momofuku ko, at last
Food enthusiasts all over New York City giddily wet their pants when Momofuku Ko opened back in March of this year. I resigned myself to the occasional 9:58:15 AM log-in, rapid-refresh, and doomed-for-failure reservation attempts while living vicariously through photo-rich, play-by-play write-ups by bloggers whose internet connections, mouse-clicking skills, and general awareness of the New York restaurant scene were no doubt superior to mine.
Well, the internet gods finally smiled upon me on Monday, August 11 at 10:00:04 AM. I admit, I felt like little Charlie with that golden ticket in his hand.
Plenty of glowing, superlative-laden reviews have already been written about Ko (and the very likeably humble David Chang), so I will spare everyone the flowery prose and say that last night’s 10-course meal was very, very good. Since most restaurant critics and in-the-know food bloggers had their first meal at Ko months ago, the courses I had last night were pretty different from what has been documented on the internet (check out what was served in March). Here’s the Pat Bateman-esque course-by-course rundown (imagine how excruciating the online reservation system would’ve been for him):
Grilled shishito pepper with some kind of soy glaze, and sesame seeds. House-made chicharrón. English muffins with whipped pork fat and chives.
Long Island fluke sashimi with spicy buttermilk, poppy seeds, and chives.
Shaved lobster mushroom, chanterelles, fava beans, baby turnip, with bacon dashi.
Lightly smoked soft-boiled egg with hackleback caviar, onion soubise, fingerling potato chips, fines herbes.*
Sweet corn ravioli with lime, chorizo, cotija cheese, pickled onions.*
Pan-seared halibut with radish and kohlrabi, pepperoncini puree, caramelized onion (or shallot?) jam.**
The famed lychee, pine nut brittle, riesling gelee dish, topped with a mountain of shaved foie gras torchon.
Duck breast and thigh with cherries, long beans, water chestnuts, bean sprouts.
Cantaloupe sorbet on cashew nut praline.*
Yellow cake ice cream (note: has nothing to do with uranium!) with strawberry jam, small sour strawberries, peanut butter halvah, and some crumbs of something else buttery and crumbly.
* personal favorites
** #1 favorite dish, which is remarkable because I (used to?) have an almost embarrassing dislike of seafood
