Is David Chang the wunderkind of the food world?  Depends on how early is early for success.  It would be safe to say that David Chang is a food genius because he simply cooked what he really wanted.  Luckily for us and the many foodies in New York, we’re glad he chose cooking (what he really wanted to do) over golf because that’s what he almost trained to be before he discovered his real calling in life.  David Chang didn’t have immediate success but went through some soul searching before arriving at success – all before thirty.  He’s coming out with his cookbook which is appropriately titled “Momofuku,” which is the common name in for all of his reataurants:  Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku Ssäm Bar, Momofuku Ko and Momofuku Bakery & Milk Bar.

Momofuku tells the stories and recipes of your first three restaurants. There’s no real sex, drugs and scandal, but lots of fear, anger, desperation and joy of the Korean-American boy who studied religion, taught English in Japan and fell hard for ramen – “soup with noodles in it, topped with stuff. That’s it. I love ramen but the sanctimony that’s often attached to it is a bit too much.”

I’ve personally eaten at all his restaurants and even had the once great pleasure of eating with David and having him order for us.  He is simply a genius!  But the genius wasn’t that evident when he first opened up shop not to long ago.

My restaurant bombed after a month. I couldn’t keep my chefs or waiters happy. They constantly demanded food, water and rest. My menu never progressed beyond garden salad, bruschetta, tiger prawn platters, margarita pizza and fruit plates. No dim sum, yakibuta ramen and saffron tea at Buffalo Gal’s – I wasn’t qualified to cook them or buy the ingredients.

I blew too much money on uniforms, pretty stoves, wallpaper and flooring. I didn’t sink every waking hour into my restaurant and it showed. Customers marched out fuming. My restaurant sucked, but at least it sucked in obscurity running a virtual eatery at Restaurant City on Facebook.

David Chang’s book Momofuku will be hitting the store shelves on Wednesday, Oct 28th.

Source: TheStar.com

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