Wylie Dufresne

Part scientist, part artist, all chef, Wylie Dufresne pushes the boundaries of what’s possible with food.

By Jennifer Treuting

Photo Credit Jamie McCarthy/Wireimage.com

Chef Wylie Dufresne

Specialty: Molecular gastronomy

Wylie Dufresne’s first degree was in philosophy. His second was from the French Culinary Institute. It’d be a few years in the making, but this chef would come to use both skill sets equally in the kitchen.

Early in his career, Dufresne assisted with the opening of Jean Georges in New York City and was promoted to sous-chef before leaving to spend time cooking in Las Vegas. In 1999, he returned to Manhattan, opening 71 Clinton Fresh Food, in the heart of the Lower East Side.

Revitalizing the neighborhood and perhaps single-handedly turning the LES into the trendy-artsy scene that it is today, 71 Clinton Fresh Food was packed each night with eager devotees. Dufresne found himself named one of the nominees for the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star Chef honor in 2000 and one of Food & Wine’s Best Chefs for 2001.

In 2003, Dufresne took a new direction with wd-50. This restaurant represented a daring departure from the cuisine at 71 Clinton Fresh Food; diners who sought the familiar were warned to look elsewhere. It’s not a stretch to view wd-50 as the marriage of Dufresne’s training as a chef and as a philosopher. The cuisine embodies challenges to traditional ingredients as well as traditional thinking, encouraging us to look closer: examine food, examine life.

Deconstructing and reconstructing classic dishes to create a new take on something as familiar as a BLT sandwich, the chef uses new methods and ingredients that sound like something from a science lab: xanthum gum, hydrocolloids, carrageenan. The resulting dish can truly be called a blend of art and science; best of all, it’s entirely edible.

Giving the restaurant two stars and noting, not without a touch of admiration, that Dufresne and his menu exhibited “restless artistic temperament and a total lack of fear,” William Grimes of the New York Times also declared the chef “one of the most distinctive culinary talents in New York.” The James Beard Foundation echoed this sentiment, nominating Chef Dufresne in 2007 and 2008 for the Best Chef: New York City honor.