spaetzle_maker

This dessert is perfect: The flavors are soft and gentle without being too sweet. I really like the portion size also. It's a perfect little way to finish off dinner. For a restaurant in this price range and with the casual, laid back setup, Ssam Bar wins in terms of quality, flavor, consistency and service.

Kathryn, about once a week I'll go to flickr to see what else you've put up there Just don't take any more pictures with me in them Edit: adding more smiley faces to indicate this is in good humor:

I can't stop thinking about my dinner from friday. Oysters, kimchi apples, lamb and cheddar shortcake (and as Kathryn has mentioned, with ham cream). I think I've posted all about it already, so view this post as just extra emphasis on how damn good it all was.

eh...it was less spicy than the not-very-spicy squid salad (especially since they dropped the Sichuan peppers...but it was very very good. ← Nathan, I remember that you said that they dropped the peppers... But I've gotten the squid salad a few times after that and it was just as spicy as I remembered.

Tien is a bad ass chef. Edit: I've been to Ssam Bar when Tien has not been there. Without being able to see exactly everything going on in the kitchen, it's hard to know if any perceived differences are random or naturally occurring, or if they are attributable to who is/is not there... It's just not something I'd want to say without seeing it first hand.

I'm with you on the cheddar shortcake. It's pure heaven. I'm going to have to try the braised escarole next time. Was that from the small side of the menu or the larger side? I didn't notice it. I think we may have just missed each other - I didn't see you

I second that the new apples are fantastic. I loved, loved, loved ithem! The roasted mushroom salad is great too - it is the same as last year's. The torchon is good - the spicy mustard cuts through the fattiness of the pigs head very nicely. I think next time, I'm getting the apple kimchi and the spicy tripe salad - that one sounds exciting.

There is also a steak tartare with raw quail egg. I didn't see it on the menu last night, but I had it on friday. I really, really liked it.

How do they do them as faux-croutons? Deep fried? At Noodle Bar, the tofu is faux-mozzarella. ← Yes, they are deep fried.

I've been making those croutons at home. They're so tasty and easy to make. That salad from Ssam Bar has been my favorite tomato salad this summer.

I've done this before and discovered all sorts of wonderful nuances, some being more smoky, more fatty (Burgers'), a little spicy, mmmmm. There's also a new eggplant and tomato tartine on the menu. It's more like a fancy bruschetta, with an eggplant-based puree on top of toasted bread, topped by heirloom tomatoes. Amazing. ← That eggplant and tomato tartine is great. It also has some anchovies which adds a perfect level of saltiness to heighten the flavor of the tomatoes.

Mmmmmm That sound good. I'm glad they left it as the whole fish. What else did you eat?

Completely agreed. ← Was it served as the whole fish? At one point the kitchen was thinking of changing the dish and serving it as a fillet minus the head and tail and I'm curious if they made the change. I've had the earlier rendition of the trout: pickled cherries, preserved lemon and almonds. On one visit, the generous chef provided a sample of the fillet with corn, succotash, bacon and the pickled chanterelles. Both versions were absolutely delicious. The full fish with head and tail is so visually beautiful - on the other hand, the fillet is practical and easy to eat.

I was there last night too. I'm flattered that you mistook me for Tyra Banks.

Malkavian, if it weren't for the fact that you are from North Carolina, I'd have thought that I was the "young lady" in your anecdote! As a female programmer on predominantly male teams, I've found that a sharp wit/tongue helps, as does working until 2 in the morning to solve production problems, even if it wasn't my code that produced the problem. And, if someone ever gives me a hard time, i'll just give it right back....

That's funny - last night I had the most flavorful tomato salad, the cauliflower, the skate and a compliment of the prawns (which was absolutely fabulous). Every dish was fantastic. Ssam Bar gets tremendous press for meat and offal, but they do an equally skilled job turning out the most delicious vegetables and fishes. The skate that I had is a new version that has been on the menu for a month or so. It's served with a slightly spicy aioli, a small amount of preserved lemon, fingerling potatoes and leeks. I highly recommend it.

I just tried the squid salad the other night - so nice and spicy! I dream about the pork butt. I've been looking at the pictures on flickr and it's getting to be time again...

