Bruce eats New York: fried chicken overload at Momofuku Noodle Bar
2 Comments
Bruce Nguyen
November 17, 2009
This is the first post in a three-part travel series called Bruce eats New York, where Tiny Bites contributor Bruce Nguyen chronicles his ‘New York virgin’ dining experiences during the summer of 2009.
Momofuku Noodle Bar landed on our radar because of a celebrity chef, but what drew us in was promise of fried chicken. For my first ever meal in New York, expectations were high and we decided to stick with comfort food.
The reservation process, however, nearly scared us off. In order to have fried chicken at Momofuku Noodle Bar, you need:
- Four to eight people in your party (no more, no less)
- A registered account on their website
- Availability within a small number of pre-defined timeslots available each day.
It’s clear who the alpha dog is in this restaurant-diner relationship. Most restaurants I’ve been to are trying to attract more customers, not create further barriers to entry!
Then again, if we consider the pedigree of Momofuku Noodle Bar, it doesn’t seem that bizarre. This is the first restaurant of New York resident rockstar chef David Chang. Chang’s restaurant lineup includes Momofuku Ko, where reservations are taken exactly six days in advance, online only, on a first-come, first-served basis. No leeway is given to social status or income, which is a blessing since I constantly find myself lacking in both.
As we waited for the restaurant to open, a line started to form outside. It became clear through conversation with other expectant diners that we were the only ones with fried chicken reservations that day. Our reserved table was easy to spot as soon as the doors opened: it was the only one with a protective paper covering. Makes it easier to clear and clean the table, I’m sure. And believe you me, there was plenty of carnage to clean up after this meal.
Our chicken arrived accompanied by mu shu pancakes (think steamed soft taco shells), a selection of house made sauces, and a basket full of a greens including long peppers, red ball radishes, and shiso leaves. Even if the chicken were mediocre, I would still be raving about the accoutrements.
Thankfully, mediocrity wasn’t an issue. We were presented both Southern-styled and Korean-styled fried chicken. That’s two whole chickens for those of you following at home. The former had a buttermilk flavour that penetrated deep into the meat while the latter, triple-fried, had a light, crispy skin. Combining all these ingredients into a soft taco was comfort food at its best.
I enjoyed the southern-styled buttermilk fried chicken more, but overall our group was split… both figuratively and literally. Once we were through, all that was left marking this heroic battle between man and bird were grease stains and burstingly satisfied tummies.
After a meal like this, our only disappointment was that we didn’t have a second stomach to keep on eating! After all, for a place with ‘noodle bar’ in the name, we didn’t actually get to try the noodles. Later on in the trip we did end up trying noodle dishes at various New York restaurants, but that’s a story for another day.
Momofuku Noodle Bar
171 1st Ave | East Village, New York
(212) 777-7773
Categories: Food, Restaurants, Travel, USA
Comments
2 Responses to “Bruce eats New York: fried chicken overload at Momofuku Noodle Bar”
Got something to say?
About Tiny Bites
Tiny Bites is a food blog that explores all things edible and imbibable in Vancouver, British Columbia. More >
Our Forum: Chefs’ Table Talk
Chat with other Tiny Bites readers and BC's restaurant pros on the province's newest food community forum.
Articles by Karen Hamilton
Read the food and non-food articles that I've contributed to sites other than Tiny Bites.
Tiny Bites on the web
You can find additional Tiny Bites contributions at these sites:
[...] Fried chicken overload at Momofuku Noodle Bar [...]
[...] Fried chicken overload at Momofuku Noodle Bar [...]