[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid: November 3, 2014]
As we approach the final days of WD-50, a restaurant whose arc I've followed closely since the early days, it's interesting to see that it was ten years ago that I decided to look in on 71 Clinton Fresh Food.
This was the joint, on the other side of Clinton Street from his current flagship, where chef Wylie Dufresne first won his reputation (he's been cooking on these few blocks for fifteen years now).
The continuation of 71 Clinton under other chefs is easily forgotten, but in 2004 Jason Neroni was heading the kitchen there. He went on to Porchetta in Brooklyn, and 10 Downing Street, then moved to the west coast. He was doing a nice job at 71 Clinton, although in a much more conventional vein, of course, than Wylie. We ate:
Foie gras capuccino
Roast veal sweetbreads
Striped bass with figs and taleggio ravioli in a sage broth
Beef short ribs
Cheeses (Cowgirls's Creamery)
Panna Cotta
I also headed back to Café Gray for my third dinner there, and probably the least memorable: vitello tonnato, followed by pork shank. I joined the Mercantile Library, mainly to have its peaceful reading room as an oasis in midtown. And I also ate some mediocre brisket and baby back ribs at Smokehouse BBQ.
And had a dream about Stan Laurel. Amazing what you find in your diary.
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