Hi Sara, Waits can be variable... You may be able to sit immediately, or you may wait a half hour. I really enjoy this place and find that the food is worth the wait. I like the cauliflower (seasonal, is just coming back on the menu after a 7 month (or so) hiatus), the hamachi, banh mi sandwich, hangar steak ssam, spare ribs, skate wing, sausage-clam-rice cakes soup, oysters, scallops (only recommended if you really like lemon), squid salad and strawberry shortcake. There's a relatively new rioja on the menu that is very nice. There are lots of photos on flickr.com - you can search for momofuku and start whetting your appetite Some of the photos are of momofuku noodle bar. You'll be able to tell by the shade of the wood counter: noodle bar is more of a blonde wood, ssam bar is a darker wood. Have fun

The pork spare ribs are absolutely fantastic. I was in such heaven eating those.

The new scallops are indeed outstanding. I like the old scallops too - it's hard to say which one I prefer. I loved the scallion oil and pineapple from the old rendition, but the pickled cherries from the new version fall into the miso butter/crack addiction category. I really enjoyed the strawberry shortcake and I highly recommend it. The strawberries are wonderful and I'm a total sucker for fresh whipped cream. I was pleasantly surprised to find it in the menu buried amongst the other "local" items. As far as dessert goes, I'd rather have one or two options than none at all. I interpreted the presence of the strawberry shortcake as "Hey, we got some outstanding strawberries, let's use them and make people happy." I'm alright with the lack of commitment to dessert - but I do appreciate the effort when some good ingredients are sourced. On the other hand, who knows, maybe we are seeing the beginnings of a more formal dessert program.

I like Hung and Tre. Hung was really confident and focused. His dishes looked impressive. I thought he did a good job backing up his product when asked about the monochromatic beige of his dish - he wasn't fazed and his answer was successful in making that flaw less important. Tre's food looked extremely tasty. He behaved like a complete gentleman when at the judges table. It was refreshing to see the way he genuinely complimented Hungs food. That's just plain cool. This gave me hopes that season 3 would be more about the food and less about the drama. But, then I saw the previews for episode 2... I like Lia too - her pedigree seems strong and so far her reflections about the challenges are about the food and about being focused. She gives a nice, sweet impression. I also like that she's from Brooklyn :)

You aren't imagining it - the chawan mushi did come with shaved black truffles for a little while. Yummy A good percentage of the menu does change regularly.

The current chawan mushi is nice, but I also prefer the older one, with the snails, garlic, edamame and beef jus served in the larger size bowl. I thought everything in that dish worked so beautifully. Perfect comfort food. I had read in one or two places some complaints about the texture of the larger chawan mushi - that it was too cooked on the edges. I see technically how that is possible, but I never noticed it to be the case and I had that dish a lot. I always found the consistency to be very even. I went to ssam bar last night and there were some new items on the menu. A chicken ballotine with nori, some tasty greens and radish. I ate it pretty quickly and so I'm fuzzy on the details, but it was enjoyable. They also have a sugar snap peas dish (I haven't tried it yet). Up thread, some people mentioned that they found the rice cakes in the manilla clam dish to be too large. Last night the rice cakes were the thin coin shaped variety. I enjoyed being able to have some broth, garlic shoots, clams and rice cake in one mouthful. The rice cakes were still very tasty, but I did miss the bite characteristic of log shaped rice cakes that they used to use. I still think the ideal rice cake would be the log shaped ones, but one third or one fourth the length of what they were using. Even so it's good to get all the dish's components in one bite and this is one of my favorite soups (second only to noodle bar's kimchi stew). I've gotten totally hooked on the scallops with scallion oil and pineapple. It's absolutely incredible. I don't think I've ever seen pineapple diced that small and evenly. That's some serious skills...

It's hard to predict weekend crowds in the summer. Lots of people leave the city, but lots of people visit. Ssam Bar starts its dinner menu at 5pm now. You can try then.

This is an interesting dilemma - I relate to it. I like familiarity and so I find places I like and go back often. If something wasn't on my tab, I used to bring it to the attention of the bartender or server, but sometimes strangeness would ensue: It would be explained that I had been comped the drink, and then I'd feel kind of awkward for not recognizing in the first place that I'd been comped. One time, a server actually was offended that I hadn't recognized the comp as a friendly gesture and I felt bad about it. So now, I don't say anything. But even that is a dilemma for me, because I don't feel a sense of entitlement to free stuff and I'd rather not act like an @sshole at a place I'd like to spend more time at. So at those places, I'm just consistently a huge tipper (comp or not) and I hope it evens out in the end and I haven't inadvertantly made a jerk out of myself. In general, if there are mistakes, they should be handled in good faith. If you feel you've always treated the staff fairly, you can continue going and acting as you normally do - the staff may come around. But otherwise, it doesn't seem very nice that they so readily assumed the worst of you. Keep us posted - I'd like to hear how this works out...