Per Se

So my first dining experience in New York was none other then WD-50, Wylie Dufresne’s lower east side restaurant. We were lucky enough to eat dinner on Sam Masons last night, so basically we had the chance to sample desserts from Mason and Stupak. Going in I really wanted to experience the food, not the fact that Wylie is using different and more forward thinking techniques. I wanted to taste the food, experience the flavors and see….does all this work, or is it just hype, hype that someone is doing something new and avant-garde. All the restaurants press basically just went on and on about all this “weird” food that Dufresne was compiling. Now I myself have always been a huge fan of Wylie’s food, I think it is open minded, creative, and in the end really seems to work. So dinner for me was really going to be the moment of truth!

Amazing, this was by far on my top list of dining experiences. We had nothing short of spectacular service. Anything we wanted to know in regards to food, wine, or the restaurant in general our server new. There was no sign of snootiness, or that the wait staff was too good for us, they were super friendly and personable. Basically they made it comfortable for the guests to be there, which in my mind is one of the most important rolls of a server! Unlike most restaurants we were started off with a sesame “cracker”, as opposed to the traditional bread and butter service. Now I love bread, anybody that knows me will tell you this, but the one thing I can not stand about bread is the fact that by the time your meal comes you are already full! The sesame “crackers” are thin as can be and are pretty much guaranteed not to fill you up. Our first course was a plate of Rabbit Confit, Popcorn, Sage, Ginger. This was a great little first bite, the flavors all rounded out in the end to taste like Thanksgiving on a plate. I would say that’s not the best way to critique that beautiful plate, but some things are what they are. The popcorn was not “popcorn” but a small little moist cake composed pulverized popcorn (stuffing!), then of course the moist and tender rabbit confit, with a sweet sage syrup. Foie Gras, It was a perfect circle with a sweet beet juice interior and the green pea soil. The pea soil was a great contrast in texture, offering a coarse crunchy texture against the buttery foie. Overall the dish was a pretty salty one, though the beet juice did offer some sweetness; it still left you reaching for your water. The miso soup was brought out in a simple white bowl sitting on an underliner with a little squeeze bottle. Our server instructed us to squeeze the bottle over the soup and that the liquid would set up into sesame flavored “noodles”. The noodles set up and had a similar texture to nice udon noodle. We had a spring lamb dish with carob, honeydew, and fava beans. The Lamb was cooked perfect and oh so tender, balanced out with the sweetness of the carob* and compressed honeydew.

Once we were about two desserts in we asked our server if we could possible trouble Stupak and Mason for a couple extra desserts. We figured it was the last night Mason was going to be there and that when would we ever get a chance to have desserts compiled from both of there minds! Our server came back asked us if we had room, our answer of course was yes, He told us to sit back because we were going to be there for a while! One dessert that really caught my attention was Stupak’s rendition of a Irish Coffee. The main component of this dessert was a frozen cylinder of coffee with a liquid chocolate interior. How he did this I really have no clue, but none the less it was very impressive. Nevertheless my favorite dessert as far as flavors would go (I am not a coffee fan) would be the “peach puree, soy milk, strawberries, buckwheat ice cream”. Everything about this dessert was great, the peach puree was semi set and would melt in your mouth, the buckwheat ice cream added a little bit of nuttiness, the sweet wild strawberries, and then a simple garnish of fresh cilantro shoots added a bit of a savory element.

August 12, 2006

Dinner

Rabbit confit, popcorn, sage, giner
Vouvray Brut ‘Methode Traditionnelle’ Champalous NV (Loire, France)

Carrot-coconut “sunny-side up”
Vouvray Brut ‘Methode Traditionnelle’ Champalous NV (Loire, France)

Foie gras, candied olives, green peas, beet juice
Riesling ‘Wehlener sonnenuhr’ Spatlese Meulenhof 2004 (Mosel, Germany)

Crab “roll,” black bean, mint, pickled ginger
Falset Rose 2005 (Monsant, Spain)

Beef tongue, fried mayo, tomato molasses
Falset Rose 2005 (Monsant, Spain)

Miso Soup Sesame “noodles”
Justino’s Madeira “Rainwater” (Madeira, Portugal)

Smoked eel, peanuts, snow peas, whipped caramel
Fiulot Barbera D’Asti Prunotto 2004 (Piedmont, Italy)

Spring lamb, carob, honeydew, fava beans
Fiulot Barbera D’Asti Prunotto 2004 (Piedmont, Italy)

Peach puree, soy milk, strawberries, buckwheat ice cream

Shortbread, jasmine ice cream, banana, saffron
Pineau des Charentes Ferrand NV (Cognac, France)

Soft Chocolate, Sesame ice cream, ancho caramel, peanut powder
Comanderia St. John NV (Lemesos, Cyprus)

Red Pepper Jellies

This is our basic menu, it does not include the 4-5 extra desserts we had

*Carob comes from the carob tree in the form of pods, and is often used as a chocolate substitute. It has the flavor of a bittersweet chocolate but is much sweeter. The leaves of the carob tree can also be used.

Posted by Schmidty on Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 10:35 PM | Permalink