I love David Chang

Momofuku Ssam

Chef:  David Chang

No sillies, David Chang is not my boyfriend, he’s the new “It” kid on the culinary block. He’s Korean, he’s bad ass (says what he thinks, does what he says) and he can cook up a mean pork bun.  Most of his dishes have Korean inflections in them which make them interesting, spicy and deeeelicious.

I have been to every one of his joints…from Momofuku Noodle Bar, the first, to his third and highly coveted 10 seat restaurant Ko (i know i couldn’t believe i scored a reservation too — but persistance paid off) and I often go to his second baby, Ssam.

That’s what this is all about right here. Ssam.

I went there last night with a friend and started with the usual: his well known and droolworthy pork buns.

image taken from roboppy.net

I dream of these. They are THAT good and worth every bit of the hype.  Soft cloud-like buns, smeared with a little hoison sauce, encase rich pork belly topped with sliced cucumbers and scallions. Perfect melody that melts in your mouth.

Next we split the Banh Mi.  You get crispy ham and chicken liver under layers of shredded daikon, carrots, cilantro and cucumber. It has a delightfully raw bite from the pickled veggies cutting the livery flavor of the pate and pork. It’s one of the best in the city I think and my friend agreed.

Finally we descended upon the main course I had never seen on the menu before. It is the spicy rice cakes with pork sausage, chinese broccoli and crispy shallots.

image taken from roboppy.net

In Korea there is a comfort dish called dukboki which uses the same rice cakes and flecks of ground beef in a thick spicy red sauce. I believe this was Mr. Chang’s take on that very dish. The most noted differences were that the rice cake was crispy on the outside as if fried or sauteed and he used more meat and garlic to flavor the dish rather than the spicy red sauce commonly used. Though bursting with flavor, the plate was VERY salty.  Midway through, it became an effort to eat as the saltiness was so overpowering.

With a glass of their house undistilled sake, the meal was finished, our bellies were full and we pushed ourselves away from the table and skipped off arm in arm into the cold cold New York night.

Momofuku Ssam, 207 Second Ave, New York, NY