese pumpkin, corn bread, pickled cranberries
• Buttermilk ice cream, kumquat, orange blossom, cumin
• Grapefruit curd, campari, hibiscus, sorrel
• Soft chocolate, beets, long pepper, ricotta ice cream
• Cocoa packets, rice krispie treats