Momofuku Ssäm Bar (2007– )

[LPShanet]

it took me like 3 times to really have a good time at momofuku ssam.

i've found that you can really order the wrong things and have a bad experience...... its best to not have wine (and DEFINITELY not buy the glass, as you get wine in some skimpy little 2 ounce glass), order a bunch of beers, go as a group of 4-6 and order the entire menu and just let it arrive as it comes out of the kitchen.

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That's pretty curious about the wine - At ssam bar, I've always been served wine in a normal wine glass. At noodle bar, however, wine has been served in a small juice glass.

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That's been my experience as well. I've always had full size wine glasses and reasonable pours. To be fair, I haven't been in a bit, but never saw the juice glass. And the selection of by-the-glass wines, while limited, usually has a few things that go well with the food, including some interesting sparkling reds, and some food-friendly whites.

[tim e]

I are lunch at Momofuku Ssam Bar on Saturday. It was my first visit so I had to try to pork buns. They were excellent, accompanied by a Bluepoint Hoptical Illusion IPA. My original plan to was to try the beef tendon or spicy rice cakes, but the lunch special was an English muffin with fried egg, braised sweetbreads, gruyere cheese, pickled onions and arugula. Yes please! It was delicious. I washed it down with a Domaine du Page "French country ale" from Two Brothers Brewery. The beer was great on its own, very malty and slightly sweet; maybe a bit too heavy for such a rich sandwich. I can't wait to go back and try some more of the menu.

[jimk]

Thinking about perhaps heading over for dinner Friday night. Given that it's summer in NY, would anyone here be able to give me a vague sense of what the wait might be like for a 2-top, assuming we arrive between 7:30 and 8:00? Understand that it varies tremendously and we're happy to grab a drink beforehand, but just wondering - are we looking at an hour or more this time of year? Or much less?

[daisy17]

I would guess less than a half hour, but you never know. 2 is a good number though. I would think you'd have one of Don's cocktails there while you wait?

[jimk]

I would guess less than a half hour, but you never know.  2 is a good number though.  I would think you'd have one of Don's cocktails there while you wait?

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I think I'll have to do that!

[kathryn]

20-30 minutes for a two top sounds about right, unless you don't want to be seated at the counter area. Turnover is fairly quick.

I highly recommend the NCL or bourbon lemonade. The sake lemonade is also fantastic.

[Sneakeater]

NCL! NCL! NCL! What a great drink.

(Wait I haven't had the bourbon lemonade yet. It could be even better.)

[kathryn]

Didn't think that the fried chicken dish could get better, but I was wrong. Corn fried chicken (two juicy bricks of light and dark meat glued together and breaded), with pickled chanterelles, fresh summer corn, wonderfully peppery wild arugula, and "vadouvan" which turns out to be used to create an Indian spiced cream of corn sauce.

Drool.

[jimk]

Thanks to those who encouraged us to make the trip across town on Friday - a really great meal at Ssam bar. Our favorite dish was the sichuan tendon, but I also agree with those here who've said the fried pig's head torchon is outstanding. Really nice stuff, currently served withg lime pickel and apricots. Also enjoyed the soft boiled egg with wax beans and bacon, and the pork sausage with rice noodle which was fantastic but not quite as much going on as the tendon. We did both find the NCL a bit sweet for our tastes however...

[LPShanet]

Apropos of nothing, I just thought I'd mention that I really miss the uni tapioca dish. Like, a lot.

[edo]

I miss that, but I miss the sweetbreads even more.

[tonto21]

Anyone make it to any of the 'four fucking dinners' in Saam or Ko last week? If so would love to hear how they were and what you had!

