spaetzle_maker

you don't have the authority. The point is, I'm expressing my opinion - things that I like about a dish, things that I don't like about a dish. You can't "overrule" an opinion, because an opinion is not a statement of fact.

I have to say, I really enjoy the current rice cakes at Noodle Bar. I found the older preparations to be a bit one dimensional, but the current version has so many components that offer contrast in both flavors and textures that I find it quite delicious. This dish is a little bit on the sweet side, but I like it. I also recommend the arctic char and the fluke. Edsel, depending on the size of your group, a few buns would be nice. If they have any new buns as a special, I'd get those as well. The tongue, sauteed greens and smoked duck are also favorites of mine. For a soup, my recommendation is the kimchi stew. I recently had the sweetbreads again after a very long hiatus. Those are incredibly delicious. If the dipping sauce is too sweet for your tastes, you can add a little sriracha on your own. I'm not as much of a fan of the chicken as others - there is a lot of soy sauce in the dish, so your feelings about the dish may hinge somewhat on your feelings about soy sauce, but the chicken itself is of very high quality.

Last night there was a special: a new type of bun. The buns are brushed with a spicy sriracha aioli and filled with a chiffonade of lettuce and the mayan prawns that are normally found in the grits dish. The heads of the prawns are served with a soy based dipping sauce along side of the buns. The aioli and lettuce make this a good "summer bun" and I loved the prawns. Service and food were as wonderful as always.

I was at Noodle Bar a few nights ago and the kitchen sent out a dish that they were working on: a very moist pork loin served with pickled strawberries and some greens. I tend to not like pork loin because it's usually so dry and boring, but this was pounded thin and then brined, yielding a highly flavorful, moist piece of meat and the pickled strawberries were a wonderful accompaniment. Noodle Bar is doing some fun beverages now - some homemade sodas: a tamarind celery soda and an orange creamsicle soda. In addition they are making the most delicious toasted sesame horchata.

People aren't just taking pictures of food, many times they're taking pictures of the chefs. I'm the type of person who hates to have any photo taken of me at all. If I worked in an open kitchen and some stranger was snapping away a picture of me while I was working, sweaty and caught unaware, and then posted that picture of me on their blog or wherever, I'd feel like my privacy was invaded.

Actually, at the Momofuku restaurants the explanation of the specials usually opens with the phrase "We have a few 'off menu' items this evening..."

And never forget about dessert! Peanut butter and cracker jack swirl. Oh wow - amazing.

Edo, I think we just missed each other! I ate at the counter on Saturday as well. I think I was seated around 7pm and I may have left around 8 or 8:30. The peeky toe crab with nori pasta is delicious. The pasta has such a firm texture and the chef explained that it's due to the use of a large amount of egg yolks. This dish was a special, but I hope that the pasta manages to find its way on the menu permanently. Right now they don't have a pasta cutter so it's being hand cut and it's a time consuming process. The smoked duck breast with sour cream, cinnammon, mustard seed and arugula remains an excellent starter. The kitchen is working on a new dish that I had a chance to sample. It is similar to old spicy rice cakes dish that was replaced by the rice cakes with oxtail during the winter. I don't know if the dish will end up on the menu exactly as I had it: roasted rice cakes, a spicy sauce with some onion (same or very similar to the sauce in the first incarnation of the rice cakes) with scrambled eggs, small shrimp, cashews and green onion. Although the old rice cakes were delicious, I thought it became boring after a few bites. The addition of the eggs, shrimp and cashews added some variety to the texture and flavors. This was absolutely delicious and is a big improvement over the original rice cakes dish, but for anyone who was missing the original, this should fit the bill. Ami brought over some meade to try - this is something I've never had before. It's sweet but has enough depth and complexity so as to not be cloying. I can see this pairing well with a lot of spicy, porky food. They are indeed not doing the hitachino anymore.

