After over a decade of food innovation, Wylie Dufresne and the other folks behind the seminal WD~50 closed their doors after the property owners decided to sell the entire block in order to develop high-priced condos.
When the restaurant announced it would be holding a special week of final meals, with an end-cap of "best hits" dishes curated by Wylie himself, Leah and I scrambled to get a reservation. We lucked out and got one of the limited seats for the very last (public) meal service. This was my fourth, best, experience at WD~50.
The giant bottle of champagne being used for the entire night's service.
We started with some of their always amazing cocktails. I don't recall the name of Leah's drink, but it was made with butternut squash. Mine was the Mezcal Pepino, made with cucumber, ginger beer, and a bloody mary salt rim.
The trademark sesame crisps, as well as Leah's second cocktail, the Old School, made with peanut butter, Solbeso, and concord grape (basically a PBJ in cocktail form).
Pu Pu Platter - Clockwise from bottom:
"Salad" (their first ever) - Endive, Tomato Powder, Oil & Vinegar Mousse
Saffron-Coconut Ice Cream Sandwich - Black Sesame Cookie, Caviar, Fried Fish Scale
Beef Tongue - Tomato Molasses, Deep-Fried Mayo
Cold-Fried Chicken - Tabasco, Buttermilk Ricotta, Fried Chicken Skin, Caviar
These were all delightfully creative, but the beef tongue was our favorite. It contained all the same flavors of the awesome Wylie dog over at PDT. One of the best bites of the night!
Shrimp Noodles
Traditional Marinara Sauce, Garlic Chips, Basil
A relatively straight-forward dish, though the noodles themselves were made of shrimp. This reminded me of angel hair pasta with crab sauce, my family's traditional Christmas Eve meal.
A wonderful sour beer that Leah ordered.
Foie Gras In the Round
Each little dot is a piece of spherized foie gras. The green bits are watercress, the dark brown are chocolate-covered wheat berries, and the light brown ones are spherized balsamic vinegar. The whole thing ate a little bit like kids' cereal, though the foie gras flavor was kind of lost for me.
Scrambled Egg Ravioli
A really amazing breakfast-themed dish showcasing Wylie's favorite ingredient, eggs. The cube was basically an omelette, with the exterior made from egg yolks, while the delicate interior was perfectly scrambled eggs mixed with cream cheese and caviar. On top was cured hamachi, with a piping of charred avocado mousse and tiny bits of crispy potatoes.
Sake Lees Bowties
The bowtie pasta was made with sake less, the dead yeast leftover after fermentation. The dish was a sort of play on linguine alla vongole, with clams, clam broth, preserved lemon and shallots, and puffed kimchi crisps (which essentially substituted for the traditional crushed red pepper).
Bay Scallops
The scallops themselves were gently cooked in a rich, buttery sauce, with little bits of smoked sablefish, salty sea beans, and thinly sliced daikon radish.
Beef & Béarnaise
My single favorite dish ever from WD~50. Leah and I had this at our first visit in 2010, and I had dreamed of eating it again. I could not have been more excited to see this on the Last Call menu.
The soup is a super-rich fortified beef stock made from brisket and dotted with beef fat. The three balls are solidified béarnaise sauce (a variant of hollandaise), almost like matzo balls in texture. Topped simply with crunchy and refreshing sliced snow peas. An unbelievably delicious dish - one of my favorites from any restaurant ever.
The soup is a super-rich fortified beef stock made from brisket and dotted with beef fat. The three balls are solidified béarnaise sauce (a variant of hollandaise), almost like matzo balls in texture. Topped simply with crunchy and refreshing sliced snow peas. An unbelievably delicious dish - one of my favorites from any restaurant ever.
Lamb Loin
I assume the lamb loin was cooked sous vide, as it was juicy, rare, and evenly cooked without any char. The sauce was a wonderfully pungent black garlic romesco, with a garnish of pickled ramps and crunchy dried soybeans.
Vanilla Ice Cream
A cylinder of smooth vanilla ice cream topped with raspberry powder and filled with syrupy balsamic vinegar.
Jasmine Custard
Another dish we had in the past, this time being one of my favorite plates (savory or sweet) from when Al and I came to WD~50 for our annual dinner in 2012, though back then it was a melon custard, which I actually preferred to the jasmine.
Almost like a crème brûlée, this dish had a cucumber "shell" on top that needed to be cracked to get at the custard beneath. The foam was made of chartreuse and the crumbly bits are crushed smoked cashews. Wonderfully light and refreshing.
French Toast
Another contender for best dish of the night. Unbelievable richness, contrast of texture, and pure flavor.
On the right is a deep fried stick of french toast, which had to have been soaked in so much cream and egg as to fully saturate it, as the interior was almost more of a custard or pudding texture. The bottom smear and standing chip were both made of raisins and cinnamon. On the left is a maple jelly, as well as bacon crumble and brown butter ice cream.
Mignardises - from back to front:
Kafir Lime Churros
Gjetost (Norwegian Cheese) Balls w/ Beet Powder
Rice Crispy Treats w/ Marshmallow Ice Cream Centers
Creamsicle Chews
WD~50 Cookie
A last parting gift given to us on the way out, these cookies were another tribute to the egg, Wylie's favorite food.
I couldn't tell you exactly what they were made of - the icing tasted like a marzipan fondant, while the cookie itself had notes of saffron with a slightly spicy finish.
Final Menu
Thank you WD~50 for the truly incredible culinary experiences!
