David Chang has worn many labels over the years: unapologetic meat-eater, egalitarian reservation overseer, aspiring storyteller, and now...model? Apparently, yes. more ›

Storytelling club extraordinaire The Moth is kicking off their fall season with a Very Special food-centric show, featuring some big-name chefs and food personalities. more ›

Ice cream truck troubadour Michael Hearst and his book-rock collective One Ring Zero are back with an upcoming release called The Recipe Project, a book/CD of recipes from famous chefs put to song. David Chang, Mario Batali, and Tom Colicchio are just a few of the big names participating in the project, which will be released this fall. Here's a look at what to expect from Incanto chef Chris Cosentino, whose joyous Beastie Boys-inspired ode to eggs and brains is hilariously insane in the mem-brain: more ›

Yesterday, we reported that David Chang is charging $5 for a bottle of Coke at his new restaurant, Duck Lunch, and he doesn't care if you and your food blog think that's straight-up ridiculous. Or does he? The plot thickens! more ›

Another day, another ridiculously priced food that has us worrying that some basic staples of our diet (see: beer, soup) are rapidly becoming luxury goods. Today's drama concerns a humble bottle of Coca-Cola, and one food blogger's anger that Momofuku chef David Chang is charging a whopping $5 for it. more ›

Jason Schwartzman would like you to consider not eating meat for a day, a month or even the rest of your life. In a new short for Plate to Planet the Bored To Death actor narrates the day in the life of a suburban office drone who, thanks to helpful talking heads on his TV, radio and computer comes to realization that vegetarian tacos can taste good, too. And they can, but is cutting back on meat really the way to stop factory farms? more ›

Yesterday it was announced that crack-pie hotspot Momofuku Milk Bar was moving out of its shared digs with East 13th Street's Ssam Bar and going all the way across the street. And today we find out what's happening in the newly vacated space: duck. A lot of it. Starting next week, Chang and Co., who have previously been best known for their work with pigs, are installing a rotisserie in the former Milk Bar space and turning weekday lunch service at Ssam Bar into a regular ol' duck party, complete with duck over rice, a duck sandwich with duck-liver mousse, duck charcuterie and duck wonton soup. And looking around the city's dining scene, it's becoming clear that Chang isn't the only one going ducking crazy. more ›

Má Pêche, a new French-vietnamese restaurant on West 56th Street in the Chambers Hotel, means "mother peach" in Tay Boi, but judging by the color of the lighting, you might assume it means "mother orange." This is the first venture from celebrated chef David Chang (Momofuku) to open above 14th Street, and it officially debuted last week bathed in a rich orange glow. Right now the menu from Executive Chef Tien Ho only includes breakfast and lunch, but there is a limited bar menu from 11:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. daily. more ›

Eating animals is apparently hip again. The ever-growing bacon trend coupled with the rising popularity of meat-loving chefs means that vegetarianism and veganism are out, according to a lengthy New York Press article. Meat is getting so popular that some formerly vegan eateries have even started serving it. more ›

Click on the images for the scoop on Bar Henry, Sushi Uo, Mermaid Oyster Bar, Manhattan Inn, Northern Spy Food Co., and Má Pêche. more ›

Click on the images for details on Frites 'n' Meats, Le Caprice, and Piccola Cucina Focacceria. more ›

Does David Chang know we're still in a recession? Momofuku Ko has announced that starting next week, lunch prices will go up $15 and dinner prices up $25. This means lunch tops out at $175, up $25 from just last year. Apparently, this is to provide them with "the opportunity to cook with a greater variety of ingredients." Keep in mind, this is $15 more for a meal that still takes three hours to serve. more ›

