U.P. – Unlimited Possibilities
“I have been enamored with Dominique Ansel's magical creations ever since he burst into the culinary scene with cronuts.”
“Next came the playful "first kiss" where you have to drink the roasted peanut water and cream soda pearls.”
“The candied carrots in this dish were to die for and the yogurt meringues were just heavenly.”
U.P. – Unlimited Possibilities
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$$ Price range Above $61
8 reviews
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Getting tickets to Dominique Ansel's U.P. tasting menu takes some serious long-term commitment. Tickets are released online every Monday at 12pm on the dot for six seatings, eight people each, seven weeks out. After refreshing the page like a madman for 15 minutes, I managed to get a pair of tickets for a Sunday night slot.
My friend and I were the first people to arrive for our 7:30pm seating, so we waited on the stadium seats inside Dominque Ansel Kitchen. Finally, once everyone had arrived, we were led through a separate entrance to the production kitchen upstairs. We ate right in the middle of the kitchen on a table that came down from the ceiling! Dominique himself was not there, so the meal was led by Executive Pastry Chef Karys Logue.
First on the table were arrangements of mini vegetables, because you should always eat your veggies before dessert.
The theme of this menu is "First Memories Last Forever", and each course represented a different "first" life event–
1) First word: Prior to the meal, we were asked to email them our first word… so when our bowls came out, each of them was customized to what our responses were! The dish was designed to look like alphabet soup using ingredients like sweet pea, rice milk and carrot cake. Everything about the dish felt light and fluffy – including the letters, which were constructed out of yogurt meringue – very reminiscent of the foods a baby would eat.
2) First kiss: This came served in custom-designed bowls where you had to first eat the raspberry and white chocolate that were at the opening, and then get to the cream soda pearls and mint ganache on the inside. The mint ganache was even shaped and textured all slippery like a tongue, because as Dominique says, "every kiss should be a French one" hahaha. They even customized the bowls by gender – mine was stubbly to resemble a guy's face, and my (male) friend's was smooth to resemble a girl's.
2) First time living on your own: This was basically a dessert version of spaghetti carbonara. The "pasta" was made of ribboned crepe, the sauce was smoked toffee, and there was even an "egg" made of custard. This was one of my favorites because it was *almost* savory. It had that lovely caramelized taste of a homemade rice krispie.
4) First heartbreak: The execution of this dish was really unique – baked Alaska in the center of the plate with the ice cream coated in a chocolate shell, surrounded by daisy petals. There was a piece of rice paper that we were instructed to light with matches we were given, and the fire slowly burned around the rest of the petals, torching the meringue as it went. After everyone finished their baked Alaskas, we were given salted lime & shiso sorbet, served in a fresh orchid!
5) First job: The dish came wrapped in a paper clip and "urgent!" post-it note, and ended up being a bar graph of things representative of your first job: sleep, taxes, beer money, and caffeine. Each bar was made of different ingredients: cardamom meltaway (sleep), honey nougat (taxes), malt semifreddo (beer money), and coffee-flavored chocolate (caffeine), all on top of a deliciously crunchy praline feuilletine cookie. While it was fun sampling all the different flavors, it was all extremely rich – I only made it halfway through the caffeine bar before calling it quits. The praline feuilletine on the bottom did wonders for offsetting the richness though.
6) First fine dining experience: This dish, like the third course, was a dessert version of a savory dish – in this case, a beef wellington. The "beef" was chocolate mousse, and the wrapping was puff pastry, and the sauce contained red wine. Overall, another very rich dish.
7) First dance: It came in lollipop form and tasted like strawberry shortcake. The chef laid them out on our table and piped a mascarpone "tutu" around each one before handing them out.
8) The next first: According to Chef Karys, the Asian flavors in this dish were an ode to the opening of Dominique Ansel Bakery in Tokyo. It consisted of sake lees panna cotta, lychee granita, and a sugar plum on top.
To end our meal, we each got a bite of Dominique Ansel's signature DKA (short for Dominique's Kouign Amann), which is described as "similar to a caramelized croissant". Not too heavy and not too light, it was the perfect way to end the meal.
