Dining by
Design
Spain’s “hypermodern”
cuisine has crossed
the pond, and the
Northeast’s most creative
chefs are diving in
BY ELIZABETH JOHNSON
Sitting at a table for two in Manhattan,
I squeezed a plastic bottle filled with
white liquid into a bowl of miso soup.
As the gel squiggled through the nozzle
into the toast-brown broth, liquid turned to solid:
I had noodles. First I laughed; then I took a spoonful. It was smoky and meaty and satisfying, just as a
good miso soup should be.
I was dining at wd~ 50, one of a growing number of
restaurants embracing an avant-garde style of cuisine
some call hypermodern. The food is cutting-edge,
to be sure, and the kitchens of these restaurants are
more laboratory than hearth. The chefs tinker with
the molecular makeup of their ingredients, changing
liquids to solids and solids to dust, or better yet—to
air. And the dining experience plays off the idea that
CAFÉCHATTER
