'Worthy of a Journey': 3 Days @ WD~50

The Michelin Guide states that restaurants 'Worthy of a Journey' (not just a detour) are where great cuisine may be found.  Be in in Lyon, NYC, Sao Paulo, Sydney or smaller destination cities, these temples of Haute Cuisine and Modern Gastronomy are where young cooks go to learn from Masters in their craft.  Hence, the staigiare position.  To shadow or apprentice, it doesn't matter what it 'means' it matters what it 'is'.  As Chefs we are constantly learning about creating dining experiences.  As cooks we are constantly learning new things...  As a stagiaire I am concerned with both as I travel in the summer of 2012.  This time around I am not only focusing on the jobs at hand in the kitchens I am visiting but also in observing the methods, techniques, attitudes and expectations that Michelin-starred restaurants expect their cooks to possess in order to contribute to the brigade in the kitchen. 

WD~50 is no different.  Regardless of the methodology in the production of the menu the critical evaluative goal is to serve great food in a congenial, not necessarily haughty, environment.  Flavor in still King, no matter what the domain or the language used on the menu.  WD~50 is casual in it's appearance, even strikingly odd in it's mid-block site on Clinton Street, between Stanton and Rivington Streets in the East Village of New York City.  Enter and you are immediately at ease.  It looks and feels like so many other restaurants in America.  Semi-open kitchen, Chef Wylie Dufresne is available at the The Passe.  He will greet guests after their dining experience, replete with a talk-through tour of the main kitchen. 

Downstairs.  Underground.  Confined.  This is the place of the guts of mise en place.  Operating 14 to 15 hours a day, the prep and pastry kitchens grind out the meez for the glory upstairs where, on the line, the a la minute cooking happens.  The following pictures are from my first 3 days @ WD~50.  there will be more revelation and observation as I get deeper into my contracted time underground and in the kitchen...  Peace.

~R

P.S.
I have a few pictures laying on their side.  What can I say....  Ooops?

 Bamboo Rice for 'Fried Rice'

 Classic 'Carottes Parisienne'

 Pickled Red Cauliflower

 Pickled Green & Yellow Cauliflower with Red Bell Pepper, Shallots & Garlic

 Celery Curls

 The Centrifuge and Vacuum Chamber

 Compressed Chartreuse Honey Dew Melon / Dry Storage

 Dry Storage

 'Egg Ravioli'

 Mise en Place for 'Fried Green Tomatoes'

 'Gjetost' - Norweigian White Chocolate & Raspberry Truffles

 Raspberry Powder w/ Struesel

 Gjetost' (top) / Lavosh (bottom)

 Lavosh for presentation

 Lavosh

 Lavosh dough and mise en place

 Stretching the lavosh dough

 Lobster Roe 'Fettuccini'

 Lobster Roe 'Fettuccini'

 Egg Yolk 'Slide' (for removing the egg white trapped on the yolk...)

 Egg Yolk 'Slide' mise en place

 Egg Yolk on the Egg Yolk 'Slide'

 Pickled Bean Sprouts

 Underground

 Prep Stove

 Romaine Brunoise

 Salt Cleansing ('Degorgement') the Butcher Block

 The Line

 The Passe and the Service Lines...

 Walk-in

 Walk-in

 WD~50, 50 Clinton Street, NYC