Chef on the Edge? Momfuku's David Chang

I just finished reading Larissa MacFarquhar's profile of chef David Chang in the March 24th issue of The New Yorker. Unfortunately, the story is not posted on The New Yorker website (what do they post there anyway?), but it's worth the read if you can find a copy of the magazine.

Chang is the founder of Momofuku Noodle Bar and Momofuku Ssam Bar, both in the East Village in Manhattan, and just this week, he opened a third restaurant, Ko, also in the East Village.

MacFarquhar's profile is far from flattering. Chang comes off as crazy. It's clear that he's a brilliant chef and that his obsession with innovation and flavor--along with his striving for perfection--have produced some amazing meals for his diners. Sadly, it's just as clear that he's tightly wound and seems barely able to hold it together. Reading about him, I imagined him as a sort of culinary van Gogh--intense, manic and capable of genius, but somehow doomed by his single-minded drive for perfection and beauty.

And yet, I found an admirable cross current in MacFarquhar's piece that's also worth mentioning: his humility and his concern for others. Chang repeatedly emphasizes that he's no great cook, and MacFarquhar writes about his concern for his staff--even though she also quotes him at length berating them. She quotes him talking about his commitment to provide health care and other benefits for them, and she writes about his commitment to using local food whenever possible. Perhaps most interestingly, he talks to her about the choices he faces in opening new restaurants and expanding his Momofuku empire to other cities.

Despite these positive qualities, Chang seems more like someone gripped by fear of failure. It is a fear so strong that he seems on the verge of losing all perspective on what he's accomplished and what he's achieved. Perhaps, I'm naive in thinking he could ever relax running a high-profile trio of New York restaurant, but I hope he'll try.

I should also mention that I ate at the Momofuku Ssam Bar last September when I was in New York. I met my cousin, Alan, and my friend, Dan, there, and we had an excellent meal. The dish that stood out was a tapioca pearl and sea urchin combination, with nori and crispy rice (I think). It was amazing. As sea urchin often does, it tasted like the sea, and the tapioca, the nori and rice gave the dish a surprisingly crunchy and chewy texture. It was brilliant. We also had one of the pork buns; it was also quite tasty.

Read the story. Try one of the restaurants.

Here are two videos I found that capture him talking about both Momofuku Noodle Bar and Momofuku Ssam Bar. Note his humility.




UPDATE: Two interesting posts about Chang from other blogs, here and here.