The team throughout the night was incredibly hospitable and the entire experience was so personal – as they served each dish to us, they would ask things like "What was your first fine dining experience?" or "What was the first meal you ever made on your own?" We even given party favors on our way out – a box of potato chips (not sweet, thank god) and a silver balloon with a fortune inside.
Overall, U.P. is definitely a fantastic experience and very worth the splurge!
Wow what a mind-blowing experience! The concept, the food, the staff – everything was amazing. Meet in the main store and get escorted up a private staircase into the kitchen/lab where the magic all happens. You are accompanied by Karys, the executive pastry chef, who is basically Mr Ansel's right-hand woman and develops each concept and recipe. She is so sharp, smart, and patiently answered every question. Our theme: American Dreams. Each course progresses through the decades. The dishes ranged from whimsical to playful to humorous, each very unique and makes you think outside the box of "pastry" and "dessert."
I recommend doing the beverage pairing (I shared with my dining companion), as they really complement the dishes. It's pretty difficult to secure a spot because there are only 8-10 seats total, which really makes it a very intimate experience. By the end of the night, I felt like I was adopted into the lovely family at Dominique Ansel (we even got a selfie). It was so much fun, I couldn't recommend it enough.
Unique, inventive desserts, and a very enjoyable meal overall (although a bit on the pricier end).
A friend and I snagged two reservations for two on the first weekend of the "American Dreams" tasting. It would be a bit much to go through each dish on its own, but suffice it to say, each one was very thoughtful and delicately prepared, with generally a great deal of emphasis placed on the showmanship and the performance of the meal overall. Some dishes worked better than others, and while some I found to be more show-y than tasty, the overall quality was very high, and I definitely enjoyed the meal and interaction with the overall staff throughout. I would consider coming back for a different menu when they roll out a newer one, which seems like is every six months or so.
Unlimited Possibilities (aka U.P.) is an after-hours, FUN and intimate eight-courses dessert tasting menu, limited to eight people/seating. When the tickets were available on Monday at noon, I was lucky enough, yet persistent, to score a reservation for the 7:30pm seating, SEVEN weeks later. Pro tip: Tickets are sold out in seconds, no joke. So, glue your thumb to the refresh button, and keep clicking. You might be the lucky one.
Seven weeks later, in West Village, Dominique Ansel Kitchens' was opened after-hours for us, the eight lucky people .We were accompanied up a candle lit stairwell leading to the second floor kitchen, where we were welcomed by our fun and engaging hosts: Corporate Pastry Chef Noah Carroll and Executive Pastry Chef Karys Logue.
A table "fall" from the ceiling, chairs were pulled from the sides, and we were seated. We had to eat our vegetables before dessert, per Chef Carroll. My friend, Hend, and I didn't eat all of our vegetables. No dessert for seats 5 & 6 tonight, he said. That was the first funny moment of our night. The night of the firsts in our life, from our first words, first kiss, first breakup, to our next first in life. "First Memories Last Forever." A celebration of "Firsts", first moments of nostalgia and passion.
1) First Word…Sweet pea, rice milk, carrot cake, yogurt meringue, gin. Paired with yuzu eucalyptus sparkler.
– Three weeks prior to our dessert-date, I received an email from The UP Team asking about Hend's and I first words when we were babies. I didn't know what my first word ever was, as I haven't shut-up since then. I saw a playful and foamy " ? " made out of vanilla meringues.
2) First Kiss…Raspberry, roasted peanuts water, cream soda pearls, fresh mint. Paired with butter popcorn Flor de Caña rum, cola.
– We hold a custom-made ceramic bowl, representing either a "smooth" girl's cheek, or a "scratchy" boy's cheek. With our eyes closed, we were totally reminded of our playful, youthful and real first kiss. And because "First Kiss" is usually a French kiss, I totally enjoyed that piece of mint panna cotta, when it touched my tongue,like a French kiss.
