Momofuku Ko

So, more of a lurker than a poster but could not find anything on MomoKO.

Has anyone had the pleasure of dining here yet? My father went on this morning and scored a reservation for next thursday night (while I'm in town)...luckily...and I am extremely excited. Wanted to see if anyone has tried yet and has any tips...I am trying not to research too much as I would like it to be more of a surprise...will definetly be sure to report back.

Don't bring your camera. I understand that taking pictures there is against the rules. Here's a link to everything you need to know about Momofuku Ko http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=102446

Ok so I went to Ko last Thursday and wanted to share it with you so here goes…

A little background if you don’t know about Momofuku Ko. This is the third installment of the David Chang empire. His first two: Momofuku Ssam and Noodle Bar have been two of the hottest restaurants in NY. He has a ridiculous following as his food is muy delicious as well as relatively cheap. Momofuku Ko (Momofuku= Fuzzy Peach, Ko=Son of) is his more upscale (read: takes reservations and is more expensive.) foray. For better or worse he is apparently very egalitarian and the only way you can get a reservation is by visiting the website at 10AM and enter a lottery for a seat a week later. I remember when it firsts opened someone told me they read a NYT reviewer wanted to review the place, but couldn’t because he/she couldn’t get a reservation.

Anyway, Ko took over where the noodle bar is and holds 12 people. The outside is very Villagey with bars over the outside. The 12 bar seats surround three chef’s preparing your meal.

Other quick points of note: There are three pairing options: $50, $85 and maybe $135? Got the $50 and it was well worth it with good pours. The eleven dishes were more than enough, although I wasn’t totally stuffed leaving the restaurant. The chef that was closest to us was kind of a dick, but I expected that. We had four, but did not receive different dishes as others in the past have. They have a fantastic playlist that sounded like it was off my ipod (everything from a cover of Redemption Song to Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah to the Stones.)

On to the food…(please realize I did not write down anything and needed help going online for some things to fill in the blanks.)

Amuse – English muffin with whipped pork fat, bay leaf and chives and chicharrón
English muffin was fantastic

Raw –Fluke sashimi over buttermilk, white soy, chive and poppy seeds
The buttermilk and poppy worked well, there was a spicy element that also melded well

Soup – Georgia sweet pea soup with crawfish and stewed morels wrapped in yuba (tofu skin)
This was my second or third favorite dish…it was simple, but amazing

Egg – Lightly smoked hen egg over onion soubise, potato chips and caviar
They cooked the egg in smoke water, it smelled wonderful

Pasta – "Ravioli" Housemade pasta stuffed with wild mushrooms with sprinbg vegetables, ricotta foam and ricotta solata sprinkled on top
The ricotta foam was rich and creamy and I might have used my finger to scoop up some at the end

Fish –Trout with almonds, chives maybe bacon puree?
The trout was crispy and worked well with the almonds…this wasn’t my favorite, although I still enjoyed and the others thought it was a standout

Foie – Freeze Dried foie microplaned over Riesling gelee and lychee.
His famous dish was absolutely amazing,

Meat – Deep fried short ribs with pickled daikon, mustard seeds, pickled baby carrots and scallion
This was my favorite dish…it was so tender on the inside and crispy on the outside (they sous vide it first)

Pre - Kiwi sorbet on apricot purée with olive oil
Good palate cleanser, apricot was better

Panna cotta (made with milk from the leftover bowl of cereal) with chocolate/peanut butter slab thing, cornflakes, avocado and olive oil
I’m not much of a panna cotta fan, so its hard for me not to be bias, but this was my least favorite dish.

Overall, I can honestly say that I enjoyed every dish. The dishes weren’t necessarily out there (a la Alinea,) but I can say that all tasted well. At a hundo I can say that it was well worth it…if you are planning a trip to the city you might as well try your luck, you never know.

Here is an album I found that displays the dishes well:
http://www.roboppy.net/food/2008/05/mom ... there.html

I saw a promo tonight, David Chang is supposedly on Letterman tomorrow night (Tuesday the 20th).