Momofuk YOU!

Go to Momofuku Ssam Bar. Go now. Soon, you won’t be able to get in the door. The place is stinking with hipness, and the place looks more packed every night. Normally I hate this, but MSB’s innovative and delicious cuisine makes it all worthwhile.

Chef David Chang made a name for himself just a few blocks away at Momofuku Noodle Bar (appearing soon in a blog near you), which won high praise from the New York food press after it had already won over the hearts and stomachs of New York chefs.

Chang is trying to shake up the restaurant paradigm, and MSB has gone through a number of transformations. It began life as a sort of Korean Chipotle (ssam is the Korean word for street food that you eat with your hands; at MSB, it’s a rice-paper wrapped pound of goodness – think Asian burrito…), where you could pick from a several pre-designed ssams or make your own with the available ingredients. They also served the incredible Berkshire pork buns that helped make the original Momofuku famous. That was about it.

Then MSB started staying open until 2 or 3 in the morning and serving a late-night menu that consisted of whatever Chang felt like cooking that night. Chang’s chef fanboys started coming in droves, and some joined him in the kitchen. Eventually a formal menu emerged and was served every night, 10 til’ close.

Then at the beginning of this year, the late-night menu became the dinner menu. You can still get ssams during the day, but after 6 there’s no customization. Don’t even ask.

The menu is quirky and doesn’t really fall into the usual appetizer, entrée, dessert breakdown. The items vary a lot in price and size, but few get very expensive. Try anything: it’s all pretty good. The ssams and pork buns are great, and the country ham, Brussels sprouts, and Banh Mi (Vietnamese sandwich) are all worthy contenders. Prices vary, but a great meal can be had starting around $12. Sharing is a good idea.

Warning: Chef Chang HATES vegetarians. There’s really only about one vegetarian option on the menu (a tofu ssam), and it’s probably the weakest item on the menu – bland and chewy. If pork’s not for you, neither is Momofuku Ssam.

Momofuku Ssam Bar is in the East Village. No reservations.

Momofuku Ssam Bar
207 2nd Ave, NY, NY 10003 (at 13^th St.) Map
212-254-3500
Menu

S'MAC My Bitch Up

A macaroni & cheese restaurant. Ok, it’s a gimmick. Ok, it’s easy to make good mac & cheese at home. Ok, the color scheme could trigger an acid flashback. But S’MAC’s gourmet mac – served up in iron skillets and with excellent add-ins – is an easy and tasty option for lunch or dinner during these not-all-that-cold winter months.

S’MAC is short for Sarita’s Macaroni & Cheese, and myriad forms of the eponymous product are almost all they serve. There’s a green salad, and there’s some cookies and brownies. That’s it. Really.

But variety is not always a virtue, and places that do one thing and do it well are always better than places that try to please everybody. And S’MAC is very good at what they do. Their mac is somewhere between the creamy, soupy box style and the baked, casseroley home style. Crusty bread crumbs on top are optional but recommended by me.

The plain “All-American” is pretty good, but S’MAC’s unique flavors are definitely the way to go. My favorite mac & cheese was the “Brie,” made with brie, roasted figs, shiitake mushrooms & rosemary. It sounds a little haughty for comfort food, but it’s delicious. Also good are the “Gruyere” (gruyere and slab bacon), “Manchego” (manchego, fennel, and shallots), and “Cajun” (cheddar, pepper jack, andouille sausage, green peppers, onions, celery, garlic, and “Cajun seasoning”). You can make your own with any of the add-ins, but not all the cheeses. If you want to customize, you’re stuck with American & cheddar or 4 cheese.

The mac comes in three sizes: The small is good for a heavy snack, while the medium is a meal and a half. If you order a large, you’d better have some friends. Depending on flavor prices range from $4.25 to $6.75 for a small and $6.50 to $9 for a medium.

S’MAC is in the East Village.

S’MAC (Sarita’s Macaroni & Cheese)
345 East 12th Street, NY, NY 10003 Map
212-358-7912 or 212-358-7917
sarita@smacnyc.com

Menu

What's on the Menu?

Welcome to Bood Flog, the one and only site about eating out in New York.

Ok, that's a bald-faced lie, but we are a site about eating out in New York and a damn good one if we say so ourselves (and we do).

We post about restaurants - and other food-related topics- in and around New York city. We'll provide you with the dish on tasty places to eat along with pictures, directions, and tips on what to order.

We spend most of our time stuffing our faces, looking for new places to stuff our faces, and just generally thinking about face-stuffing, so it seemed reasonable to start sharing our wide base of face-stuffing knowledge. We don't have any kind of organized plan or design for this blog, so we'll be flying by the seat of our somwhat stretched-out pants.

Hope you're hungry...