Gourmet's Francis Lam visited Paul Liebrandt at Corton and was shocked to find the Best New Chef 2009 wielding none other than an orange Sham Wow as an all-purpose kitchen tool. The Sham Wow apparently saves on paper towels and apparently outperforms other methods of drying of fish fillets, Liebrandt reports, about to go into the frying pan. He even recently went so far as to show off his Sham Wow in the dining room to a table of fellow chefs, imploring them to pour a glass of wine over it to test its absorbency. The result: SHAM WOW! Lam sees a bold sales pitch here, as Sham Wow (and Slap Chop) spokesperson Vince Offer was arrested earlier this year after hitting a prostitute who "bit his tongue and would not let go." Liebrandt has offered to take up the mantle left by a post-arrest Offer, so to speak: "I could be that guy." There's no telling when Andrew Carmellini will start serving Topsy Turvy-grown heirloom tomatoes at Locanda Verde, or when David Chang's Momofuku GT Xpress will open, but it better be soon. more ›

Regarding the Momofuku Milk Bar, around the corner from the Ssam Bar, there are two things you should keep in mind: one is that the soft serve samples are pretty sizable (and free); the other is that pastry chef Christina Tosi’s Crack Pie™, Cereal Milk™, and Compost Cookies™ are now all trademarked by in process with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. File under inevitable. This effectively dashes the hopes of several thousand would-be entrepreneurs seeking to market the leftover dregs of their morning breakfast bowls and parlay Alpha-Bit gastronomy into a suprême haute cuisine multi-million dollar empire, worldwide. If you think this is all a joke, son, consider that this should also effectively stop the deranged, Dr. Frankenstein-esque, Compost Cookies™ copycat experiments of the Oatmeal Cookie Blog (banner: “Developing unique oatmeal cookie recipes and answering the ultimate question: Are they bring-in-able?”). Or perhaps not. In any event, the first Momofuku cookbook, written by David Chang and NYT writer Peter Meehan, will be published in October, and again, the free samples at the Milk Bar are generous. Donut-inspired flavors this week. UPDATE: Murray Hillster, in the comments section, has pointed out the Milk Bar offerings listed above are all in process, and Momofuku Ssam Bar is Mr. Chang's only (currently) registered trademark. more ›

Last month anti-foie gras activists got some media attention with their demonstrations outside East Village restaurant Knife + Fork; now they've set their sights on David Chang's high-profile Momofuku restaurant family. In a rant published by Eater, Chang writes that a man recently delivered a letter to Ko saying "if we continue to serve foie gras he will 'encourage' his activists to 'demonstrate outside our establishment' leading to 'negative' publicity." Chang thinks the anti-foie gras movement is highly misguided, and cites a recent Village Voice feature on the humane conditions at Hudson Valley Foie Gras, where he sources his product. He says he's visited the farm too, and insists the ducks "live a good life, free of cages and with plenty of area to roam." So to show these foie gripers he won't be "intimidated," Chang's adding at least one foie gras dish to each of his menus at his various restaurants: "We'll donate any proceeds from those dishes to charity, including City Harvest and The Food Bank for NYC—both of which are in dire need of money and support to help feed our city’s poorest and hungriest citizens." more ›

There’s a new kind of fungus you can buy on St. Mark’s Place: Sam Mason, chef of Tailor, is the latest NY chef to curate a corn dog selection at bar PDT; his features huitlacoche, a dank, truffle-tasting fungus a k a corn smut, a k a Mexican Truffle. At PDT, the elaborate hot dog menu (which overflows from the connected Crif Dogs) already includes a David Chang-styled kimchee hot dog and molecular sounding one designed by WD~50 chef Wylie Dufresne, served with fried mayonnaise and tomato molasses. The huitlacoche corn dog debuts this weekend, and is also available on Tailor’s bar menu for $10. more ›

This week Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni re-reviews Momofuku Ssam Bar, part of chef David Chang's New York empire, which you'll recall includes the impossible-to-get-into Momofuku Ko. There's a new chef at Ssam since Bruni awarded the place two stars in '07, and now he bumps it up to a lofty triple. The opening paragraph sums up his case: "If you’ve had just about all of the fawning over David Chang that you can take, think about how those of us dishing out the praise feel. We’d love to move on to a more original object of adoration and would be happy to pronounce him overrated or just plain over...But he won’t let us." more ›

