Results tagged “momofukuko”

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.

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."

Should you somehow manage to finagle one of precious 12 seats at David Chang’s wildly hyped restaurant Momofuku Ko, don’t go pushing your luck by trying to commemorate the experience in photographs. Chang has banned picture-taking at Ko because he feels it’s become a distraction to other diners. “It’s just food. Eat it,” he declares. Could this be a new trend? Serious Eats talks to other chefs around town about their photography policies.

As if offering a final coda (or is it?) to the suspenseful Momofuku Ko reservation saga, the Times’s Frank Bruni has officially opined on the breathlessly hyped, 12-seat restaurant from rock star chef David Chang. Bruni extols it with three stars, calling it “noteworthy beyond its addling all-computer reservation system and the intense, revelatory pleasures of its partly Asian, partly French, wholly inventive food… Ko in its early months serves a few dishes that merely intrigue along with others that utterly enrapture.”

To bring the Momofuku Ko Craigslist reservation controversy full circle, Insatiable Critic Gael Greene (pictured incognito) has finally published her side of the story.

That Momofuku Ko "resi" that hit Craigslist recently, where the poster was looking for a culinary companion, was not only filled -- but the story gets juicier than kimchi consommé with pork belly.

The coveted Momofuku Ko reservation has reached Craigslist (again), where all in-demand items are eventually available if you're willing to pay the price (which isn't always monetary). A gentleman named "Tom" seems to have found himself a "resi" for two at Ko this week, but is lacking both funds and friends in order to properly enjoy it.

I recently achieved what most have found impossible. I have a resi for two (2) at Ko this Weds. I am offering my one extra seat to anyone who wants to treat me to this most coveted dining celebration. You pay for the food, if we have fun I will pick up the tab for the booze.

Continue reading "Momofuku Ko "Resi" Hits Craigslist"

The Village Voice’s Robert Sietsema stops by Soba Totta (pictured), the fourth addition to the Yakitori Totto mini-chain. He loves some charcoal shish kebabs and says “the sight of three yakitori chefs skewering morsels of chicken with military precision behind a hanging sheet of glass intended to forestall spatters is one of the great sights of midtown dining.”

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.

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.

Writing for the Times, Frank Bruni calls the wine and charcuterie restaurant Bar Boulud (pictured) “a terrine machine, a pâté-a-palooza, dedicated to the proposition that discerning New Yorkers aren’t getting nearly enough concentrated, sculptured, gelatinous animal fat” and awards it two stars. Bruni also revisits Fiamma and calls the owners out for jacking up prices by 20% just days after he rated it three stars.

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.

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.