Momofuku Ko

Profile

There are a thousand cutting-edge dining trends in the big city these days, and David Chang’s rebooted East Village tasting room more or less encompasses them all. Unlike in other increasingly hermetic, locally sourced, obsessively market-driven tasting kitchens around town, the globe-trotting Chang and his executive chef, Sean Gray, draw their influences from all over, and their menu changes not just season to season, but month to month and even day to day. During the course of a year’s dining, you may encounter caviars from Idaho, bee pollen gathered from apiaries in Connecticut, and mille-feuilles tipped with green-tea matcha from Japan. Add the endless food-lab inventions (oyster foams, macarons touched with chickpea Hozon, delicate shiso-leaf perfumes), and beverage director Jordan Salcito’s eclectic list of beers, sakes, and wines, and no tasting experience in town is as consistently educational (what is Hozon, anyway?), accessible (unlike at many precious fixed-price ateliers, there is a lunch menu, and you won’t need to book months in advance), or entertaining. — Adam Platt

The set menu offers no choices, but left to our own devices: rye mille-feuille and pommes soufflés with onions; medai tartare with shiso; soft scrambled eggs with Osetra; branzino or halibut; venison with whipped potatoes; chocolate cookie with mint.

Scratchpad
Four stars for the expert cooking, wines, and service; minus a star for the non-Momofuku prices and the impersonal vibe.

Note
Reservations for the two nightly seatings are taken online only, up to 15 days in advance.

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New York Magazine Reviews

• Adam Platt's Full Review (4/21/08)

Best of New York Awards

• The Five Most Influential Restaurants of the Past Six Years (2011)
• Adam Platt's Pick for Best New Restaurant (2009)

Featured In

• Adam Platt's Where to Eat 2009 (1/5/09)
• Places to Eat Cracklings (3/24/08)
• Keeping Up With the Momofukus (9/3/07)