Fine Dining in NYC – @WD50nyc

WD-50 – 50 Clinton Street – New York, NY

So while most of my eats in New York were of the on the go cheap eats type, I did sneak one solid sit-down meal in.  I justified this by spending 48 hours in New York and using no transportation other than the cab to and from LGA, so walking 10 miles a day – I felt the binge eating we did was well deserved.

Rezzies at a place like Per Se, Le Bernadin, or Daniel were a bit hard to come by and I felt Eleven Madison Park was probably a bit pricey and had heard mixed reviews.  So, being a fan of molecular gastronomy, WD-50 was the obvious choice.  A long hike from midtown to the East Village landed us at Wylie Dufresne’s restaurant.

We had been eating pretty much nonstop for two days straight, so did the smart thing which was to go with the smaller “Vault Menu” as opposed to going with the full blown 12 course Tasting Menu.

Sesame flatbraed

Amuse

Amuse Bouche

The box of sesame flatbread in lieu of bread was a great way to start – perfect sesame flavor with a nice crispiness.  The amuse above was a basil panisse with eggplant noodles underneath, a bit of deep eggplant flavor with an interesting textural twist to begin the meal.

Bison Tartare

So on to the heart of the meal.  The first course out is a bison tartare topped with a Bernaise ice cream that offered a nice complement to the tartare, which had great flavor but was a bit chewier than usually steak tartare.  The peppers added just a bit of heat, and the thinly sliced Asian pears were subtle but a nice topping.

Chestnut Soup, celery root

After the winter we’ve had, the chestnut soup was a great dish.  Deep, nutty flavor with the right amount of salt, and the celery, though a small amount, added a punch of celery taste that went perfectly with the chestnut.

Cod, Salsify, Coffee-Saffron, Smoked Bulghur

I’m usually underwhelmed by cod, and this dish was no different – it wasn’t bad, it’s just hard to make cod really excellent – the fish was perfectly cooked with a soft texture and just a bit of flakiness, the saffron sauce added some great color and aesthetics to the dish.

Lamb Loin, Hibiscus-Date, Barley, Aged Goat Cheese

The most interesting of the savory courses is the last one – a perfectly cooked rare slice of lamb loin, a bit fatty, but deeply flavorful.  The goat cheese  added to the richness of the meat which was muted only a bit by the barley.  After the bulghur on the last dish, adding the barley seemed like an odd choice, but it worked well.

Toasted Coconut Cake, Smoked Cashew, Carob, Brown Butter

By far my favorite course of the evening, and with the exception of dessert at Alinea, that’s usually not the case during a tasting menu.  The toasted coconut cake accompanied the coconut foam perfectly, the brown butter ice cream adding a nice temperature contrast.   Wanted to lick the plate after this one.

Mignardise of chocolate sauce

And so we were sent on our way with an edible packet of chocolate sauce, a nice topping on a decent meal.

Was a bit disappointed in how straightforward the Vault menu was – it was good with some interesting ingredients, but overall lacked the variety and quirky techniques that I’ve experienced at some of other places in Chicago like Moto, Tru, and Alinea.  (See my moto review – https://eatinginchicago2014.wordpress.com/2014/02/16/moto/)  Perhaps it’s because it was the smaller menu,  although it was kind of billed as a “greatest hits” type of deal, which I’m sure it’s not looking through some of the previous reviews of this place.  Even so, it was a solid meal – well done, quality ingredients, interesting even without the liquid nitrogen and foams and powders, and for $90 it’s a pretty fair price for a meal this caliber in Manhattan.  Depending on how often I’m hitting NYC in the future, I may swing by again, and next time, I’m going all out with the full tasting menu.

A trip to NYC, a Blackhawks loss, many miles walked, many eats eaten @shakeshack, @katzsdeli, @beechersNY

Shake Shack – Flatiron District – New York, NY

Beecher’s Handmade Cheese – 900 Broadway – New York, NY

2 Bros Pizza – 31 W 46th Street – New York, NY

Katzs’s Delicatessen 205 E Houston – New York, NY

So my first vacation of 2014 takes me to New York City – Given the weather recently, you’d think I’d be smart and head for warmer climates, but my buddy and I had planned this trip awhile back and with front row balcony seats at Madison Square Garden and the Hawks returning stateside after the Olympics, this was a trip I couldn’t pass up.  Having dropped the ball on getting a table at Per Se, I had to settle for some cheaper eats.  It was a whirlwind trip – we arrived Thursday morning, but had to hightail it back home for the Soldier Field game, but one thing’s for sure – if you put your mind to it, you can get a lot done in NYC in 48 hours.