[gastrodamus]

my friend and i attended alexandre gauthier's 7-course dinner at ssam. we didn't participate in the $75 wine pairing but got a bottle of gruner veltliner, which paired nicely with the first 5 courses. the breakdown:

1st course: une tasse d'eau de mer - seawater w/seaweed poured into a bowl of black sea bass, oyster, chervil, basil.

this had a lot of dimension. flavors took a few seconds to develop, starting with the saltiness of the seawater followed by the black sea bass and greens. the seawater tasted like broth toward the last few slurps. a great start.

2nd course: cornichon grillé - grilled pickle topped w/lardo & tarragon, taramasalata w/carp roe, though our server initially told us cod roe.

this was the least interesting dish of the night, but it was an introduction to gauthier's playful, asymmetrical plating, which also created an unfamiliar visual tension. from this course forward, the sauces hit the lip of the plate or stems jutted well past the edge of the plate.

3rd course: gnocchi de pomme de terre - yukon gold gnocchi, lemon butter sauce, parmesan, a big fat comfrey leaf that covered the 2 gnocchi pieces.

the soft gnocchi combined with the leafy comfrey created an interesting texture. the sauce tied the ingredients together. two sides of the gnocchi were seared to add a little bite. my favorite dish of the night.

4th course: cuisson douce turbot - slow cooked turbot, cucumber, dill.

again the texture combo was very apparent. delicate, light and perfectly cooked.

5th course: poulet rôti - roasted chicken stuffed with trout roe, crispy skin, don't recall the beans nor the leafy green (dandelion?).

i cut into one of the pieces of the chicken and bright orange roe spilled out. very cool. i'd love to see this dish with salmon roe as the muddiness of the trout roe didn't quite pair for me with the chicken. the meat was juicy and the skin, super crunchy.

palate shocker: honeycomb & a squeeze of lemon - good transition between the last entree and dessert.

6th course: prune d'agen - plum, grape skin, maple syrup sugar, don't recall the puree.

simple and pleasant. enjoyed the tannins from the grape skin with the plum. both of us got an unintentional seed.

7th course: glace badoit menthe - peppermint & badoit sparkling water sorbet, raspberries.

this was intensely minty like eating toothpaste but in a good way. loved the minty, tart, sweet and creamy combo of this dessert.

despite a couple of ingredients that didn't work for me, i found gauthier's techniques innovative and appreciated the new flavors and texture combos. he offered a unique experience and there's little doubt that he'll soon be graduating from his "rising star" title to something bigger at la grenouillere.

[tupac17616]

damn the hamachi collar is good

[The Food Doc]

Yeah, I think I was sitting next to you at the bar...you were really enjoying each and every morsel of that hamachi collar! I also love that collar, although the umeboshi plum is not to my liking.

[tupac17616]

ha, nice. i'm pretty sure there was nothing edible (or at least digestible) remaining on the plate once i was done.
you were the brussels sprouts and the pig head terrine?
donbert was doing his thing behind the bar. saw sneakeater on the way out. eG'ers abound at ssam every time i go.

 

[Moderator note: The original Momofuku Ssam Bar topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the following part of this discussion is here: Momofuku Ssam Bar (2011-)]

[weinoo]

[Moderator note: The original Momofuku Ssam Bar topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the preceding part of this discussion is here: Momofuku Ssam Bar (2008-2009)]

 

Recently, I waxed rhapsodic about the Peking Duck at Peking Duck House here in Chinatown. Now, while that duck may be the be-all and end-all as far as Peking Duck is concerned, it is not, by any means, the only duck in town. There are literally dozens of places where you can get a roasted duck in Chinatown, mostly under $20, and even if you head farther north, you’re bound to run into a Chinese joint where roasted meats, duck included, are on the menu.

Usually, these places are serving your roast duck over a plate of plain white rice, topped with a little salty, fatty sauce that makes everything taste good. Sometimes, they’ll incorporate it into a soup, as in roast duck wonton soup at Great NY Noodletown. Trust me – it’s all good. There’s very little you can do wrong to a duck, other than overcook the crap out of it, and most Chinese roasteries have it down to a science; oh, the breast will not be all nice and rosy red, because to do that would mean ending up with undercooked legs, thighs and wings, but in general the duck is good.

