A Kitchen in Queens

IN 2007, Momofuku Ko opened.  Every day for 3 months, I logged onto the site at 10AM to try and get a table for myself and my friend Sonja.  It never happened.  Luckily, there’s Momofuku Ssam, and after years of talking about going, I’ve finally made it, and I am so very glad that I did. 

I’ve been twice in the last 2 weeks, and will happily go again.  

Momofuku is the brainchild of celebrated Korean chef David Chang.  Known for his Momofuku chain of restaurants in New York and his book of the same name, the food is fresh, smart and delicious.  

The duck over rice (pictured above) is simple, tender and absolutely amazing.  Add a little sriracha for some heat or  some of the table bbq sauce on the side and you have a gorgeous mix of flavors dancing on your tounge.  The scallion pancake is a nice touch, although a tad greasy.

For other amazing dishes from Momofuku, try the pork or duck buns, which frequently get rave reviews and live up to the hype! The sausage with rice cakes, may be my absolute favorite. Simple and spicy, the sausage is finely chopped and rice cakes are unexpected little crunchy pillows of goodness. I say pillows because they look a bit like mini marshmallows, and although that orginally caught me off guard and I hesitated to eat it, when i did I was pleasantly surprised. Bit sized and a nice crunch, they were the perfect pairing to the spicy sausage. Although I don’t eat a ton of vegetables, i LOVE broccoli. So of course, I had to try the broccoli salad. The menu clearly said bluefish sauce, which for some reason I assumed wasn’t an overly fishy sauce, but I was very wrong. It was a tad, and by a tad I mean Way too fishy sauce for my taste.  

Momofuku Saam will be a new place I start to frequent, and I hope to venture to the other spots as well. Especially Milk Bar…which will get a full review on everything they make!