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With a sprawling New Yorker profile coming on the heels of the opening of his 12-seat Momofuku Ko in the East Village, chef and restaurateur David Chang is having a very good March. But judging from the 8,000-plus word profile, the man is still totally miserable, just like most people in the restaurant industry. The article is not online, but Eater has been posting the juiciest parts.
The profile finds the 30-year-old award winning chef cracking up under the stress of managing multiple, insanely popular restaurants. His doctor even diagnosed him with shingles, brought on by his high anxiety. He tells reporter Larissa MacFarquhar:
It’s not that I'm not happy; I'm just fearful for the future. I'm fearful that everything's gonna be taken away… I’m a total head case right now, I cannot keep this up. All I want to do is fucking move to Idaho and ski and fish and read books. All I want to do is run away and stop… No one gets angry like I get angry. I just turn into a complete maniac. My brain feels like it’s gonna explode. It takes me a day to recover—I have to lie down and put ice on my head.
And one of the main reasons why the intimate Momofuko Ko has the cooks serving diners as they sit around the kitchen counter is because Chang is fed up with servers making more money than the cooks: “Servers are such greedy bastards. A server at Ssäm Bar could bring in seventeen hundred dollars in a week working thirty-two hours; a cook working the same hours would earn three hundred and fifty.” Too true, and the way Chang berates his cooks, they definitely deserve more money. Here’s how his head explodes on the staff:
I question your integrity. Are you willing to fucking sacrifice yourself for the food? But for personal integrity as a cook, this is what we do, and I don’t think you guys fucking care enough. It takes those little things, the properly cut scallions, to set us apart from Uno’s and McDonald’s.
But he shows no intention of running away to Idaho; plans for a Vegas restaurant are reportedly in the works.
Photo: New York Insider.
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keep him away from firearms and sharp objects!
damn, misplaced my violin...
daaaaaaang I'm scared of that fella.
No one gets angry like I get angry.
watch out incredible hulk, this guy will question your integrity!
Seems like the chefs are a passionate bunch.
Remember the French chef who killed himself because his restaurant lost two stars?
"And one of the main reasons why the intimate Momofuko Ko has the cooks serving diners as they sit around the kitchen counter is because Chang is fed up with servers making more money than the cooks: “Servers are such greedy bastards. A server at Ssäm Bar could bring in seventeen hundred dollars in a week working thirty-two hours; a cook working the same hours would earn three hundred and fifty.” Too true, and the way Chang berates his cooks, they definitely deserve more money. Here’s how his head explodes on the staff:"
Maybe you should pay your cooks more douchebag!!
An unhappy, near-psychotic chef with anger management issues who berates his staff?
Never heard that one before.
And that link to the New Yorker is incorrect.
"Maybe you should pay your cooks more douchebag!!"
They get paid more because the tips go to them. Read the piece.
Waiters and waitresses are vastly overpaid (I know, I've been one). The problem is that you can select them to be more attractive than than your cooking staff. Customers don't want to be exposed to a spitting, fuming, chef or some neurotic kid who knows JUST how to cut the scallions..
Why would a restaurant only have 12 seats?
wait one second, I thought waiters and waitstaff are paid a pittance? finally someone who spilled the beans. thankfully Pb is still reasonable.
at least his hearts in it.
This is the biggest joke in the world. He wants to move to Idaho. Well, go ahead. Nobody's stopping you. Moron. Sorry, pork-mongering moron.
He complains about servers? Just wait a few months and tell us about it. Nice thing about his new place is that you'll know when the cook spits on your food.
Back of House vs. Front of House is a civil war that will never end until Robots run the food industry, which is going to happen in 2034. Naked hipster told me so, wrote me from prison. I've had kitchen managers like Chang, in the form of stressed, out pock-faced middle aged losers. Ipods keep the turn-over rates low.
Mfer - let me guess a vegetarian waitress.
Whoa, dude, take some valium or xanax, you're WAYYYYY too stressed.