3) First Time Living on Your Own…Sweet corn, crepes, smoked toffee, lemon zest, anise. Paired with Domaine Rolet, Macvin Blanc,"sangria."
– Ramen is my all time favorite "meal", eating it out of a pot or a pan makes it yummier. I still eat Ramen. Thats why the ribboned crepes noodles, was easily my favorite. I'm known for burning my dishes, however, I'm still going on a "normal, healthy life, for the most part. I loved the idea of crepes noodles, with the" burned sides" toffee and the sweet corn, representing the egg yolk. It was even served in the tiniest and cutest skillet I ever saw.
4) First Heart Break…Bergamot, cocoa nibs, marshmallows, bitter almond" Chocolate Pain de gênes" Paired with Ceylon pekoe Mezcal milk punch.
– Every pair of us were given a box of matches with a note on it inspired by some cliché breakup lines, like It's not you, it's me. Ours was: if you liked it, then you shoulda put a ring on it. Thin papers meringue, in the shape of a flower petals, were burned. He loves me, he loves me not inspiration. I think.
— Palate cleanser: sorbet in a fresh Orchid. Our memories of our heartbreaks were washed away.
5) First Job…Coffee, cardamom, nougat, malt, pralinê feulletine. Paired with Chocolate stout shot in the dark.
-Life-work moments sumarized in a bar-chart urgent memo: tiny & tastless sleep, huge & nougaty taxes, small & malty beer money and enormous CAFFEINE bar.
6) First Fine Dining Experience…Dark chocolate, black currant, red wine, brown butter, puff pastry, crème fraîche. Paired with Lustau.
– Beef Wellington-like and fancy dining.
7) First Dance…Strawberries, mascarpone, elderflower. Paired with Chartogne-Taillet.
– Pop the question, and let's have the first dance. Strawberry cake pop with a mascarpone tutu.
8) The Next First…Cherry, sake lees, lychee. Paired with Kirsch mist, sake.
– All good things comes to an end. An end to a promise made to be broken.
To the next first.
It was almost 90 minutes of a very good time.
TEN Yelps.
Can I Get an Amen!
I have been enamored with Dominique Ansel's magical creations ever since he burst into the culinary scene with cronuts. Even though I have not loved all of his inventions, I have loved most of the pastries that I've tried, most recently the heavenly whipped apple "pie". I made a point to log on at 11:55am one Monday, and just kept refreshing the browser until noon. After hitting refresh like a crazy person, I was finally able to snag two spots for a Friday evening. So a mere 7 weeks later, we rang the bell and a cheerful guy came down to greet us. He ushered us into Dominique Ansel Kitchen next door, and showed us around the space. Dominique Ansel himself came out and greeted us. He asked us some questions, and talked a bit about what we are about to experience. He also graciously offered to take pictures with us.
Finally, on to the main event of the night, we were ushered upstairs and were assigned seats around the large rectangular table that was lowered from the ceiling. Before the service started, we noshed on some small carrots and radishes with butter. I absolutely loved the butter, it would've gone great with some toasted bread or bagel. Not really a great combination with vegetables however.
1) First Word – It was an adorable concept and beautifully presented. A week prior to our reservation, U.P. emailed me to asked us what our first words were. The words were made out of the meringue and put atop the dessert. Part of me wished I had a longer word because the meringue was delicious and I wanted more of it. The best part of this dish was the sweet pea sorbet, I wish I can eat a whole pint of it. I didn't really taste the "carrot cake", I guess it wasn't super "carroty", for the lack of better word. The sparkler was my favorite pairing out of all the drinks we had, it was light with a hint of sweetness, a perfect pairing for this dish.
2) First Kiss – The guys were presented with a smooth white bowl, while the women received a textured bowl which is suppose to represented the stubbly cheek of a guy. The chefs encouraged us to pick up the bowls and drink out of them directly with our eyes closed. A cute fact, they sprayed the bowls with CK One, which is meant to recreate our first kiss experience. It certainly brought back memories. I loved the fact that they tried to encourage us to use all five senses in consuming this dish. My favorite parts of the dish was the cream soda pearls and the custard on the bottom of the dish. The drinking pairing received a lot of praises in the media, but I thought it just tasted like a standard Rum & Coke.
