We found out that most of the cooks at WD-50 have completed at least a three month stage before being brought on as a paid employee. Everyone there is on salary, everyone other than the people on prep are in around 1pm and out around 1am. I love the feeling coming back from a stage at a really great restaurant. Meeting all the people, working with the chef, seeing how they run the restaurant, their system, and then coming back to where you work with new ideas and try to spread your experience around to the other cooks. This wasn't my stage, it was Jason's and he has done just that. These stages are essential to personal development in the kitchen. The people that want to improve, have the drive and want to move forward are usually the ones that don't have a problem giving up their time. They're smart about it, looking at the whole picture, knowing that in the end they are really going to benefit from the experience. Here are some more of the pictures
Eggs benedict...fried hollandaise, sous vide egg yolk, bacon, black sea salt
Lamb loin..."tomater" tots(fried green tomato puree), green apple, chartreuse
Carbonara...bacon, puffed orzo, garlic chips, truffles, black pepper cream, parm soil
Turbot...bbq lentils, cauliflower chips, dried apricot
Their is a cool method for the cauliflower chips but I do not wish to divulge any recipes without permission.
Chestnut-Horsey Soup...smoked mackerel, pear, ver jus gel
Wagyu Skirt Steak...chinese long bean, peanut butter pasta
Monkfish...red pepper oatmeal, black olive, turnip
Still more WD-50 to come.
Cmon now Chris, you can tell me how they made the cauliflower chips...! I think that place is amazing with respect to technique. However, I ate there twice and wasn't really blown away by flavor, or food that was hot. But technique, they've got.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that alot. My experience was great, I had a pretty solid meal. It wasn't the best meal of my life but worth the experience. I had two of my cooks go to eat a few years ago and they didn't seem to care too much for it. I will say they cvap the cauliflower first, then ..........
ReplyDeleteBy the way, does anyone remember the guy Marcel from Top Chef's last name? After he ripped off Wylie's coconut, carrot and cardamon egg, then had it published as his own, I know Wylie took it off the menu for good. I thought I saw that guy in a picture working at Jose Andre's Bazaar at the new SLS in LA. Can anyone confirm? I know the exec chef Duccio at the SLS, just hope his not totally ripping anyone off and serving it up at Andre's place. I understand using someone else's technique and tweaking it a bit or changing flavor profiles and making it your own but don't rip it off completely and expect to get away with it. This is a small world and someone is bound to see it, recognize it, and call you on it. Just like the guy in Australia ripping off Alinea, busted.
And thanks to chad for the link, I actually don't have to give out the recipe for the cauliflower chips, Wylie already did it. But from Jason's notes there is an added step of crisping in a low oven after the cvap. Just looking at them in a picture you would think that they had been fried at some point like the crispy cauliflower I had at Alinea on their sweetbread dish. Follow this and you can see the recipe for the entire turbot dish.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.starchefs.com/winston_cook_and_hold_oven/html/technique_wylie_dufresne.shtml
WD-50 seems to have a love hate relationship with people...From times to times food seems to be less impressive ,on other times seems that its getting raving fans.... Technique wise the wd-50 is staying ahead of the game and has developed a lot in the past 5 years.... I am not sure of what people expect from wd-50 when they walk in that restaurant but i guess expectations are high... In my personal experience i had a nice dinner the last time i was there ... And i believe that in an environment that develops constantly things will get tweaked all the time... I think Wyllie evolves his food a lot....
ReplyDeleteAs far as ripping people it is well known to chefs that people copy ... Most chefs are just copying some other chefs work and usually evolve in it... Personally i believe the right thing to do is to give the appropriate credit to the people that give you ideas... Its really important to recognize other people as inspiration and seek guidance ...I found out that sometimes is all about as simple as asking the question.. I mean isnt that the reason we blog? To evolve personally and create a "conversation" between people?
So ego aside if you did not get the idea pretty please acknowledge the fact....