Momofuku Ssam Bar - East Village, New York

It seems that nearly every Asian person has told me that David Chang’s cuisine, which is displayed in a triad of restaurants in East Village (the Milk Bar is desserts, and adjacent to Ssam Bar), falls short of expectations. And close to every non-Asian that has been there has liked the food. I’ve only read about David Chang and his Japanese-Korean inflected food in numerous accolades from James Beard and the late Gourmet Magazine. It wasn’t until a late lunch today that I was able to experience the food for myself and come to my own conclusions.

I have to say that my personal experience with Chef Chang isn’t the best – I was rebuffed when I said hello to him at Alembic, in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury. Admittedly, I asked him a pointed question about a rumor that he was coming to L.A., a touchy subject that he immediately denied. I apologized for bringing it up, and offered a conciliatory mark of gratitude for elevating the status of Korean-American cooks and incorporating Korean (and Japanese) cuisine into his cooking.

Six months later, I’m in New York staying at my childhood friend’s lovely apartment, which is just two blocks from Momofuku Ssam Bar, the second of his restaurant concepts and the recipient of three stars from the New York Times (via Frank Bruni). Needless to say I wasn’t going to miss this chance to dine here. I settled on the lunch prix-fixe, which offers three courses for a mere $25. A late lunch affords peace and quiet in the tiny space, which fits no more than 60 souls in a busy night (at least by my estimation). The chic space has plenty of dark wood paneling that reminded of a cozier Avec (Paul Kahn’s small plates spot in Chicago).

Though “ssam” literally means “wrap” in Korean, I get the sense that this restaurant gave Chef Chang the opportunity to expand his repertoire from Momofuku Noodle Bar of pork buns (though they are on the menu here) and noodle bowls (which are also on the menu at Ssam Bar). The signature dish at Ssam Bar is the whole pork butt or “Bo Ssam”, a traditional Korean feast of steamed pork belly wrapped in pickled napa cabbage leaves and garnished with pickled/fermented shrimp. There’s really an endless variety of accoutrements, though I prefer the way Kobawoo serves the dish in Koreatown (L.A.). Chef Chang’s version is gussied up with premium ingredients, such whole pork butt, a dozen oysters (to replace the pickled shrimp, though oysters can also be served like they do at Dwik Gol Mok in Koreatown), kimchi, rice, and bibb lettuce. The entry-price for Bo Ssam at Momofuku is $200 and has to be reserved in advance. The next time I have a gang of friends in town I’ll get this.

Instead, I started off my prix fixe with the plate of seasonal pickled vegetables, eschewing the more common choice of steamed pork buns (perhaps Chef Chang’s signature dish, and a riff of a common Taiwanese snack food called Gua Bao, which I’ve found in L.A. for a few bucks each). The plate of veggies reminded me of typical banchan, but with western ingredients. The plate featured textbook daikon kimchi (kak-du-gee) and napa cabbage kimchi (poggi kimchi), as well as baby carrots, romanesco (cool looking broccoli/cauliflower), fennel slices, red beets, sunchokes, sweet Asian pear, bok choy. To me, the standout ingredient was the shitake mushrooms, which were seasoned like kimchi. They displayed an incredible umami flavor that tamed the normally strong mushroom component. The whole plate was addictive and fun to eat. The plate normally costs $11 on its own, so as a part of the prix-fixe it was

The main dish choices included Spicy Rice Cakes, Crispy Long Island Skate, and Braised Beef Brisket. I asked my server (from the counter, where I was eating), which of the three she liked. She went straight for the Long Island Skate, which at $23 on the regular menu made it the most expensive choice (which didn’t matter for me since I was getting the $25 three-course prix fixe). The plating was straight-forward, a large swath of the salmon-pink spicy aioli held up a generous slice of nicely browned skate wing. With heavy Old Bay seasoning (commonly used with Maryland blue crabs), fingerling potatoes hid under the skate wing while a bit of frisee leaves and two tender slices of preserved lemon rounded out the dish. I simply loved this dish, the interplay of the rich aioli (it wasn’t too spicy), crisped skate, and bitter accent of frisee, with the accent of tangy-sweet preserved lemon. The bass-note, fingerling potatoes, might have had a tad too much Old Bay seasoning, which made them incredibly salty, but that was the only foible.

I tried to consult some friends on Twitter about what to pair with this meal. HC, my friend who writes LA-OC Foodventures instantly suggested a beer, since I had a lot of spice going on. I concluded upon a Domaine Dupage French country-style ale that is made in the Midwest, just outside of Chicago. It was malty with a tinge of hops in the finish to cleanse the palate. I felt it worked nicely with main dish.

Dessert was incredibly delicious, a thai-tea parfait made into a neat rectangle and sided with a large quenelle of lemon mascarpone ice cream. In between each element was a mound of dark almond “crunch”, resembling very much a breakfast cereal. The thai-tea and the lemon mascarpone sort of clashed on the palate, but when they were eaten only in tandem with the almond crunch, it was fantastic and addictive.

I was lucky enough to eat in the mid-afternoon, when the diminutive restaurant lies in peaceful contrast to the bustling evenings. While I wasn’t surprised to not see Chef David in the kitchen, I could see his staff hard at work for the dinner service. The wine people were tasting wines in the front from a purveyor, the chefs were collaborating on dinner service, and the front of house seemed poised to weather the storm of diners the restaurant anticipates each evening.

The food at Momofuku Ssam Bar is impressive, but perhaps I found it so because I didn’t have to cram into the space or compete with fifty other diners for the attention of the waitstaff. Or maybe because the kitchen wasn’t hit with 40 tickets but rather 2. Whatever the case, the service and food were excellent, so I look forward to my next visit.





Momofuku Ssam Bar
207 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10003
(212) 254-3500