WD-50

Last night I finally made it to WD-50, a restaurant on the LES from 2001 Food & Wine Best New Chef Wylie Dufresne. I have to say that overall I was a little underwhelmed which made me sad since I had been looking forward to this meal for a while now. Everything on the menu is very ambitious. Lots of not-so-common ingredients put constructed into beautiful presentations.

On the table to share was a basket of sesame cracker bread. This was absolutely delish and I was hoping that it would be a good indication of what was to come. For starters, The Lady and I both had the hangar tartare with pickled Asian pear, amaro and bernaise ice cream. I enjoyed this, but it wasn't the best thing I've ever had. I really liked the pickled pear though. The Lady, who is a bit of a steak connoiseur, wasn't quite as happy with the quality of the meat as she would've liked (I don't eat steak too much so I can't weigh in here).

For a main course, I had the Mediterranean bass with artichoke, cocoa nibs and brittle peanut. This was a beautiful piece of fish. The dish was a bit heavy for me though due the peanut concoction. I enjoyed the dish, but I've had other fish preparations elsewhere that I've enjoyed a lot more. The flavors here just didn't do it for me. The Lady had beef shortrib with brussels sprouts, cheddar and Pink Lady apple. She really liked the short rib and we both thought the brussel sprouts were TO DIE FOR (they were shredded and prepared like a slaw - they made the whole visit worth it!). The cheddar puree was not appealing at all and maybe should've been left off of the dish entirely. Our wine choice was exceptional - the Bini Bini Australian shiraz that was just recently added to the menu.

For dessert we split 2 items - the soft chocolate with avocado, licorice and lime and the coffee cake with ricotta, maraschino and chicory ice cream. Neither of these really got us excited at all. I think by the time the dessert arrived we were sad because they had served us port that had been refrigerated. Our service was exceptional throughtout dinner, except when the waitress offered to set our port in warm water to try to get it to room temperature - YUCK!

I really liked the feel of the room - very funky and comfortable and not loud at all. I'd definitely pop back into the small bar in the front for a glass of that shiraz, I just don't think I'll be returning anytime soon for a full on dining experience. WD-50 - check! Moving right along . . .