{"id":8396,"date":"2012-11-14T21:30:14","date_gmt":"2012-11-15T02:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/?p=8396"},"modified":"2017-03-20T21:39:57","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T01:39:57","slug":"i-saw-the-face-of-god-at-momofuku-shoto-and-had-a-bizarre-bathroom-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/2012\/11\/14\/i-saw-the-face-of-god-at-momofuku-shoto-and-had-a-bizarre-bathroom-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"I saw the face of God at Momofuku Shoto (and had a bizarre bathroom conversation)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Somehow, I’ve never made it to Momofuku Noodle Bar<\/a> in New York, so when I saw that a branch would be opening in Toronto<\/a> while I’d be there for the World Fantasy Convention<\/a>\u2014which I only learned about because of my daily reading of the food porn site Eater<\/em><\/a>\u2014I knew I’d finally get inside a David Chang restaurant. But I decided that before heading to the Noodle Bar for lunch, I’d see whether I could get reservations for the evening tasting menu at Momofuku Shoto<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I was able to do so, which required diligence, though nothing like the obsessive\/compulsive checking of the Internet that was required to get into Alinea and Next<\/a>. To book seats at the U-shaped Shoto counter means logging on to the Momofuku site at exactly 10:00 a.m. 13 days before the date you’re seeking. So at 9:59 a.m. on Sunday, October 21st, I was hitting refresh, refresh, fresh until the site allowed me to book seats for Saturday, November 3rd.<\/p>\n

Which was a relief, because I wanted to see Momofuku while it was all shiny and new, with excitement still in the air about a new adventure just begun.<\/p>\n

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My co-conspirators for the evening were Charlie Anders<\/a>, Annalee Newitz<\/a>, and Cecilia Tan <\/a>(who also joined me for my orgy at The Black Hoof<\/a>). We experienced an amazing meal, but what’s most alive in my memory isn’t just the food (which I expected), but a strange encounter in the Men’s room (which I did not). But I’ll get to the urinals conversation in a bit. First, the food.<\/p>\n

Actually … first, the maitre d’. <\/p>\n

When we arrived slightly late at the third floor of Momofuku and announced we were there for Shoto, we were asked how we were doing, I said I was fine now that I was there, but that the traffic and parking had been maddening. I’m sure I presented as a little rushed and out of breath, and was immediately told … now that you are here, everything will be fine, take a deep breath, relax. Which was a welcome greeting, and I felt all cares falling away as we were led to the counter behind which half a dozen chefs bustled.<\/p>\n

I’m not going to recap every dish, because there wasn’t a single one that disappointed, and I’m sure you can discover complete info elsewhere if that’s what you’re looking for. So let me just tell you about my three favorites.<\/p>\n

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The goose wonton with Brussels sprout and shitake tasted … well … they had me at goose. I didn’t use the chopsticks, instead simply lifting the bowl and slurping the wonton down. Its flavor caressed my tongue, its warmth radiated through me, and I was at peace.<\/p>\n

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The spaghetti with nori, sardine, and lumpfish roe had me thinking … how can I ever eat spaghetti in my own home again? All other pasta would pale. The sardine was wonderfully salty, and all the flavors were in harmony.<\/p>\n

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But the star of the evening—which had me seeing God—was the 36-hour sous vide<\/em> veal cheek, the final pre-dessert course, which sort of snuck up on us. We’d noted a bubbling tank at the far end of the kitchen, realized something was being cooked in its warm waters, but had no idea what until our plates were placed before us. I ate it slowly, not wanting the food orgasm—complete with goosebumps—to end. <\/p>\n

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Desserts followed, but as far as I was concerned, that veal cheek was the true dessert.<\/p>\n

As we departed, we were each given sealed condiments—such as kim chi and pickled cauliflower— to take home, as can be seen in this photo snapped by Al Bogdan as I told and retold the story of our marvelous meal. (Though Rajan Khanna didn’t seem to mind.)<\/p>\n

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But what (I’m sure you’re thinking) about the aforementioned conversation at the urinals?<\/p>\n

Well …<\/p>\n

Midway through the meal, I headed to the Men’s room, and as I was standing by the far right urinal, I heard a deep voice ask, “So what do you think?”<\/p>\n

I looked over, and at the far left urinal was a beefy guy, taller than me, looking in my direction.<\/p>\n

“I’m enjoying it,” I said.<\/p>\n

“I’m kinda disappointed,” said he.<\/p>\n

“Oh, really? Why?”<\/p>\n

He shrugged. <\/p>\n

“Eh … I’m just disappointed.” He then went on to say that he’d already eaten at Shoto twice, and he was only going to give it one more chance. (Which, at $150 per tasting menu, is mighty generous for a restaurant that disappoints you.)<\/p>\n

As we washed our hands, I tried to get him to explain exactly what was so disappointing, and he’d only say that he was in the business and had opened many restaurants himself, but I was unable to get much out of him other than that he preferred the way Thomas Keller did things. Which puzzled me until I later discussed it with my friends, who felt what he was trying to say was that he didn’t like the pulsating rock and roll energy of a David Chang kitchen, preferring the quiet, contemplative atmosphere of a Keller kitchen instead. (But in the absence of details, we couldn’t be sure.)<\/p>\n

I mentioned that I’d recently been to Alinea and Next, figuring that if he saw the level of foodie I was, I might get some specifics out of him, but what he said next was his strangest statement of all.<\/p>\n

In a blase voice, showing about as little enthusiasm as it’s possible for a voice to show, he responded, “Alinea is okay.” <\/p>\n

He might as well have just said, “Meh.”<\/p>\n

Alinea … which was just given a 3-star Michelin rating for the third year in a row<\/a> … only okay?<\/p>\n

Who was<\/em> this guy?<\/p>\n

He’d said he’d been responsible for opening many restaurants in the past and was about to open more, so I asked for his name and the names of his restaurants, telling him I wanted to track down his work so I could get a better idea of how he thought a restaurant ought to be run. But he’d only tell me his first name.<\/p>\n

Max.<\/p>\n

I got the feeling the guy realized he’d said too much, so I wasn’t even sure his name was really Max. (Anyone out there know a tall guy named Max in the restaurant biz in Chicago?) Regardless, the encounter sure added a strange twist to the evening.<\/p>\n

Because if Momofuku Shoto is “disappointing” and Alinea is only “okay,” what kind of chef are you, really? (Other than a very bored chef, I guess.)<\/p>\n

Alinea is far more than “okay.” And Momofuku Shoto was far more than “disappointing.”<\/p>\n

Trust me on this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Somehow, I’ve never made it to Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York, so when I saw that a branch would be opening in Toronto while I’d be there for the World Fantasy Convention\u2014which I only learned about because of my daily reading of the food porn site Eater\u2014I knew I’d finally get inside a David […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[49,265,11],"class_list":["post-8396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-food","tag-momofuku","tag-world-fantasy-convention"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23236,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8396\/revisions\/23236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scottedelman.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}