Every week, I document another dish that impressed and satiated me during my food adventures around New York City
When I was in high school, I was involved with a community theater that was right next door to a big supermarket. Oftentimes when we had a dinner break, I’d go next door and buy a cold platter of fried chicken. Maybe you were supposed to warm it up but I didn’t have access to a kitchen and I found the cold chicken absolutely delicious.
Now that I’ve grown up, have a more discerning palate, and don’t generally eat pre-packaged food from chain supermarkets, I’m not immediately attracted to cold fried chicken.
But leave it to one of the most innovative and famous restaurants in the city to show me just why I liked that flavor and temperature profile.
Momofuku Ko is the fanciest and most expensive restaurant in David Chang’s New York empire. And it’s the only one I hadn’t been to before. I finally checked it off my list when they started serving a more affordable a la carte menu at their bar. No need for a multi-hour break-the-bank tasting menu.
The handwritten menu changes daily and usually features some strange but intriguing choices like a pickle sandwich and pork pie. I tried a few things and most of them were interesting but seemed a little gimmicky. The aforementioned pickle sandwich was really just a grilled buttery store bought potato roll with a few slices of pickles. Oh, and some high quality salt.
But the fried chicken wing, which was surprisingly served cold, took me right back to those high school days. And I loved it.
No question that this was much better than the stuff that had been sitting on the grocery shelf for who knows how long. This was actually fried four times and then glazed with a special mixture of flavors like mirin and yuzu.
In addition to its remarkable crispness (despite being cold), the skin had a sweet and spicy flavor tang enhanced the flavor of the chicken.
It’s funny. I had forgotten about that seemingly guilty food pleasure from my youth. But now that it’s a thing at a serious New York restaurant, turns out I was tuned into great food before anyone knew it was great. Price: $7
| MOMOFUKU KO |
| 8 Extra Place (at 1st Street), East Village (212) 203-8095 |
| ko.momofuku.com |
