12.26.08
Review of Momofuku Ssäm Bar, Saturday September 2008
207 2nd Ave. & 13th St., 212-254-3500
Great for: orgasmic food, sharing, eating very well very late
I had a frustrating fashion show one Saturday – disorganized, with crappy clothes and stupid blinking glasses that I thought would probably make me fall off the closet-sized “runway” – and Commodities Broker, E and her boyfriend S all agreed that we should have a good meal to erase its memory. We ended up in the East Village and took advantage of the late hour to sit immediately at the normally-packed Ssäm Bar. 1 am on a rainy Saturday is apparently a lucky time.
We started by sharing three apps. The diver sea scallops in XO broth with chameh (Korean melon), crispy ham and snow peas turned out to be raw, but I loved them anyway. That’s the second time chef Chang has pleasantly surprised me into liking raw scallops. (The first time was at Ko.) The nice big pieces of cured hamachi with edamame, horseradish, pea leaves and little salty crunchy seaweed yummies were likewise excellent. E persuaded me to try the steamed pork buns by calling them life-changing. They really are. We had two orders, so one each of a small bun filled with pork belly, hoisin, thin-sliced cucumbers and scallions. I had to cut away some fat from the pork and add sriracha sauce and then I loved mine even more. It was a spicy salty flavor orgy.
My main of grilled branzini with cranberry beans, pistachio, lovage and chorisio had a nicely charred skin and a strong flavor. I very much enjoyed it. E’s roasted stone bass accompanied by Jersey corn, chanterelles, pancetta and lima beans with tarragon-red onion-buttermilk sauce around the plate edge also showed a sure hand with fish. Perfectly charred outside, it was soft and fresh inside.
S’s spicy pork sausage and rice cakes with gai-lan and crispy shallots was not that spicy to me, although when you eat the peppers it can be a bit intense. The little rice cakes were chewy and delicious, as was the sausage. We all loved the veggies mixed in. CB’s marinated hanger steak ssäm (PGA beef from Colorado) on marinated onions with ginger, scallion, kimchi and lettuce for wrapping was fantastic. The meat was sliced up and cooked through to an ideal soft-but-not-too-soft texture. The combination of each flavor in the dish was just inspired. We really appreciated the interesting contrasts in texture in each dish as well.
CB and I shared the chocolate hazelnut croustillant, a salty little cake of deliciousness. It was like hard sheets of pastry with chocolate. We could have done without the nectarine or cherry bits but they did add an interesting note to the chocolate. E and S’s tristar strawberry shortcake with corn and Kendall’s farm crème fraîche, on the other hand, was a crumbly amazing cornbread-type thing. It was so orgasmic they basically made out with it. After I had a little, I tried to snatch a bite as often as I could.
I quit drinking the day before this for a few months – did you know vodka calories count? I didn’t! – but the other three shared a great bottle of Arabashiri. We had lovely friendly service too. It was an unexpectedly great dinner which made my whole weekend.
Rating: 9 / 10
Our cost: $320 (4 people, 2 desserts, 1 bottle sake)
Noise level: semi-loud music and conversations
Chance of walking in: hahahahahahaha. Oh, you were serious? Yeah, that won’t happen.
