Thought it was time to stop futzing around and actually start a restaurant review thread.
WD50
Last night a lucky stripper got taken to WD50.
I went with some trepidations. Contrary to what you might think, my preferences in food lean toward the basic and the traditional. WD50's concept, OTOH, is to serve food as unorthodox as Wylie Dufresne and his ragtag band can come up with.
I'm happy to report that it mainly works.
The appetizer I had is probably the prototypical WD50 dish. Probably you've never thought of combining anchovies, foie gras, and toasted coconut. But you'd be shocked at how good the combination tastes, the slight saltiness of the (fresh) anchovies complimenting the richness of the foie gras (with the coconut contributing nothing but texture as far as I could tell).
My entree* was a bit of a comedown from that. I had pork belly in a soy-based sauce. The quality of the meat itself was very high, but the preparation wasn't a patch on the fabulous lacquered pork belly served at 66 or, for that matter, the wonderful braised pork belly in brown sauce on the menu of every Shanghainese restaurant in town. This suggests that, at least right now, when Wylie Dufresne isn't being weird he isn't that interesting.
The superstar dish, however, was my companion's monkfish entree. I don't remember what it was cooked with, but the fish was given a woody, almost smoky taste. This dish was addictive: I actually long to go back and have more.
With desserts, the quest for novelty appeared to hit a sort of dead end. I had a cumquat confit with sesame ice cream that, while perfectly good, didn't scale any heights. My companion had a turnip cake which, perhaps thankfully, appeared to taste mainly of butter. I don't know about you, but I can't see ordering something called a turnip cake for dessert.
Portions are small. The wine list is "interesting". Cocktails (or at least the Silver King I had) are good but not great like at Town, DB, or 66.
I should say something nice about our waitress. She was enthusiastic and informative without being overbearing or cloying. The kind of balance that isn't struck too frequently around here.
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* I told the waitress I was having the "fatty dinner". I didn't even have to specify which appetizer and entree I intended to order.
WD50
Last night a lucky stripper got taken to WD50.
I went with some trepidations. Contrary to what you might think, my preferences in food lean toward the basic and the traditional. WD50's concept, OTOH, is to serve food as unorthodox as Wylie Dufresne and his ragtag band can come up with.
I'm happy to report that it mainly works.
The appetizer I had is probably the prototypical WD50 dish. Probably you've never thought of combining anchovies, foie gras, and toasted coconut. But you'd be shocked at how good the combination tastes, the slight saltiness of the (fresh) anchovies complimenting the richness of the foie gras (with the coconut contributing nothing but texture as far as I could tell).
My entree* was a bit of a comedown from that. I had pork belly in a soy-based sauce. The quality of the meat itself was very high, but the preparation wasn't a patch on the fabulous lacquered pork belly served at 66 or, for that matter, the wonderful braised pork belly in brown sauce on the menu of every Shanghainese restaurant in town. This suggests that, at least right now, when Wylie Dufresne isn't being weird he isn't that interesting.
The superstar dish, however, was my companion's monkfish entree. I don't remember what it was cooked with, but the fish was given a woody, almost smoky taste. This dish was addictive: I actually long to go back and have more.
With desserts, the quest for novelty appeared to hit a sort of dead end. I had a cumquat confit with sesame ice cream that, while perfectly good, didn't scale any heights. My companion had a turnip cake which, perhaps thankfully, appeared to taste mainly of butter. I don't know about you, but I can't see ordering something called a turnip cake for dessert.
Portions are small. The wine list is "interesting". Cocktails (or at least the Silver King I had) are good but not great like at Town, DB, or 66.
I should say something nice about our waitress. She was enthusiastic and informative without being overbearing or cloying. The kind of balance that isn't struck too frequently around here.
____________________________________________
* I told the waitress I was having the "fatty dinner". I didn't even have to specify which appetizer and entree I intended to order.
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