3) First Time Living on Your Own – This dish was suppose to represent spaghetti carbonara, but I personally thought it was the least successful dish of the night. I wasn't a big fan of the texture of the crepes, and the overall flavor of this dish was lacking. This was the only dish that I didn't finish. I did love the tiny skillet the dish came with, and the drink pairing was super fun with a red striped straw.
4) First Heart Break – This dish received a lot of attention on Yelp, but I am confused by it. The idea is to watch the fire burn through the circle of meringue that encircles the dish. It took forever for the fire to burn through the loop. I "rescued" a few meringues prior to them being burned and I thought they were pretty yummy, kind of a waste to burn them. I loved the ice cream, but the chocolate cake on the bottom was extremely dense
5) First Job – I loved taking alternate bites of the different "bars", I think my favorite was the coffee and praline ones. The chocolate stout was a good paring, the bitterness complemented the sweetness of the dish well.
6) First Fine Dining Experience – This is suppose to represent a beef wellington. I absolutely loved the black currant sauce on the bottom. The chef offered to scourge up a croissant for me to dip the sauce with, and if I wasn't so full, I would've been so happy to take him up on it. I hated the sherry though, I thought it would've paired better with a red wine instead.
7) First Dance – Loved this dish. My only complaint is that it is too small, it is meant to be eaten with one bite like a cake pop. I could eat ten of these. The tartness of the strawberries coupled extremely well with the creaminess of the mascarpone. Liked the champagne pairing as well.
8) The Next First – My absolute favorite course. I've never had sake lees before, and it was so delicious. I also loved the little white dish it came on, it resembled a pavlova. It took all of my willpower to not take a bite of the plate.
After two hours of non-stop amazing food, we were given a silver balloon with the menu tied on the bottom, as well as a small bag of duck-fat fried chips. I noshed on the chips on the way home while holding my balloon, best night ever!
I booked my tickets about a month in advance after hearing about UP during a lunch meeting. It is definitely a very unique and creative experience created by Dominque Ansel's team. The theme of the dessert tasting I attended was called "American Dreams". The creativity with the story line and art collaboration was really cool to follow. The team led us on a journey from the beginning of the American Dream to the future, starting with the California Gold Rush and ending with A Wish. The consistency of the desserts fluctuated a bit, some being really good than others but overall the desserts were delightful.
At the end of the tasting we all received a little gift to go; a balloon with a secret message and coffee to go from one of our desserts. The next morning I mixed the coffee with milk and it was really delicious. I had a good time with my date and would love to come back to try the other dessert tasting menus. I would highly recommend this experience to everyone. 5 stars to the presentation. 5 stars to the dedicated staff. 4 stars for the dessert tastings. 5 stars for everything in between, including the really cool hand towelette show. Thank you all for an enjoyable evening.
My recollection of the Storyline:
Eureka! – Dreams of Money/Gold represented by the California Gold Rush. The presentation was a pot of "dirt" (coffee) and you had to find the gold nuggets (made of ice cream and cream).
Carpe Diem – roaring 20s with champagne, gin and huckleberries.
White Picket Fence – the American dream of owning a house with a white picket fence and yard represented by a paper constructed house and flowers.
Peace – dream of Peace & Love represented by the hippies. A groovy dessert. Really enjoyed the Aged Apple Vinegar Jello.
Wall Street – This was my favorite dessert. A smoky cigar made of potatoes, chocolate, whiskey and caramel to represent dreams of success and making $$$.
Tech Boom – really creative! You had to insert a disc into the computer and a waffle would pop out of the machine.
#GoingViral – Sherman Sheep in the age of selfies and Instagram filters.
A Wish – a chocolate wishbone representing hopes and dreams of the future.