Two months ago, weighing in on the ever-evolving Momofuku rumor mill, chef David Chang told Yum Sugar that plans were underway for “an expansion of soft-serve, bakery, and dessert at Ssäm Bar.” Eater has now confirmed that the conversion of a former laundromat space toward the back of Ssäm Bar is almost complete and that the annex will go by the name Momofuku Milk Bar. Interior preview here. more ›

Food world celebrities gathered at the Astor Center last night for a lively discussion on the phenomenon of celebrity chefs. Andrew Carmellini, Gwen Hyman, David Chang, Gail Simmons of Top Chef, and Mitchell Davis of The James Beard Foundation all weighed in on the celebrity craze, which has infiltrated kitchens everywhere like roaches. Only recently, some argued, has the idea of the celebrity chef become a prominent force in American culinary culture. Customers take digital pictures of every entrée, kids trade Iron Chef results like they were baseball statistics, and weirdos in Helsinki post wistful paeans to Tom Colicchio on Top Chef fansites. Some soundbites from last night:

Simmons on the pre-Top Chef world: “When I told my Mom I was going to be on a reality show, I had to convince her that I wasn’t going to be tied to a tree on an island in a bikini, eating maggots.” more ›

Andrew Carmellini was most recently the chef at A Voce, which was awarded three stars by the Times. He left that restaurant in June, and is currently looking at spaces to house his next restaurant project. more ›

The fleet of undercover, handlebar mustache-twirling French restaurant “inspectors” have made their rounds through New York’s dining scene, and the results are in. Only four restaurants have been deemed worthy of the Michelin Guide’s top rating (3 stars) this year: Jean Georges, Le Bernadin, Masa, and Per Se. more ›

Sure, the stress and time pressures of the kitchen inevitably spark infernos of obscenity, but recent shows like Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen have exposed the salty language of star chefs to untold millions. Last week’s Top Chef episode raised eyebrows for its higher-than-normal profanity quotient, when contestants lit into each other with so much F-bombing “the resulting bleeps ran together like a test of the old Emergency Broadcast System,” according to the Times. more ›

Momofuku Ko, the trendy new 12 seat restaurant by acclaimed chef David Chang, is getting more attention for its maddening reservation system than for its food. That’s partly due to the fact that no critic has been able to get into the place and review it, not even the top dog in town, Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni. more ›

Nominees for the 2008 James Beard Foundation Awards, which are kind of like the Academy Awards for chefs, have just been announced. This year’s ceremony will take place on June 8 at Avery Fischer Hall; New York contenders include Gavin Keysen of Café Boulud, up for Rising Star Chef. For the nationwide awards, Gothamist interviewees Dan Barber and Michael Psilakis have been nominated for Outstanding Chef and Best New Restaurant, respectively. Gramercy Tavern, owned by Danny Meyer, is up for Outstanding Restaurant. The full list is here. more ›

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. more ›

Heads up: David Chang's latest creation, Momofuku Ko, will be open for online reservations at 10:00 a.m. today, so cancel your meetings, bookmark the URL and prepare to crash the site's server. Will the dainty new baby live up to the breathless hype that swirls around Chang's burgeoning empire? Only the quick-clicking lucky few will find out anytime soon. more ›

It's the law of supply and demand -- if something is hard to get, everyone wants it. This especially applies to Momofuku Ko, the latest spot from chef-superstar David Chang. There's no secret handshake or phone number needed to get in (in fact, there's no phone), just an internet connection. Reservations for the 14-seat restaurant will only be made available online, first come first served...and everyone wants to get in desperately. more ›

There are a number of restaurants opening in 2008 that we've been eagerly awaiting and we thought we'd highlight some that particularly piqued our interest and have us drooling in anticipation. more ›

We love Momofuku, especially now that the Noodle Bar has moved to a larger location where we can actually bring our friends and chat with them at a table over dinner instead of just hoping to find one or two spaces at the bar. The food is amazing, and being the devoted carnivores that we are, we enjoy chef David Chang's devotion to adding meat to every dish on the menu (with one exception). more ›