Yes - you are definitely right about the oil on the fluke cheeks. Oh my god - that dish was fabulous. I'm so excited to try the rhubarb shortcake that you mentioned. You are so right about Christina Tosi (she makes a great brioche too )

Wow, we all just missed each other! Yesterday the kitchen was extremely generous in sharing some tastes of new dishes that they are working on: I will third the excellence of the foie torchon with candied walnuts, gelee (I was thinking it was a molasses gelee, but Bourbon makes sense as well) and brioche toast points. The foie was delicious and the warmed brioche toast points sensational. Those two components were stellar and the gelee and candied nuts were very special as well. These flavors marry together so well, the amount of each component was perfect and it all looked so appetizing and pretty on the plate. The tomato confit was absolutely delicious (they had been using a tomato confit during last summer in the eggplant/filone dish). As Jesikka described - served with radicchio and sunchokes. I absolutely loved the sunchokes. Crisp, flavorful. All together wonderful. Probably my favorite item of these experimental dishes was the fluke cheeks served with a carpaccio of oyster mushrooms, pickled ramps and an edamame/labne dressing. The fluke cheeks were practically exploding with flavor. In addition to being insanely juicy, they were tender and flaky. This dish was spectacular. I really couldn't get enough of it. This is something I hope makes it on the menu, but I'm a little nervous - I'm guessing flukes only have two cheeks and those cheeks may be hard to come by. Of course, the branzino and the asparagus continue to be as beautiful as always. The plating of the asparagus has been gussied up a bit. After all that food, I had no room left for dessert, but am looking forward to trying this rhubarb shortcake. Tien continues to be as creative and friendly as always. The service was warm and welcoming, knives were served when appropriate, descriptions of dishes were provided. A couple on one side of me was smiling from ear to ear by the end of their meal and talking about how great everything was and how nice the staff is. The gentleman on the other side of me was saying more of the same. As far as comp disclosure, when I say things amounting to "the kitchen sent out" or "tried a sample of", I'm basically saying that it was a "gift" or a "comp".

Yes - I had read that item from Asimov's blog. That definitely was unfortunate, but that is what I mean when I talk about anomalies. As a regular who is paying careful attention, I've never had anything like that happen to me, nor have I seen that happen to anyone else and it really seems like a highly unusual occurrence. It is clear to me, that that particular incident is not indicative of any consistent trend.

It could be I go so often to Ssam Bar that it's not something I would notice. I'm always really delighted by my dinner there and I find everyone to be so friendly. But I agree whole heartedly about Noodle Bar - I feel like I'm rediscovering the place. There are so many new dishes to try. To me, the food feels so playful and clever. ← I'm thinking more about what I said here. In some ways, repeating a specific activity many times will make me less likely to focus on the details because I already know what to expect. However, when I eat out, I am extremely focused on the experience - I do notice everything and in general, I have a fairly good memory. If I am eating something, I'm not thinking that I like it because I liked it a few months ago. I'm thinking that I like it because it is delicious that day. If a dish is not making me as happy as it did in the past, I will definitely recognize this and try and figure out what is causing the change. As a regular customer I'm very aware of the level of quality in a restaurant. If something in food or service falls below that level I'll understand right away that it's an anomaly and that could be where being a regular customer factors in. That said, I still think the food and service at Ssam Bar rocks.

http://nymag.com/bestofny/food/2008/grilledcheese/ It's even better than it sounds. ← Oh god... That does sound good. And like a "heart stopper".

It could be I go so often to Ssam Bar that it's not something I would notice. I'm always really delighted by my dinner there and I find everyone to be so friendly. But I agree whole heartedly about Noodle Bar - I feel like I'm rediscovering the place. There are so many new dishes to try. To me, the food feels so playful and clever.