KenScale: 8.5/10
Ever since opening Dominique Ansel Bakery in SoHo, pastry chef Dominique Ansel has never looked back, starting with the overnight sensation Cronut. Although I wasn't a huge fan of Cronut (I think it is one of the most overrated food hypes in NYC), I did enjoy many other inventive and pastries, first at the Bakery and then at the made-to-order pastry shop Dominique Ansel Kitchen in West Village. Dominique Ansel Kitchen also opened a separate tasting menu, available two nights a day only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for a table of eight people at a time. You have to purchase tickets online seven weeks out and pay $85 per person in advance, and it still took me five unsuccessful tries to finally score a table! My efforts finally paid off and I was able to visit the second floor space of the Kitchen to explore the philosophy of chef Dominique's pastry world.
I was greeted to a kitchen on the second floor where all the magic was happening. After the table came down from the ceiling and executive chef Karys Logue and her staff greeted the guests, the desserts came in rapid successions. U.P. is planning on changing its themes every once in a while, and the inaugural theme is "first memories." In came the "first word" consisting of sweet pea, rick milk, gin, carrot cake and yogurt meringue (I was asked on an email to send the first word as a baby ("friend" for me) and the dish prominently displayed that word in the form of rice milk). It was off to a great start with elegant flavor and nice texture of carrot cake. Next came the playful "first kiss" where you have to drink the roasted peanut water and cream soda pearls. I was a huge fan of "first time living on your own" dish that looks like carbonara pasta but actually has sweet corn, crepes and smoked toffee. The dish was pure decadence with subtle flavor and texture that makes you feel like you're actually eating a delicious pasta. There were theatrical elements to other dishes, some brilliant and other a bit too sweet. "First heartbreak" had that playfulness where you get to burn marshmallow on the fringes but the dish of chocolate pain de genes in the center was a bit underwhelming. The shiso ice cream inside a flower that came after, however, was pretty refreshing. "First job" dish had bars of varying heights (each consisting of different ingredients) to represent different aspects of your jobs like taxes, caffeine and sleep, but it came out a little too sweet. "First fine dining experience" looks like meat tenderloin dish at a fine restaurant, but instead it has dark chocolate, black currant, brown butter, puff pastry and crème fraiche. I also found this dish a bit too heavy, but the red wine sauce at the bottom definitely saved it to make for another interesting dish. Following a lollipop of "first dance" that has strawberries, mascarpone and elderflower, the last dish of "the next first" consisting of sugar plum sake lees and lychee was very refreshing and delicate. Overall, I was very impressed with the creative energy of the tasting dishes, and it makes for a nice dining experience so long as you can handle the huge sugar intake.
U.P. experience is really casual where you get to interact with chef Logue and her staff and talk about their philosophy and experience. There is beverage pairing menu (consisting of different cocktails and wines) for $35 and it's worth adding that to your tasting (you're already spending $85 for your dessert tasting, why not spend a bit more to add to your experience?). So long as you get lucky and get the tickets online, U.P. is definitely a worthwhile experience. I'm very looking forward to seeing what the kitchen will bring next time (heard their next theme will be showcased early next year). If you're looking to impress your dates, definitely a nice (albeit pricey) option to think of.
The staff and chefs at Dominique Ansel's U.P. really know how to provide a magical experience with the right balance of exclusivity without pretension. Everyone is so friendly and passionate about what they do. It is so clear that they had a real vision for the experience and the production value is wonderful. I love the mix of technology, artistry, and of course culinary creativity. I also absolutely loved the extra touch of providing a soundtrack with each course that flowed so well, it took a few courses for us to realize it was there!
My favorites had to be the Eureka! gold nuggets, both for taste, and the hands-on fun of shaking out that "dirt." I loved how they turned the dirt into a coffee to go. The Peace dish had the most beautiful and magical presentation. The Wall Street cigar was delicious with a different filling flavor with each bite. Of course the Tech Boom was the most fun, even with technical errors like a real 90's computer. Going Viral's filters were so tasty and the actual presentation was the most clever one, and truly observant of today's trends.
This experience is pricey, but so worth the money if you can afford it. It is so different from any other multi-course tasting menu you get anywhere else. Getting tickets requires forethought and planning since there are so few seats and only one seating a night.