THE WASP DIET

Wasp cooking is a term that most consider either an oxymoron or a punch line. But beyond the stereotypes—bland, anti-foodie, relentlessly mayoed—much of so-called Wasp or country-club food descends from English-influenced Americana and the heyday of Frenchinspired Continental cuisine. It’s the sort of retro cooking that’s enjoying a revival around town, and when done well, it’s undeniably delicious. Here, a few defining dishes and where to get them. by robin raisfeld and rob patronite

BEEF WELLINGTON

A British dish of meat wrapped in pastry, but a helluva lot more impressive than a Cornish pasty. Said meat is typically fillet of beef topped with duxelles.

The dish was named after Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, of Napoleon-quashing and tall-rubber-boot fame. Aside from him, Richard Nixon, Julia Child, and Don Draper were big fans. At TAK Room (20 Hudson Yards, fifth floor), it’s carved tableside and given a superrich pour of périgourdine sauce.

MARTINI

No other cocktail has been as associated with the well-chronicled Wasp drinking habits. Though debates might rage regarding proportion, technique, and garnish, the drink is the ultimate classic, best consumed in equally classic surroundings, and few places fit the bill better than Bemelmans Bar (35 E. 76th St.), where the glow is golden no matter the time of day and your drink comes with a sidecar mini-carafe over ice. (Also: the Grill, Pegu Club.)

LOBSTER ROLL

A lobster roll made with a top-loading (preferably Pepperidge Farm) hot-dog bun is the defining alfresco feast for New England clans from Connecticut to Kennebunkport. It is to a Waspy New England summertime what sausage and peppers are to the San Gennaro Feast. In New York, the standard-bearer is Pearl Oyster Bar, not only for using whole lobster in the salad instead of just claws and knuckles but for the Maineinspired urban setting (18 Cornelia St.).

FRENCH ONION DIP AND CHIPS

A taxonomy of Wasp food would be incomplete without a mention of cocktail-friendly dips (clam, crab, artichoke) and the crunchy things that get plunged into them. Chief among these is the French onion variety, whipped up in the early ’50s with a recipe later appearing on packages of Lipton onion-soup mix. You can find excellent made-from-scratch versions on the bar menu at Union Square Cafe and at TAK Room, where the sherryspiked dip is surrounded by a moat of housemade Kennebec-potato chips in a cut-glass bowl.

DOVER SOLE

The most regal of the soles, this mild-flavored flatfish is native to the North Sea and named for the port through which it was historically routed to markets. Hereabouts, it’s usually spotted in French guise (à la meunière, grillée with sauce moutarde) at the kind of place that first established its loyal clientele back when fancy French food was the foremost culinary status symbol and Wasps dominated New York society. It’s a signature dish at La Grenouille (3 E. 52nd St.), which in menu and milieu remains much the same as it was when it opened in 1962.

CHICKEN POT PIE

One of the recurring themes regarding what Wasps like to eat and where they like to eat it is old-fashioned comfort food in cozy, modestly furnished spaces where everyone knows everyone else. The Waverly

Inn (16 Bank St.) and its chicken pot pie fulfill these criteria, and the dish, like Anglo-Saxons themselves, arrived to these shores from the British Isles, where meat pies of all types enjoyed enormous popularity. Another Waspy thing about

the Waverly, which still claims to be serving a “preview menu,” is its innate

(but not impenetrable) clubbiness, a defining element of what this subculture

prizes in its dining destinations.

CLUB SANDWICH

With club right in its name, and bacon,

mayo, and white bread as featured ingredients, it’s no surprise the iconic tripledecker sandwich traces its pedigreed origins back to either a ritzy Saratoga

Springs casino or the kitchen of Manhattan’s Union Club. Now, you can’t find a suburban country club or posh hotel room-service menu without one. But like anything too good to be contained behind the walls of social privilege, the triangle-cut, toothpick-skewered classic has permeated all segments of society, becoming a staple at diners and coffee shops—not least of them

Neil’s (961 Lexington Ave.), a Hunter College–area greasy spoon favored by none other than the paterfamilias of the Platt

clan, Adam’s father, Nicholas. (Ritzier versions can be found at Harry

Cipriani and the Mark.)

PRIME RIB

Of all celebratory cuts of beef, prime rib is

the tenderest, juiciest, and Waspiest. Also known as a standing rib roast, it’s as easy to cook as it is impressive to serve. The Grill (99 E. 52nd St.) carves its prime

rib tableside from a custom-made gueridon and serves it with deviled bones.

(Also: the Beatrice Inn, Smith & Wollensky, and 4 Charles Prime Rib.)