I love that arctic char as well. The kitchen is firing on all cylinders. However, I don't feel compelled to compare it with ssam bar in the way you (fatguy) have. I haven't noticed any change in quality of service at ssam bar. They're still as sweet and attentive as always. I've also really been enjoying some new dishes at Ssam Bar: the branzino is fabulous, the skate special I had the other night was terrific, soft shell crabs were great as were the asparagus. I think for a while I was getting a little bit tired of Noodle Bar but after they settled into their new space they really made a lot of strides in introducing new items on the menu and I'm loving having new, insanely delicious things to eat in an environment that continues to be so friendly and feel so homey.

well, yeah! neither of the lamb belly dishes hold a candle to that one. ← The first few times I had that lamb shoulder I really loved it. Then it was off the menu for a while and when it came back, somehow I didn't love the shoulder meat as much, but the preparation was still top notch (I think that night it came with some lamb shank as well and that lamb shank was *INCREDIBLE*). The fact that I liked the shoulder meat a little less had me wondering if their supplier for it had changed. That said, the current lamb belly is still my favorite. I love the texture and I love the violet mustard. Violet mustard isn't something that I've had before and so it's a bit of a novelty for me (a very delicious one!!).

I've been really, really enjoying Noodle Bar lately and I am a tremendous fan of Ssam Bar too, but I can't stand the whole "If you want Momofuku flavors, go to Ssam Bar" deal. They both rock in their individual ways. Noodle Bar is nothing to scoff at the way many have in the past. The food is tasty, fun and many of the dishes are just plain beautiful in appearance as well. Oh wait, this isn't the Noodle Bar thread is it?

probably 10pm.

I like the new one so much more.

A very nice dinner the other night. Soft shell crabs are back! Prepared in the same style as the skate dish (and also the same way as last year, I believe): lightly fried, served on top of a spicy aioli with some potatoes fried in pork fat, some pickled ramps (yay ramps!), old bay seasoning and some preserved lemon. Delicious. The asparagus are also back and as good as always - miso butter, poached egg with a small sprinkling of espelette pepper. There was a skate special on the menu. I guess because the soft shell crabs are prepared the same way the skate is prepared, the kitchen wanted to change the skate dish around a bit. The skate wing is coated with some rice flour and panko and then shallow fried, served on top of a congee and topped with some mizuna greens (and maybe some more espelette?). This was definitely an enjoyable dish. The pistachio croustillant dessert has changed slightly: instead of malted chocolate ice the dessert is now using a chocolate ganache. I do prefer the dessert with this change... Very nice. One FOH staff member told me that they got in some new wines, but I stuck with my current favorite, the Schollium Project (sp?). I figured I'd pass along that info anyway.

My dinner was about 2 hours.

There were also around 6 recipes in Gourmet. I haven't read this month's Bon Appetit yet. Were they the same recipes as in Gourmet? I have a few recipes from a cooking class that I took with him earlier in the year. There were also some recipes published over a year ago in the Times (in that Mark Bittman series on David Chang / Noodle Bar). Lots of recipes floating around... I'm wondering if a cookbook is underway. Now, that would make me super happy.... ← It looks like there will be a cookbook that is due out in 2009!! http://eater.com/archives/2008/04/breaking_peter.php

I thought that the menu changed to a much smaller menu after 11pm. I didn't realize that the skate was on this smaller menu... That's good to know.

flinflon28, we missed each other! I was there slightly earlier than you. The squid salad is back on the menu in a slightly different incarnation. It's a little bit spicy, but not as spicy as last year's salad. I'm having trouble remembering more about last year's squid salad - I'm vaguely picturing something the color of cilantro - that is no longer present in the salad. This year's rendition has some radish slices in it. It's very tasty. We had the brown butter cake with stout cream and plumped raisins for the second time and I realized how amazing this dessert is. The stout cream contrasts nicely with the brown butter cake and raisins, preventing these elements from making the dessert overwhelmingly sweet. The rice cakes with sausage, crispy shallots, green onions and Chinese broccoli were perfect last night. Nice amount of spice for me. Not painful.

Agreed. Perfectly cooked, succulent fish. Tender leeks, flavorful olive oil, and perfectly crisp strips of salsify. This came last in our parade of dishes last night, and I thought I was full but I must have had a sudden surge of hunger after tasting this. Absolutely marvelous, especially with a healthy dose of that olive oil. ← That fish was stunningly delicious.