Our first restaurant review!

Finally I'm able to post a restaurant review! Pretty sweet, yes?

I think it's perfect that right before I saw The Departed I dined at the exclusive and often raved about Momofuku Ko (not to be mistaken with the noodle bar, they are two different entities).

I have to say when I first heard about this place, I had my doubts. It seemed like the typical "one hit wonder" restaurant if you will, where you hear about them for about a good month when they're a hit and then just fade out of popularity.

I felt that it was going to be super presumptuous. There are only twelve seats in the entire place. Can we say snobbily exclusive anyone? Essentially if you want a reservation, you have to create an account on their website and log in at exactly 10 AM the week before you want to go and hope that you can snag a reservation. Take my sister, for instance. She tried for a good two weeks before getting one. Let's also consider the staggering price for a moment: $125 per meal! Granted, you do have ten courses to get through. You can't order a' la carte and pick and choose what you want in order to lower that price. As soon as you walk into the place, bam, $125 is blown and Chang delivers you his customized menu for that day. An extra $90 per person if you want the alcohol pairings. (Just as a note, I don't think its partner restaurant, the noodle bar, works like this--it is much more affordable and easier to get into).

Now the prices vary according to the season and what food is available on what day. That's a definite plus of this place. The owner and main chef, David Chang, goes to local farms and markets to pick up the freshest produce and meats that he can find. You won't find any fresher, since he does this daily. And he refuses to accommodate vegetarians: if you don't eat meat or fish, too bad, you're out of luck. Ouch. Odd to find (FINALLY) a restaurant in New York that won't deal with these wussy vegetarians.

After spending a good ten minutes looking for this cockamamie place, my sister and I realize it's semi-hidden. Its facade looks like a prison, or more realistically, a closed store. It has all bars in front of its door and store front. We had to use my sister's blackberry to find the exact address in order to find it. Then we saw this tiny window (the only way to see inside the restaurant) and realized we were in the right place.

The food can mostly (not all) be described in two words: unique and delicious. Each flavor delicately accompanies each other to create a balance among foods you would never ever picture together. Some stand out items on the menu were the Spanish mackerel (served practically raw, lightly seared), cornbread (sounds simple, but it was out of this world; was served at the beginning of the meal as a mini-appetizer), a poached egg (served with parsley and a special sauce), and his dessert sampling. For dessert, the cottage cheese cake was fantastic, served alongside squash sorbet. Who would ever imagine that squash could be delicious in a frozen form or dessert! And cottage cheese in a cheese cake?? It sounds so odd, but worked quite nicely together.

I have to admit not all of his dishes made me leap out of my chair and scream how great it was. The octopus was nothing to rave about, the mussel we were served wasn't very good (a bit bland), and the meat was nothing special.

My biggest complaint lies with the alcohol pairing. I may actually say that it was downright awful. DO NOT GET IT IF YOU GO THERE. The waiters and waitresses seemed to not care if you liked the wine or not and weren't very knowledgeable about the choices when I had asked some questions about the vintage. They also had sake pairings with particular entrees. My sister and I both hate sake, but we tried it anyway. It didn't seem to be a good match. Chang buys a "once pasteurized" sake, which I questioned the waitress about to which she bullshitted me this ridiculous explanation, only to have another waiter butt in and answer the question properly. If you don't know the answer, just tell me you're not sure and find someone who does know the answer. Seems simple enough.

If you take a place like Per Se, ranked as the third best restaurant in New York City (and well-deserved), their alcohol pairings are exceptional with their trained sommeliers. They gear it towards your tastes (they ask you questions about what kind of wines you like) and allow you to taste it, ensuring that you like it. If you don't like it (which did happen to my table), you simply send it back and get a different one. So it perfectly goes with your meal and you enjoy what you're drinking! Your glass is also never empty there, they're constantly re-filling it to make sure you're happy. Here at Momofuku Ko they did none of this: the choices were already chosen and some of the wines were just terrible. We had to force it down. One was superb, surprisingly a Californian, for which we asked the name of it and the waitress gave it to us on an index card (good job!). They also didn't let you try the wine beforehand, nor did they care if you liked it or not. And our glasses were constantly empty if you weren't eating anything! They only give you a total of 3-4 glasses of wine for ten courses (the wine disappears really fast). We ordered another bottle of wine, only to be met with rude glances and looks and choose a $65 bottle of Tuscan red wine. The waitress commended us on our choice, saying that Chang prides himself on this wine in particular, since he purchased it while he was in Italy. It was just OK. I've spent a year in Florence, Tuscany, and I've definitely had wayyyyy better. Especially for $65! I take a look at the label, and it was a "vino da tavola" aka a "table wine." Hm.

Final Score: 7.5
Yes, it was great, but you need to be really adventurous. Personally I feel that it's a once in a lifetime experience...intended to be done only once. It's sorta like Moulin Rouge in Paris: you go once to have the experience of being there (and just to say that you did it), you enjoy it, you have some fun, but would you do it again? Nah. I think I'll pass. Unless Veronica is up for trying their lunch.... (WITHOUT THE PAIRINGS)

Go take a peek at their restaurant, located at 163 1st Avenue between 10th and 11th Streets.