Chef Spotlight: Wylie Dufresne of wd~50

Some might say Wylie Dufresne is as much a mad scientist as he is a Michelin-starred chef: with his long hair and sideburns, he brings a certain flair to his cooking.

To eat a meal at Chef Dufresne’s wd~50 restaurant in New York City is to embark on wild culinary escapade. Popular dishes on his menu include noodles made with shrimp, bagel ice cream with cotton candy lox, sauces made from popcorn puree, and his famous “eggs Benedict” made with a cylinder of egg yolk, deep fried mayonnaise and paper thin Canadian bacon.

Perhaps it is too limiting to typify Dufresne as a “molecular gastronomist”, but with his use of ingredients like “meat glue”, he has helped start an avant-garde culinary movement in the United States. Some may recognize Dufresne from Bravo’s TV series Top Chef where he often judges challenges – even going so far as to compete on the network’s spinoff series, Top Chef Masters.

A continual supporter of education and innovation, Dufresne will be coming to Cambridge this week to guest lecture for the popular “Science of Cooking” class offered at Harvard this semester. That said, you don’t have to be a student to catch Wylie! Though he comes to campus to teach SPU-27, Dufresne will also offer a public lecture at 7 pm on Monday, November 8th in Science Center D. Don’t miss it!

For more details, visit: http://seas.harvard.edu/cooking