Our two-year anniversary is coming up in a couple of days, and in true Dr. Boyfriend style, Kamran wants to go out for a lavish dinner where the check will amount to my monthly salary. He suggested wd-50 because it’s supposedly one of the best in the world, and I agreed because I saw its owner, Wylie Dufresne, on “Top Chef” a couple of times and am entirely superficial.
So we were checking out the menu last night and were pretty pumped, especially about the 5-course dessert tasting menu. But I’m a little more skeptical now since Kamran found a picture of the pistachio dish today:
Impressive, right? And all this and more can be yours for only . . . $140.
Don’t worry; we’re already planning a trip to McDonald’s directly afterward.
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Colin and I went here in January for our one-year! We did the twelve course chef’s tasting menu:
-Warm oyster, cucumber, bacon, white mulberry
-Shrimp and tarragon macaroons
-foie gras in the round
-sweetbreads, cabbage-kaffir, water chestnuts
-beef tongue, fried mayo (yes FRIED), tomato molasses
-miso soup, sesame “noodles”
-langoustine, popcorn emulsion, hibiscus tuille, endive
-squab breast, beets, sorrel, coconut pebbles
-peach puree, peanut, pandan foam
-soft chocolate, avocado, licorice, lime
-coffee cake, ricotta, maraschino, chicory ice cream
-cinnamon-corn jellies
We actually got to do a kitchen tour afterwards (and met Dufresne, the pastry chef, sous chef, and Dufresne’s father, who was there and came by our table to check on us)!
It was a great experience and everything was outstanding. Have a good time!
Oh, cool, I’m glad to hear your experience was positive. As many “best restaurant imaginable” reviews as I’ve seen, I’ve also seen a lot of “ignore the hype” reviews. I guess when you’re wildly popular, though, the haters are extra-outspoken.
So what the hell did you say to Wiley? I always get super-nervous when I see chefs/owners making the rounds, because I want to be engaging and say more than “hey, this place is pretty rad”, but I never have a clue how to act.
The exec chef at Colin’s restaurant had actually called ahead to the restaurant as a surprise for us and had ordered two bottles of wine for us, and had said that “an important chef from Ohio” was coming to visit, and had them arrange the tour for us.
I was kind of tipsy so I didn’t know what to say, but luckily Colin was there to ask knowledgeable questions about how they made certain dishes.
It’s definitely worth the hype, only because if you’re going to experience extreme molecular gastronomificosity or whatever for the first time, you should probably do it right.
Also, I said “for us” a few times too many in that first paragraph. That’s what I get for not proofing before I hit “add comment”.
Yeah, I’m pretty pumped about the loads and loads of chemicals that’re gonna be in my food, but only because Richard from last season of “Top Chef” was into them.
The more I hear about this Colin, the more I like him, but you know my heart will always be with Geoff.
Geoff? Really? Why?
I thought you always hated me because I stole Ryan away from you.
Bwahaha.
I always thought Ryan was a little bit . . . douche-y? Like, I don’t think he was dumb, but he sorta played dumb to fit in. Thoughts?
Geoff, though. Well, just look at the spelling of his name.
What. The. Fruck. I’m never leaving the midwest again. Fancy food scares me.
Me, too! It really bothers me that the green stick thing in the pineapple dessert picture is evidently called pandan. THINGS I’VE NEVER HEARD OF SHOULD NOT BE IN MY DESSERTS.
Jealous!
Yeah, where the hell is your boyfriend in all this action? He steals your tattoo thunder, never forces you to post embarrassing pictures of him, doesn’t take you out for $140 dinners . . .
wow. most of that stuff sounds incredibly gross to me which is further proof that i could never be a rich snob. or.. that i’d be a rich snob chowing down on burritos and indian food instead.
even erik and i went to a fancy restaurant for a late lunch this weekend and i couldn’t bring myself to eat anything other than.. chicken. there were plenty of other things i could’ve tried.. but i was feeling incredibly unadventurous especially for the price he was about to pay on all of it.
If I was rich, I’d still be at Subway every night, ordering the chicken breast footlong just because it’s on the $5 menu.
I feel the same way with the unadventurousness. I don’t care for seafood that much, but Kamran’s always trying to talk me into it, and I know that if I order it, I’m just going to pick at it and waste his money. Anyway, there’s nothing wrong with chicken. I consider ordering pork a huge step.
I think “pistachio” is one of my favorite words ever.
Why’s that? Is it ’cause the beginning sounds sorta naughty and you feel like you’re getting away with something?
I’ve actually never thought of the word as dirty. Until now.
I hate pretentious foam on food for aesthetic purposes, and you know why? Because it doesn’t look appetizing, or attractive (the latter of which is usually more important to me – I know, you’re shocked).
It makes me think of ambergris, because for the first 10 or so years of my youth I was confused as to what ambergris looked like and thought it was the foam that broke on the shore. Yes, I grew up at the beach and for at least 10 years thought the shoreline was covered in whale puke on a regular basis.
I’m really just commenting to be pretentious by using words like ambergris.
Also, I’m moving back. As soon as I have more money.
I really hated Marcel on “Top Chef” just because he found a way to incorporate foam into every dish. I understand that there’s one or two people out there who like light, nearly-flavorless dishes, but I want everything DENSE and FATTY.
It really makes my day to imagine you thinking you’re stepping in whale matter and having no problem with it. I was just reading the Wikipedia article about it and now want to find one of these 100-pound samples to bring to your inevitable “house”-warming party.
Oh yeah. Happy early anniversary! I’m such a bitch.
This journal’s more about you than me, anyway.
Ok, what the hell is that green plastic cylinder in the middle of that plate, and why is it there? And secondly, I agree with Kim about the foam being useless and dumb, although it looks more like a mantid’s ootheca than ambergris to me.
There. I said “ootheca” and “ambergris”. Suck it, Kim. I’m waaaay more pretentious than you are. Twice as much, in fact.
Wow, no way that’s worth 140 double cheeseburgers. And what’s with the Chef’s Choice on the dessert menu? Why would you let the chef pick your food for you?
that green thing looks like a plastic tampon applicator except green
Yeah, well my Apple-working boyfriend gets me 25% off the new iPod Touch. iPods PWN little pieces of garden hose surrounded by foamy semen and little green ecstasy pills.
Oh, snap! She sure told you, Katie!
Heterosexist! :P
Oops! You got me! I’m so anti-gay it hurts. But seriously, I thought you were a girl. I must have you mixed up with one of Katie’s other friends. She has so many of them I can never keep track. Although the references to semen and ecstasy should have been a dead giveaway. ;P
Just remember: I’m the only one of Katie’s friends that really matter. Problem solved!
Foam is SOOooo 2008…