Momofuku Ssäm Bar

Is it possible to be more hyped than David Chang? Where should we start? In 2007, he was the James Beard Rising Star Chef of the Year. Both Bon Appétit and GQ named him Chef of the Year. Frank Bruni awarded two stars to Momofuku Ssäm Bar, then named it Best New Restaurant of 2007, despite the little detail that it opened in 2006.

On eGullet.com, a crowd of adoring admirers has all-but canonized him. They said that Ssäm Bar was at the vanguard of a “New Paradigm” of “haute cheap” restaurant dining. Discussion board regulars criticised me, not because I disliked Momofuku Ssäm Bar (which I don’t) but because I failed to exhibit the required paroxysm of rapture. In truth, on two previous visits I found the food at Ssäm Bar very good indeed, though the ambiance leaves a lot to be desired.

That’s the backdrop to the very generous offer I received last week from eGullet regular Nathan, to join him for a Bo Ssäm, the one remaining item at Momofuku Ssäm Bar that I was really dying to try.

The Bo Ssäm is a 10-pound Berkshire pork butt (the shoulder, actually), braised for seven hours. Ssäm Bar serves two of them a night. A Bo Ssäm pre-order is the only way to get a reservation—6:00 p.m. or 10:00 p.m. (11:00 on weekends). It requires a big group, which I’m not quite enterprising enough to put together myself, so I was grateful that Nathan did all of the organizing: he’s so fond of the Bo Ssäm that this is the third time he’s ordered it. And he’ll probably do it again.

Current Menu (click to expand)

Prices at Momofuku Ssäm Bar are gradually inching upward, with many items a dollar or two higher than they were last year. The Bo Ssäm, which was $165 just fifteen months ago, is now $200. There are now two tasting menus ($45 and $75). The wine list has expanded a bit, though I don’t find any of the choices particularly impressive, and most bottles are over $50.

Nathan ordered the appetizers, and our party of nine was able to sample a good deal of the Ssäm Bar menu.

Diver Sea Scallops — lychee, yuzu, watercress (left); Seasonal Pickles (right)

We started with Diver Sea Scallops ($16), which I enjoyed, although Ssäm Bar regulars said that an earlier version of the dish was better. Seasonal Pickles ($10) offer plenty of taste contrasts.

Fuji Apple Kimchi — Burgers’ smoked jowl, maple labne, arugula (left); Steamed Pork Buns (right)

Fuji Apple Kimchi ($13) is one of the regulars’ current favorites, and it can’t be denied that the apple and bacon combination works beautifully. Steamed Buns ($10) with juicy pork belly is a dish that can’t miss.

Fried Brussels Sprouts — chilies, mint, fish sauce (left); Spicy Tripe Salad — poached egg, frisee (right)

I remembered the Fried Brussels Sprouts ($12) from my first visit. They’re terrific, so it’s no surprise they’ve remained on the menu. I was not especially fond of the Spicy Tripe Salad ($15).

Pork Sausage & Rice Cakes — Chinese broccoli, crispy shallots (left); Grilled Veal Sweetbreads (right)

I don’t have a particular recollection of Spicy Pork Sausage & Rice Cakes ($18), but I loved Grilled Veal Sweetbreads ($15)—usually, they’re served fried, breaded or sautéed, but when simply grilled they stand up beautifully on their own.

Santa Barbara Sea Urchin — tapioca, whipped tofu, scallions (left); One dozen oysters (right)

The Santa Barbara Sea Urchin ($16) with tapioca and whipped tofu is a much celebrated dish. I certainly respect the creativity that went into it, but I wasn’t all that enamored with it.

At this point, I felt like I’d already had a full meal, and the pièce de résistance (accompanied by a dozen oysters), hadn’t even been served yet.