A very well placed bench in the park

Our trip starts in the Flatiron District at Madison Square Park.  We were just strolling around the area when I spotted the Shake Shack.  Now I actually had NO intention of going here at first – the thought of waiting in a long line to get something that wasn’t Hot Doug’s did not sound appealing and with limited time and stomach space available in NYC, I didn’t really want to waste it all on a fast food burger, even if it is a great one.  But as we neared the Shack, we realized that 1. I was hungry having just gotten off the plane, and 2. There was NO line.

Smoke Shack

So I ordered a Smoke Shack Burger, my buddy Tom the Shroom burger.  The Smoke Shack is topped with applewood smoked bacon, american Cheese, cherry peppers, and Shack sauce, which is a bit like a slightly spicy mayo.  I went in skeptical, but left very pleasantly surprised.  The bun is soft, warm, and suprisingly flavorful without imparting too much breadiness to the burger.  The burger itself was perfectly cooked, juicy, with a  good saltiness.  The cheese melted perfectly, melding in nicely with the patty and the bun itself into one blob of burger goodness.  The bacon adds just the right amount of smokiness, and the remainder – the peppers and the shack sauce, are a bit of an afterthought.  It’s still a fast food burger, and it’s only one, but I would have to say this tops the burgers at In-n-out, and is neck and neck with the Five Guys burger.

Next up we leave the Shake Shack satiated but now start headed down towards the East Village.  I pass by what looks like the Beecher’s cheese shop in Pike’s Market, only we’re not in Seattle.  But yes, its the same Beecher’s and I explained what Beecher’s was to my buddy Tom – he followed by dragging me in for a bite.    A quick bite, Beecher’s famous mac and cheese.  The mac and cheese is created out of penne which soaks up the cheese really well.  The cheese itself, I believe a mixture of Beecher’s two house made cheeses, is extremely dense and rich but made for a perfect afternoon snack.

Pastrami – Katz’s

Katz’s pickles

Of course we had to walk off the burger and Beecher’s, so we headed down and down, and made it all the way to the East Village where our line karma continued, walking right up to the counter at Katz’s Deli.   Now in terms of Jewish delis, my recent reference points have been Manny’s, the Eleven City Diner, and the now closed Steve’s in Chicago.  Manny’s is pretty good, and like going into Shake Shack, I was a bit skeptical about Katz’s.  I ordered a pastrami sandwich and I can say, like Shake Shack – this lives up to the hype.  When you order from the counter, the deli guy slices off a piece for you to taste – piping hot, not too salty, and perfectly tender.  The sandwich itself is a healthy size – enough that you feel like you’re eating too much, but not so much that it’s difficult to eat.  The mustard is a great compliment, but the pastrami is the star of the show.

The ‘wich comes with a plate of two types of pickles – both on kind of the extreme ends of pickled – one is an awesomely subtle gently pickled cucumber, the other a slightly over-vinegared standard pickle.  Both were nice and crisp….just wishing we had some room to try the potato pancakes or the matzo ball soup.

MSG

 

shot from my buddy’s seats

After that it was off to the garden for some hockey – great seats – 1st row blacony on the 200 level – a good showing of Hawks fans and decent energy and some good trash talking with some Rangers fans, but in the end, the Hawks came out a bit flat and ended up falling to the Rangers 2-1.  Peter Regin scored with less than a minute left and a close call by Sharpie in the waning seconds made for an exciting finish but in the end it was too little too late.

Afterwards – I met up with my buddy who was at the game – rinkside seats through his law firm – at $900 a pop.  Yes, that includes food and drink, but clearly some companies have too much money to burn.  Welcome to NYC.   We headed over to Cho Dang Gol in K-town, but it had just closed – so we headed over to Han Bat – which I found out later was a Sul Lung Tang joint, but we ordered some LA Kalbi and Sam Gyeop Sal – short ribs and pork belly -price was reasonable but quality was sub par – meat was overcooked and panchan left a bit to be desired – perhaps we’ll try somewhere different next time.

Two Bros Pizza

The next day was less eating – we spent a good chunk of the day just wandering around rockefeller plaza and touring the MOMA, but you can’t leave New York without getting a cheap slice of pizza.  Now I hate the Chicago vs. NY pizza debate – it’s pretty pointless – they’re pretty different foods, for different appetites and different moods.  I’m a huge fan of both and won’t say I like one or the other, but I will say it’s easier to get a good New York style slice outside of New York, while I have yet to find good deep dish outside of Chicago.

2 Bros is a chain of quick NY style pizza joints – the place runs like a factory, which I think it has to if it’s going to sell 99c slices.   It’s hard to judge a pizza joint on one slice – but this was pretty decent.  Nice soft crust, served piping hot and the mozz had some good stringiness to it.  The sauce was pretty standard for a place like this.  The actually slice was a bit and narrower than I would have liked – I was looking forward to eating a slice folded in half.

We finished up with a meal at Wiley Dufresne’s WD-50 – a solid meal – and I’ll get into that at a future post.  Thanks for reading!