Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Alder

Dinner with a friend last night at Alder, first time trying their tasting menu, though I'd been once before for the pub version.  I didn't eat at WD~50 all that often (though my last milestone birthday celebration was in their wine cellar), but it was fun and fascinating, and I like the way Dufresne's mind works.

As always with an inventive tasting menu, this was kind of a mixed bag.  The cauliflower was, I'd say, more interesting than delicious, while the potatoes were a fantastic reimagination of the tapas staple.  Then the silver dollars took the okonomiyaki concept and executed them in a way that was more breakfast pancake than Japanese eggy omelette pancake...not entirely a success.  But the chicken was delicious and the ice cream cake sublime.

Overall the whole meal was less experimental than WD~50 but then again, far less extravagant and still a very interesting, thought-provoking, evening out.