The Bo Ssäm in all its Glory

The Bo Ssäm could almost be called liquid pork: it is braised to a point of such tenderness that the meat practically collapses at the touch. It comes with leaves of lettuce; you are supposed to put the pork inside, add sauce, wrap it up, and eat it like a burrito—that’s what the “Ssäm” in the restuarant’s name actually means. I tried this once, but from then on I was content to just eat the pork itself. It is so luscious that one can hardly be bothered to interrupt the appointed journey from plate to mouth. This must be one of the top ten dishes in New York.

 
Cheddar Shortcake — apples, ham cream (left); Hazelnut Torte — parsnip buttercream, grapefruit (right)

Desserts, which could so easily be an afterthought at such a restaurant, were first-rate. I especially liked the Amish Cheddar Shortcake ($9), with an almost wickedly clever “ham cream.” Hazelnut Torte ($9) wasn’t bad either.

With nine certified foodies at the table, it’s no surprise that the State of the Momofuku Empire was a topic of conversation. One of my companions admitted that he had expected to see Momofuku clones springing up; so far, it hasn’t happened. My own view is that Ssäm Bar is sui generis. Impressive as the food may be, it lacks almost every other amenity that a good restaurant should have—a place to hang up your coat, for instance. As prices continue to rise, and Chang is distracted by other projects, I wonder if Ssäm Bar’s charms may start to fade as diners come to grips with its limitations.

There are signs that Chang’s act is starting to wear a little thin. Over on Grub Street, Cutlets suggested that Chang, “earnest and talented as he is…needs to be reassessed.” Over on Eater.com, a contributor complained that the very dish that Momofuku Ssäm Bar was named for—the $10 Momofuku Ssäm—is no longer offered at dinner.

What on earth is Chang up to? Another of my dining companions, a Ssäm Bar regular, conceded that “I’ve never seen him here.” Two weeks ago, Chang announced that “it’s clear some of us need to step aside and let the real talent shine,” naming new chef–partners for his two current East Village restaurants, as well as the still-unopened Momofuku Ko.

You have to wonder if all of the accolades are going to his head. If Thomas Keller—who has more restaurants than Chang—is in the kitchen at The French Laundry on most evenings, then why is Chang “stepping off to work on new restaurant projects” when, less than two years ago, all he had was a noodle bar? As Cutlets notes, “Ko will have to be phenomenal (and, let’s be honest, it very well could be) to shield him from what could be some backlash against the flood of praise bestowed upon the young chef in the past year.”

I don’t think Chang is the certified genius that some people say, but you have to give him credit for the remarkable phenomenon that is Momofuku Ssäm Bar. No one knows where it will go from here, but it certainly won’t be boring.

Momofuku Ssäm Bar (207 Second Avenue at 13th Street, East Village)

Food: **
Service: *
Ambiance: Burrito Bar
Overall: **

Update: Keens Steakhouse

 

Note: Click here for more visits to Keens Steakhouse.

My girlfriend, son and I had a pre-theater dinner at Keens Steakhouse last week. I ordered the incomparable Mutton Chop ($45.00), which I think is the best item on the menu. My girlfriend had the sirloin (43.50), which wasn’t quite as tender it should be.

Keens is one of the few NYC steakhouses that offers prime rib. The only option shown on the dinner menu is a so-called King’s Cut ($49.50). The perceptive server guessed that a twelve-year-old probably wasn’t going to finish such a massive portion, so he offered us the English Cut ($28.00), normally served only in the downstairs “pub”.

Fries ($8.00) could easily become addictive. We didn’t order a bottle of wine, but a glass of the respectable house cabernet was a remarkably cheap $8.50.

While the time-warp ambiance at Keens is matchless, its steaks are a notch below other places in town while being several dollars more expensive. The huge two-story space is built for volume, and servers aren’t as attentive as they should be. But for the mutton chop or the prime rib, Keens is always worth the occasional visit.

Keens Steakhouse (72 W. 36th Street between Fifth & Sixth Avenues, West Midtown)

Food: *½
Service: *
Ambiance: **
Overall: *½

Lime Thai Bistro & Lounge

Source: Eater

Note: Lime Thai Bistro closed, either in late 2009 or early 2010.