So where am I headed with all this? A while ago, back in May, Momofuku Ssam Bar (Ssam Bar topic - 2006 - 2011) began serving an all-duck lunch; let’s call it their rotisserie duck program, for want of a better term; there are also a few non-duck items on the menu. I hadn’t been yet and with Significant Eater in town for her three-day weekend, what better time to make a go of it than this past Friday afternoon? After all, Ssam Bar and it’s older sibling, Noodle Bar, have long been lunch favorites of ours, so off we went.

The “new” Ssam Bar has expanded into the space that was once Milk Bar, which is now across the street. I was a little confused when we first walked into the Ssam Bar space from 2nd Avenue, but one of the lovely staff pointed the way for us. You order at the counter in the former Milk Bar space, with the menu above, and then they deliver the food to wherever you end up sitting – your choice. From our seats (well, mine, at least), I had a good view of the rotisserie contraption. It was late in service, so only one or two duckies were left spinning, getting all golden and delicious in the process.

Of course, for old time’s sake, we had to order the pork buns (perhaps the dish that elevated David Chang to cult-star status), and they were better than ever, with a nice slab of fatty meat nestled in the silky bun...



Another small plate we tried, simply called Broccoli Salad, had the broccoli tossed with a slightly funky smoked bluefish vinaigrette and topped with pieces of crispy duck skin, taking the crucifer to a new level...



We then shared two of the large plates; the first one out was a Duck Sandwich. I couldn’t quite figure out what part of the duck they were using; perhaps slices of the thigh or maybe a house made mild duck sausage? Served on excellent bread, and lightly toasted and slathered with a mildly spicy mayo, with shredded lettuce and peppadews adding a nice crunch…



Our other lunch plate was the Rotisserie Duck over Rice, served with an all-you-can-add condiment tray including fried crispy shallots and a duck-fat scallion sauce. The nice portion of breast is cooked to a luscious rosy red and hides some pulled dark meat underneath. There’s a handful of greens (watercress here) and for an additional buck a stack of lettuce leaves…



And after a little manipulation of ingredients, a juicy, delicious wrap is born…



Guess what? They disappeared just as quickly. It appears as if David Chang has done it again, with a roasted duck as good as any in Chinatown, and perhaps just a little more special.

[Broken English]

Sounds amazing. I'm in NY next month, what's the easiest way to get into Ssam, does it have the same booking policy as Ko, or are you able to just walk in?

[weinoo]

Sounds amazing. I'm in NY next month, what's the easiest way to get into Ssam, does it have the same booking policy as Ko, or are you able to just walk in?

My report above is about the weekday lunch service; we just walked in at 2 P.M. - no problem.

[Broken English]

Awesome. With David Chang opening in Sydney a little after I disappear for my year long hiatus, I am doubly keen for this. What would you recommend for a solo diner with a big appetite?

[ambra]

I've got one meal in New york City to gamble....and I was thinking of going to this place! Would you? If it was your one meal in NYC?

[patrickamory]

I'd say it was a good choice.

[RichP]

I did just this when I was in NYC for the day last Saturday. I walked in at 6:30 and was seated right away. It may have had something to do with the city being cleared out for the holiday weekend, but it was no trouble getting in.

I would definitely reccommend a visit based on my experience. If you are dining alone, there are plenty of small plates on the menu, so you can try a variety of things without breaking the bank. And the pork buns so live up to the hype. I ordered more for dessert.

[ellenost]

I've made a reservation for the Whole Rotisserie Duck for the end of the week. I hope it is as good as the photos above (which are wonderful!).

[weinoo]

I've made a reservation for the Whole Rotisserie Duck for the end of the week. I hope it is as good as the photos above (which are wonderful!).

Should be great. Maybe you can find out what part of the duck goes in that sandwich?!