“’Tis better to have loved and lost fried hollandaise than never to have loved it at all.”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, would have said that about all this…
This being the too-soon departure of wd~50, Wylie Dufresne’s laboratorial masterpiece of
mind-expanding sustenance. Sunday, we commit it into the foundation of a seven-story luxury condo building.
Ugh.
But first, a remembrance…
The Beginning
Eleven short years ago, it opened up shop on a stretch of the LES, sandwiched between bodegas and unisex
barbershops, with Mr. Dufresne breaking down foods you knew and loved and rebuilding them completely
differently and deliciously. Celebrities went. Other chefs went. You went.
The Middle
Michelin stars. James Beard awards. Countless best restaurant lists. You eating Everything Bagel Ice
Cream and oysters with edible shells and grains you’d never heard of. And then, at the height of its
power, a complete teardown and rebuild of the entire menu. Because standing still is for suckers.
The End
They’re in the midst of a farewell tour of ticketed dinners that have been sold out for weeks now. So ask
around, call in favors or check Shout. Whatever you’ve got to do to get in there, do.
