Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Restaurants Interview with Momofuku's David Chang
Posted by Besha Rodell @BeshaRodell on Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 3:44 PM
David Chang is in the final stages of a book tour for his cookbook Momofuku, and last week he followed a book signing in Chapel Hill N.C. with a dinner at Lantern, one of Chapel Hill's best restaurants. In this week's feature, I talk about the dinner, the cookbook, and the phenomenon of Chang and his restaurants.
I spoke to Chang between the book signing and the dinner, sitting in the black-lacquered and red lanterned bar in the back of Lantern. I wasn't able to get much of that interview into the feature, so I thought I'd post some of our conversation here. Also, look after the jump for the menu from the dinner at Lantern.
On how the dinner came about: chang_01
On the narrative element of the book (and where the hell I'm from):chang_02
On being a mediocre cook and making mistakes in the kitchen: chang_03
On Soto (Sotohiro Kosugi ): chang_04
On Soto's reputation in Atlanta for being, um, difficult, and whether Chang's story could have happened anywhere other than New York: chang_05
On the best thing about the huge success he's achieved: chang_06
Menu from Momofuku dinner at Lantern restaurant, Feb. 9 2010:
Fluke with buttermilk, soy and poppy seeds
Shaved foie gras with lychee and pine nut brittle
Fried cauliflower with fish sauce vinaigrette
Clams in a bacon dashi soup with fingerling potatoes
Gala apple salad with kimchi, ,smoked jowl and maple labne
Momofuku pork buns
Fried chicken with octo vinaigrette and pea greens
RC cola slushi with Meyer lemon sherbet
Cereal milk panna cotta with avocado and a "chocolate hazelnut thing"
(Photos by Jeremy M. Lange)
Comments (4)
Showing 1-4 of 4
My husband and I spent a week in New York last month for our honeymoon and went to Momofuku Noodle Bar. His pork buns? Transcendent. In fact, everything we had there was amazing. The hubby offered to buy me the Momofuku cookbook but I unwisely declined. I am rethinking that decision now...
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Started going to momofuku a few years back and yes the pork bun is the best, from Hong Kong (where I'm from) to London. It was simple, new, and absolutely delicious. Then finally went to momofuku ko back in December...was really excited but came out completely disappointed. Comparing to other 10+ courses restaurants like per se, wd-50, Le Atelier, or even Atlanta's Ritz Dining Room, Seeger's and Q, all dishes at ko came up short on all levels. 1. Combination of flavors and textures repeatedly fail to achieve their intention. In other words, they don't work. All of them. 2. Poor execution on plating and temperature. example: seared duck breast sits on cold stainless steel counter more than 10 minutes before being sliced and served. result: eating cold meat. Plating lacks care, accuracy, and consistency. 3. Questionable course sequence. example: the shaved foie gras dish is served at the end between two hot protein courses. The foie gras is ice-cream-like cold and tasted "odd" in between those two courses. Just doesn't make sense. btw, I feel that this signature dish is gimmicky at best. Don't really want to go on and on but it was sad and frustrating to say the least. For similar vibe and food, a multi-course meal at WD-50 two years ago was way better.
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