NJR’S NY V. LA SHOWDOWN DAY 2!!!!

Otherwise known as THE RECKONING!

I felt sort of bad after LA’s sweep in day one, so I decided to go get a bagel.

BAGEL TAR AND FEATHER JACUZZI BOUT
Bergen Bagels v Bagel Broker

BERGEN BAGELS
Sesame Bagel with Cream Cheese
Hellz yes.

BAGEL BROKER
The same.
Bleh.

I purposefully pitted arguably LA’s best bagel place against the closest neighborhood spot to where I’m staying in Brooklyn so NY could really dish out an ass whooping. I mean—what is it? Why are the bagel’s so much better? Am I the first to ponder this question? No. Do I ponder it all the same? Hell yes I do, with my face covered in cream cheese. Boom. The texture; the present but not overpowering saltiness; the whipiness of the cream cheese. Goddamn I love bagels. There’s that experience of being really in to someone but then only seeing them in bad contexts and taking them for granted and kind of being done with them but then something happens and you really get the chance to appreciate them again and man—they’re awesome peeps. Everytime I come to NYC I get to have this experience with bagels. How cool is that? It used to be thus with pizza, but LA’s a little less useless in this department these days. So thank god for bagels, and a good old fashion ass whooping.

ADVANTAGE: Bagel Broker! Just kidding. Bergen Bagels made the Broker cry like a little baby lamb with no milk.

MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY THROW DOWN— IT WILL FLAY YOUR BOBBY!
WD 50 v

WD 50
Exciting, thoughtful, and to top it all off—delicious!

LA had a big time no-show on this one, and it’s probably for the best. In a city where there’s always a struggle to privilidge substance far enough above style to get really top quality food, a kind of cooking that supremely elevates a kind of “style” would have a real possibility of going off the deep end. Maybe you could stick Ciramusti in there just because of his inventiveness, but really we don't have a counterpart. I’ve been dying to try a so called “molecular gastronomy” hot spot for a while. WD 50 did not disappoint. Many reviews have said that this place is really coming into it’s own in the last couple of years. I didn’t try it in its early days so I can’t comment on where it’s been, but I can tell you that where it’s gotten is a very special place.

I took so long ordering that the bartender started teasing me about it. I finally decided on a richly flavored meal, but one without any heavy red meat:

Smoked eel, salsify, guava, puffed yuzu

Duck breast, spaghetti squash, almond polenta, pomelo molasses

Warm gianduja, ice milk, hazelnut, fennel

If you know anything about the restaurant going in, then the menu is a wonderful kind of puzzle. Little vignettes that clue you in to the flavor profile of a given dish, but give you very little insight into the crazy preparation that will go into its presentation. It’s exciting! I’ll probably write a full review later, but I here’s an amuse bouche, if you will, in the form of the email note I sent myself while eating:

Textures become sensual. So smokey. Beautiful- like a love letter. Feminine, flirtatious, and consummated with smoke and deep yuzu flavor

Huge duck breasts. Spaghewtti is the perfect textual and taste counterpart, adding a slight bitterness and crucnhinesss to the duck. Pomelo is the sweet you need with duck deepend by the delicious almond polenta, which I coulf eat a bowl of.

Duck skin perfectly cooked. Salty and crunchy put also chewy. Maybe too chewy but when you have almond polenta, who's gonna argue.

Dessert crazy looking! Delicious. How could you make choco hazelnut better? This is how! Like a monster mix.

Every hazelnutt fantasy I've ever had realized. I'm so glad I didn't have to share this. Lady next to me says powder like gunpowder. I don't know wbat she means but I say I agree but come on! All is right with the world!

Don't want to leave. Want to get desseert tasting menu.

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