David Chang
Restaurateurs Biting the Recession Bullet, But David Bouley Soldiers On
Forge, a restaurant in Tribeca owned by 29-year-old chef Marc Forgione, had a party of 15 booked last Friday, and a party of eight last Monday. The Friday party canceled after six of the 15 Wall Street-employed guests got laid off; a few days later, the Monday party also canceled when four of the eight guests were laid off, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Amidst the grim state of downtown restaurant scene that is only likely to worsen as more and more Wall Street employees face lay-offs, chef David Bouley isn't worried.
Mr. Bouley has long been planning an expansion of his restaurant empire, which by spring will include six Tribeca restaurants, two gourmet markets, a test kitchen and a production kitchen, according tothe WSJ. Bouley, his flagship restaurant will move into a new space. Across the street, he will open Secession—rhymes with recession!—a restaurant serving French, Italian, and Meditarrenian cousine. Then there are plans for 10 Hudson Square, a restaurant, market and production kitchen slated for next year, and Brush Stroke, a three-story Japanese restaurant that will open in May. read more »
The Transom's Week That Was: David Chang, Doubles, and the Accompanied Literary Society
Accompanied Literary Society party.
Momofuko's pork-loving David Chang said to give up meat.
We attended the reopening of private hangout Doubles at the Sherry-Netherland.
At the Accompanied Literary Society Party, we examined the state of hipster-literature relations.
Publicist, socialite, and soon-to-be reality star Kristian Laliberte told us how the faltering economy was impacting the Manhattan social scene.
We chatted with Marc Jacobs's boyfriend Lorenzo Martone at a VIPP and Helena Christensen-sponsored auction. read more »
David Chang Is Worried About the Economy; Suggests We Turn to Vegetables
On Tuesday, a food blogger reported that seats at Momofuku Ko were empty Monday night. We took that as a sign that the grim effects of the economic downturn were officially here, in our neighborhood.
The Daily Transom phoned Ko owner David Chang that day to see if he was worried, but never heard back. And while ours was a mere prediction, it seems Mr. Chang really is stressed out by the economic meltdown, so much so that he has written about it for Esquire.
Mr. Chang tells the story of Michael the farmer who wears a John Deere hat in a non-ironic manner and raises "Tamworth" pigs in upstate New York. read more »
Financial Crisis Hits Momofuku Ko
Monday evening, a writer at foodie blog Soup and Bread recounted her 10-course meal at Momofuku Ko, David Chang's 12-seat culinary mecca in the East Village with the tricky reservation system that requires diners to log onto the reservations Web site at exactly 10 a.m. in order to score a seat.
But while this blogger's meal sounds characteristically incredible—"fried nugget of black rice and pork belly" and "a huge mound of shaved foie gras over lychees, cubes of Riesling gelee, and pine nut brittle"—something was off at Ko last night.
"BTW, there were 8 empty seats. 3 different groups of people were no-shows," she wrote at the end of her post. read more »
A Ban on Food Pornographers at Ko
First, David Chang limited our access to his 12-seat Momofuku Ko by instituting the online only reservation system that one must return to at 10 a.m. every morning for weeks--and be quick with the mouse--in order to even have a chance of reserving a seat.
Now, Mr. Chang won't even allow us to get a glimpse of this precious food!
Eater reported yesterday that Mr. Chang has banned all cameras inside Ko and Serious Eats followed up by calling up some of New York's noteworthy restaurateurs to ask them about their policies towards camera-toting restaurant goers.
Mario Batali and Drew Nieporent, founder of the Myriad Restaurant Group that owns Nobu, said that while they don't stop people from taking photos, they ask guests to be considerate to the diners around them and not disturb them with the repeated flashes. read more »
Monarch of Momofuku Hires Pricey Carriage for Foodie Oscars
“It’s very surreal,” said David Chang, the hugely hyped hotshot at the helm of Manhattan’s three Momofuku restaurants, about taking top honors as the city’s best chef at the James Beard Foundation Awards at Avery Fisher Hall on Sunday, June 8. read more »
Wolfgang Puck Doesn't Know David Chang
This morning we caught up with mega-chef and restaurateur Wolfgang Puck at the New York Women in Communications Matrix Awards where he presented Ruth Reichl with an award for her achievements as Gourmet’s editor-in-chief.
Naturally we asked Los Angeles-based Mr. Puck if he’s had any exceptional dining experiences while visiting our celebrity chef studded city. read more »
