Momofuku (restaurants)

History

With experience in various restaurants in New York City, Chef David Chang opened up his first restaurant in 2004, Momofuku Noodle Bar, influenced by his time spent working in ramen shops in Japan. After about a year of trials, Noodle Bar took off as a success when the chefs began cooking what they felt like – more adventurous dishes with better ingredients. Growing, Noodle Bar eventually moved up the street and Momofuku Ko took over the space.

Momofuku Ssäm Bar opened after Noodle Bar and originally had the concept of an Asian style burrito bar (ssäm is Korean for wrap). After experiencing troubles, Chang and his cohorts decided to change the style of the menu, away from the burrito-centered cuisine. This change led Ssäm Bar to success, as it received two stars (eventually 3) from The New York Times.

The third restaurant to open was Momofuku Ko. Chang describes the idea behind Ko as a, “cook-centric restaurant with just a few stools, a collaborative kitchen, and a constantly changing menu.” Má Pêche was the fourth restaurant to open and the first to open outside of the East Village neighborhood. Momofuku Seiōbo in October 2011 was the first restaurant to open outside of the U.S. In January 2012, Momofuku opened the cocktail bar Booker & Dax in the back of Ssäm Bar in collaboration with Dave Arnold. Momofuku Toronto followed in 2012 alongside the opening of the Shangri-La Hotel. Fuku, a chicken sandwich restaurant, opened in the original Noodle Bar location in June 2015.

Milk Bar history

Doing office work for Ssäm Bar at the time, Pastry Chef Christina Tosi began the desserts program at the 3 Momofuku Restaurants, first at Ssäm Bar, then Noodle Bar, and then Ko.

The first Momofuku Milk Bar started in the Laundromat next to Ssäm Bar. After a year and a half, a second Milk Bar opened in Midtown, in the Chambers Hotel. In November 2010 the Williamsburg, Brooklyn kitchen opened to accommodate the growth of Milk Bar. On September 24, 2011, Milk Bar opened its fourth location on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. In March 2012, Milk Bar opened is fifth location in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, and its most recent,sixth, location opened in SOHO in September 2014

Momofuku Noodle Bar

Momofuku Noodle Bar was the first Momofuku restaurant and opened in August 2004. It serves ramen, seasonal dishes, and a variety of buns.

Momofuku Ssäm Bar

Since opening in 2006, Momofuku Ssäm Bar has been listed as one of The World's 50 Best Restaurants for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. Weekday lunches feature all-rotisserie duck menu. Booker and Dax (the bar at Ssäm) is open late serving drinks made with new techniques and technologies.

Momofuku Ko

Momofuku Ko opened in March 2008. At Momofuku Ko (which means “son of”), guests sit along a kitchen counter and are served by the cooks. Dinner is a set tasting menu devised by the chef, Sean Gray, and his aides de camp, and it is usually about 10 courses long; at lunch the menu stretches out to 16 courses. Since opening in 2008, Momofuku Ko has earned two Michelin Stars, which it has retained for six years. Ko is No. 70 on the San Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurants list.

Booker and Dax

Booker and Dax, which opened in 2012, is a bar located in the back space at Ssäm Bar. Booker and Dax is headed by Dave Arnold in collaboration with David Chang.

Má Pêche

Má Pêche (”mother peach”) is located in Midtown Manhattan in the Chambers Hotel. Má Pêche opened in 2010 with co-owner and executive chef, Tien Ho, with Chef Paul Carmichael taking the reins in October 2011. This change prompted a shift in Má Pêche's cuisine from French-Vietnamese to American. Má Pêche also includes a midtown outpost of Christina Tosi’s bakery, Momofuku Milk Bar.

Fuku

Fuku opened in June 2015

Momofuku Seiobo

Seiōbo is Momofuku's first restaurant outside of New York City. Located in Sydney, it opened at The Star Casino in late October 2011. "Seiōbo" (Japanese: 西王母) is the Japanese pronunciation for the traditional Chinese "goddess of the West", who is known in mythical stories, such as Journey to the West, as owning the celestial peach orchards. Momofuku Seiōbo has three hats from The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide and was named Best New Restaurant.

Momofuku Toronto

In 2012, David Chang opened Momofuku Toronto, Momofuku’s first project in Canada. It is located in a three-story glass cube in the heart of downtown Toronto and is home to Noodle Bar, Nikai, Daishō and Shōtō.

Noodle Bar is located on the ground floor and is a sister-restaurant to the restaurant of the same name in New York City. The menu features bowls of ramen and a roster of dishes like steamed buns and rice cakes. The restaurant is home to a custom piece of art created by Steve Keene.

Nikai is a bar and lounge on the second floor of Momofuku Toronto. The menu features cocktails, beer, wine, and sake. Guests can order items from both the Noodle Bar and Daishō menus.

Daishō is located on the third floor. The menu features large format meals meant for parties of 4–10 guests, as well as an a la carte menu that includes dishes to share.

Shōtō is located within the Daishō dining room on the third floor. Shōtō serves a roughly 10-course tasting menu that is based on market availability. Guests are seated along the counter and served by the chefs.

Momofuku CCDC

Momofuku CCDC opened in October 2015 and is Chang's first restaurant within the Washington, D.C. area and the first in the United States outside of New York. It is located in the downtown CityCenterDC development. The restaurant also includes a Milkbar location.

Milk Bar

Momofuku Milk Bar, under the direction of pastry chef, Christina Tosi, is based in New York City and has seven locations: in Washington, DC at CityCenterDC; in New York, NY at East Village, Midtown, Upper West Side, Williamsburg, and Carroll Gardens; and in Toronto, Canada.

Momofuku Nishi

Momofuku Nishi opened in 2016

Momofuku Cookbook

In 2009, David Chang, Peter Meehan, Gabriele Stabile and the Momofuku team produced the Momofuku Cookbook. It features recipes and photographs from Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku Ssam Bar, Momofuku Ko and Milk Bar. The cookbook was a New York Times Best Seller.

Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook

Written by Christina Tosi with a foreword by David Chang, The Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook was released in October 2011. Christina Tosi included her recipes for Cereal Milk, Crack Pie, the Compost Cookie, and other popular Milk Bar desserts.

Scraps

Scraps is a limited edition collection of outtakes and artwork from the Momofuku Cookbook photographer, Gabriele Stabile.

Lucky Peach

From 2011 to November 2013, Lucky Peach, a quarterly journal of food writing, was published by McSweeney’s. Since then, it has been self-published. Lucky Peach was then created by David Chang, Peter Meehan, and Zero Point Zero production.

The first issue of Lucky Peach centered on ramen. The second issue, "The Sweet Spot", included articles on the neurobiology of how the brain detects sweet foods. This issue was a New York Times Best Seller. The third issue, "Chefs and Cooks", was also a New York Times Best Seller.

The fourth issue of Lucky Peach was about American food. The fifth issue was about Chinatown and was released in November 2012. The sixth issue was centered on the theme of the apocalypse, and was published in January 2013. The seventh issue of Lucky Peach was about travel. Released in May 2013, the issue featured one of Christopher Boffoli's "Big Appetites" photographs as its cover image. The eighth issue centered on the idea of gender in the food world.

Awards