If change is good, Wylie Dufresne is in for some happy days. This week, the kooky chef-trailblazer scraps his entire menu at wd~50, most of which has been offered since opening day nine years ago, for something brand spankin’ new. Even the format is new, as the restaurant will now offer two tasting menus, a concept he tried to avoid for fear of self-importance (“I was afraid people would associate a tasting menu with a temple, a church”) but has come to embrace. He also says his mad-scientist touch has been tamed, not that his crew isn’t currently using “vacuum pressure to press the essence of pistachio oil directly into pores of zucchini” or anything. [NYT]