*

Lime Thai Bistro & Lounge is a recent arrival in the lower West Village, though it is apparently a modest makeover of an earlier Thai restaurant called Hurapan Kitchen. Despite the attention-grabbing orange sign, the new version doesn’t yet have much of a following on this desolate stretch of Seventh Avenue: we had the place practically to ourselves.

That’s a shame, as we found the food food clever, terrific, and blissfully inexpensive.

Lobster and Shrimp Shumai ($9; above left) in a mustard-butter sauce were flawless. My friend Kelly enjoyed the Chicken Tom Yum soup ($5; above right).

I don’t recall much about the Peking Duck Wrap ($11; above left), except that we liked it. Kelly raved about the Spicy Drunken Noodle with Duck ($8.95; above right), a concoction of fresh basil, white onion, tomato, carrot, and Thai hot sauce.

I was mightily impressed with Marinated Skirt Steak ($19; above), which was beautifully prepared, not at all greasy, and a better quality of beef than I would have expected at this price. The chili dipping sauce added a nice kick, but wasn’t overly hot.

The décor is functional but rather charmless. Service was prompt and efficient.

Lime Thai Bistro & Lounge (29 Seventh Avenue South between Morton & Leroy Streets, West Village)

Food: *
Service: *
Ambiance: *
Overall: *

Bar Blanc

Kalina via Eater

Note: Bar Blanc closed on April 6, 2009, re-opening as Bar Blanc Bistro, which too has closed. The space is now the Southern-themed restaurant Lowcountry.

*

Bar Blanc is the brainchild of three Bouley alums, with executive chef César Ramirez at the helm. The very blanc interior is sleek and easy on the eyes. Open since early December, reviewers so far (Andrea Strong, Tables for Two, Gourmet) have found the service clumsy, but the ambitious food promising.

We had no issues with the service, though our 6:15 p.m. reservation was well before the masses arrived. We started with a cocktail, and the bar tab was transferred to our table without complaint—something you can never take for granted these days.

The focused menu has just four appetizers ($12–18), three pastas ($20–24), six meat and fish entrées ($24–36), three sides ($8) and four desserts ($10). These prices won’t be sustainable unless Bar Blanc can become more than just a neighborhood place.

The wine list, too, is extravagantly priced. I ordered a Palmer Vineyards Cabernet Franc ($34). Kudos to Bar Blanc for stocking a Long Island wine and serving it at the correct temperature, but that shouldn’t be the only red under $50.

The server tried to upsell us to a tasting menu ($75), and he was also pushing the side dishes, but we both ordered just an appetizer and an entrée, which was plenty.

The amuse-bouche was a small puff pastry stuffed with goat cheese.

 
Slow Roasted Rabbit and Sweetbread Salad (left); Milk Fed Porcelet (right)

Coincidentally, our sights landed on the identical choices. Slow Roasted Rabbit and Sweetbread Salad ($14) isn’t much of a salad at all, but it’s wonderful nonetheless, with a ricotta purée nicely balancing the two contrasting meats.

The menu description of Milk Fed Porcelet ($32) is practically essay-length. There is roast baby pig, pig head terrine, pig belly, chanterelles purée, diced Brussells sprouts, and a jus of cinnamon, star anise, and orange. That’s probably twice as much as it needed, as most of those ingredients were undetectable. The roasted pig was stringy and tasted like bitter ham. The belly was enjoyable, as pure fat tends to be.

It is still early days for Bar Blanc, and with this much talent in the kitchen I suspect there is much more to enjoy here. Though our entrée was a dud, the restaurant nevertheless looks promising.

Bar Blanc (142 W. 10th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, West Village)

Food: *
Service: *
Ambiance: **
Overall: *

The Payoff: Mesa Grill

Yesterday, as the world yawned, Frank Bruni issued a one-star mini-smackdown to Mesa Grill:

Mesa Grill, no question, has considerable charms. You can’t mix this many creative margaritas, put this much vivid color into the décor and the food, and tap this wide a variety of chilies without summoning a festive spirit…

But on balance Mesa Grill presents only flickers of the excitement it did in 1991, when it opened, or in 2000, when William Grimes gave it two stars in The Times.

It’s an overly familiar, somewhat tired production. More to the point, it’s an inconsistent one.

Flay could have responded by spending more time at the restaurant. Instead, he fired the GM, which seems a bit silly. He couldn’t have been screwing up that badly, as the restaurant is still packed. The review is history, and Bruni’s successor won’t be back for another decade.

We lose for the third week in a row…but this time Eater loses too. We’re both $1 poorer.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$65.50		$78.67
Gain/Loss	–1.00		–1.00
Total	$64.50		$77.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	28–12		28–12

Rolling the Dice: Mesa Grill

Every week, we take our turn with Lady Luck on the BruniBetting odds as posted by Eater. Just for kicks, we track Eater’s bet too, and see who is better at guessing what the unpredictable Bruni will do. We track our sins with an imaginary $1 bet every week.

The Line: Tomorrow, Frank Bruni reviews Bobby Flay’s Southwestern standard, Mesa Grill. The Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows (√√ denotes the Eater bet):

Zero Stars: 3-1 √√
One Star: 2-1
Two Stars: 5-1
Three Stars: 75-1
Four Stars: 25,000-1

The Skinny: The Times has reviewed Mesa Grill twice, with Bryan Miller awarding two stars shortly after it opened (March 1991), and William Grimes re-affirming that rating nine years later (May 2000). Re-reviews are a waste of space unless something has changed in the intervening years. No one would suggest that Mesa Grill is a three-star restaurant, so that means the only likely outcomes are one star or zero.

I don’t have strong feelings about Mesa Grill. I dined there only once, about two years ago. I didn’t blog about it, but my thoughts at the time were: nothing special, but not bad. I suppose that I would have awarded one star.

But Mesa Grill is truly irrelevant nowadays. You can tell how bored Bruni is, when he can find nothing more interesting to write about. Bruni is always looking over his shoulder to see what other people are doing, and I doubt any of his pals frequent Mesa Grill. If Bruni thinks its worth wasting a review for a smackdown, he’s probably going to smack it hard.

The Bet: We’ll try to break our two-week losing streak with a zero-star bet on Mesa Grill.

The Payoff: Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill

Yesterday, Frank Bruni delivered two gift-wrapped stars to Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill.

Few of his ratings have surprised me more. The sushi and sashimi here “aren’t among the very best in town,” but “In terms of basic deliciousness, the fried chicken, made with matzo meal in the crunchy coating and seasoned with paprika and sansho pepper, may well be.”

Basic deliciousness? Is Restaurant Girl ghost-writing for the Times nowadays?

We were wrong once again. We lose $1 on our hypothetical bet, while Eater wins $3.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$63.50		$79.67
Gain/Loss	+3.00		–1.00
Total	$65.50		$78.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	28–11		28–11

Rolling the Dice: Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill

Every week, we take our turn with Lady Luck on the BruniBetting odds as posted by Eater. Just for kicks, we track Eater’s bet too, and see who is better at guessing what the unpredictable Bruni will do. We track our sins with an imaginary $1 bet every week.

The Line: Tomorrow, Frank Bruni reviews Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill, the latest chain restaurant to invade the mall at Columbus Circle—it’s actually across the street, but that’s beside the point. The Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows (√√ denotes the Eater bet):

Zero Stars: 5-1
One Star: 2-1
Two Stars: 3-1 √√
Three Stars: 50-1
Four Stars: 25,000-1

The Skinny: In our view, all the BruniTrends^® point to one star. Like most people, Bruni has been fairly cynical about the Columbus Circle restaurants. (His reviews of Masa and Per Se were raves, but those for V Steakhouse, Café Gray, Porter House, and Landmarc were anything but.)

On top of that, critical response to the latest Blue Ribbon has been muted—I gave it one star—and Bruni seldom bucks consensus. Bruni isn’t fond of restaurants with overly long menus, and at 168 items Blue Ribbon’s is as long as they come. Bruni has never been fond of chain restaurants. This Blue Ribbon is much larger than the others, and the restaurant will probably suffer for it.

I also think that sushi restaurants of approximately this quality (or better) are a commodity in New York, and a restaurant needs to be a lot more intriguing than this to warrant two stars. It certainly isn’t cheap enough to warrant two stars on price alone. That’s just my view, but I believe Frank Bruni would say the same.

Eater does make an intriguing point: it seems a little pointless to waste a review on the 8th Blue Ribbon restaurant “if it’s just going to be for a single star.” But it seemed a little pointless last week to review Barbuto, when it hasn’t changed since the last review, and the only seriously recommendable dish is the chicken. Signor Bruni did just that. The fact is that we’re in a rather slow season for new restaurants, but Bruni still needs to find something to review every week.

The Bet: For the second week in a review, we disagree with Eater, and bet that Frank Bruni will award one star to Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill.

Update: Staghorn Steakhouse

Kalina via Eater

I returned to Staghorn Steakhouse recently for a pre-theater dinner. From a previous visit, I recalled the relatively quiet atmosphere with widely spaced tables, which I thought would be conducive to a family conversation. I didn’t expect it to be quite this quiet: on a Saturday evening, it was practically dead when we arrived shortly before 6:00. It livened up a bit—but only a bit—by the time we left.

At $37.95, the steaks here are priced slightly below the NYC average. We found two hefty fillet mignons, a Kansas City strip, and a humongous rib steak, all top-notch, along with asparagus ($10.50) and mashed potatoes ($8.95). Two especially thick strips of Canadian bacon ($5) were wonderful. I was also pleased to find a good Côtes du Rhône for $45, which by steakhouse standards is not bad at all.

In short, everything at Staghorn Steakhouse was more impressive than last time. I am not sure which visit was more typical. 

Staghorn Steakhouse (315 W. 36th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, West Midtown)

Food: *½
Service: *½
Ambiance: **
Overall: *½

Update: BLT Market

Kalina

Note: Click here for a more recent visit to BLT Market.

We last visited BLT Market on opening week, finding it promising but not yet polished. Since then, the reviews are in, most of them favorable (Platt, Cuozzo, Lane, Tables for Two).

Frank Bruni issued a peculiar dissent, relegating the restaurant to Dining Briefs (i.e., not a full review). He found much of the food very good, but called chef Laurent Tourondel “a slacker” for opening “assiduously promoted, trend-conscious restaurants” instead of making the “real impact on the city’s dining scene” that he’s capable of.

I agree with Bruni to an extent. My meals at the BLT restaurant brood have generally been very good (with a few odd lapses), but you always feel you’re getting something less than Tourondel’s best effort. With his large restaurant family now numbering fifteen, he cannot be spending much time at any one of them.

Nevertheless, you’ll pass a happy time at Tourondel’s latest New York restaurant, BLT Market, though you won’t get out cheaply. On a recent visit, Amish Chicken ($30) was among the less expensive entrées. Rock shrimp risotto ($36) and a pork chop ($38) were both wonderful, but no one would call them bargains at a restaurant this informal. Cocktails at the bar (technically part of the hotel, not the restaurant) were staggering: $16 for a Whisky Sour, $17 for a Negroni.

The menu has been expanded to include separately-orderable side dishes that it lacked before—always a sure way to plump up the bill (though we didn’t bite). At all the BLT restaurants, the menus are printed on thin, cheap paper with a half-life that couldn’t be more than a day or so. So why are the specials printed on a separate sheet of paper, of which we were given only one copy? Surely a restaurant so expensive could get this right.

We were on our way to a show, so I was pleased to find that they got us out in an hour without rushing. The amuse-bouche was the same pigs-in-a-blanket as before, but more enjoyable this time. The garlic bread is still superb.

BLT Market  (1430 Sixth Avenue at Central Park South, in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, West Midtown)

Food: **
Service: *½
Ambiance: *½
Overall: **