A must see documentary for anyone who loves food and appreciates all the work and effort that goes into preparing an exceptional dish.

This is a classic story of a chef who comes to the United States in search of greatness and who pushes himself and all that works with him to be the best.

The dishes one sees at the beginning of the film are works of art of a young chef.  Of course with being so young and talented one gets the sense that his food is received as being arrogant and of trying to hard.  I began to think of the great artists who probably had to endure the same criticism during their time to only be truly recognized for their greatness once their time had passed on this planet.

For a bit I felt that this chef would face the same fate as he went from job to job.  A fate of suffering.  Years go by and I suffered as well even though this was mere minutes.  Luckily through this time of suffering he continues to prepare for greatness waiting for an opportunity to appear and luckily that opportunity is embodied in Drew Nieporent of Nobu fame.  A character that I only read about and saw on Anthony Bourdain’s shows carrying left over Toro for his chef friends to feast on into the late New York nights. Through this film I was able to see the passion and the experience of a true restaurateur who is there not to stifle the creativity of a chef but to provide him a platform to perform and excel.  By the end of the film all I can is that I am truly happy for Paul Liebrandt.  It is great to see someone who has worked so hard and sacrificed so much to receive the recognition he so truly deserves.

This documentary is currently showing on HBO and can be viewed in its On Demand library.

For more information about the documentary please visit http://www.amatteroftastethefilm.com/

It’s Sunday morning and I’m hankering for a good strong cup of coffee so I decide to go visit the new Intelligentsia in Old Town Pasadena. This is the first Intelligentsia east of the 5 freeway in the greater Los Angeles/hipster area. I’ve been to other high-end coffee shops before like LA Mill and understand the thought and mission behind these establishments. Provide the best in season coffee from small organic farms and brew in the best way possible to produce the perfect most flavorful cup of coffee.

When you enter Intelligentsia you are greeted with a simple printed menu with coffee and tea choices.

Behind the bar there are two espresso machines.

A section for siphoned coffee that looks like they are heated by infrared burners underneath.

And a section for individually brewed cups of coffee.

Against the wall there are large stainless steel containers that look like they hold gallons of coffee but they actually hold filtered water and there are digital temperature displays at the top holding the water at the correct temperature for coffees and teas.

As I reviewed the menu and approached the barista I have to admit I was in a Starbucks frame of mind. Blurt out some crazy multi layered coffee order as quick as possible, give my name so they can write it on the cup, pay and run over to the pick up area. Instead I was greeted by a chill barista with a hey buddy calm down tone. I immediately got what this place was all about. Take your time because we’re going to take the right amount of time to produce the best cup of coffee. This isn’t a race but a true experience so take your time ordering and ask all the questions you like because we like talking about coffee then take a seat and chill out. We’ll serve your coffee when it’s truly ready to be served.

That being understood I ordered siphon brewed Kenya Thiriku, which was roasted on 8.11.10. They describe it as follows:

Effervescent acidity of marmalade and lime. Rhubarb, peach and blackberries with an underbelly of dark chocolate and fig bars. Hints of spiced rum in the finish.

When it was ready they called me up to the bar and informed me that if I needed sweeteners or dairy products to cloud the true flavor of this awesome coffee it was on the counter by the front of the store. They didn’t actually say that but I got that vibe. Hey buddy this is good coffee don’t mess it up by adding anything to it. Enjoy the pure flavor of these perfectly roasted beans that are brewed with the purest water at the optimal temperature.

So I sat down and happily drank my coffee sans milk and sugar with my croissant. It was a pure cup of good coffee that went down smoothly. It wasn’t too hot. It didn’t have a kick or bitter taste to it. It tasted just right. I can go into some frilly description but it just tasted right.

As I sat there I observed the other customers as they approached the barista. They too were searching for a menu board. They looked confused and apprehensive. One customer brought their coffee back to the counter and said that it was not hot enough and asked if it could be microwaved. I saw the barista’s eyes widen and they politely told the customer that there were no microwaves on the premises. Microwaving coffee is considered a cardinal sin in the coffee world and the good news is that another person in this world has learned this fact.

Is America ready for these types of coffee shops? The answer is yes. We’ve had good and now we’re ready for better. I feel like Will Ferrell in the movie Elf. Congratulations you’ve done it. World’s best coffee! Keep doing what you’re doing Intelligentsia.

It was Cinco de Mayo and having just arrived in New York we did want to stress on having to meet a reservation time.  So based on what we read and heard we decided on the Spotted Pig, which is known as New York’s first Gastro pub. It is owned by April Bloomfield (Chef) and Ken Friedman and located in the Meat Packing District of New York.

As our cab started to enter the area one could hear a real loud crowd much like what one would experience at a stadium.  We realized that we were passing the Bier Garden at the Standard Hotel, which is outdoors, and underneath what appears to be a freeway underpass.   I could see the taps of the outdoor bar with hundreds of people around surprisingly celebrating Cinco de Mayo.   More and more wasted twenty something’s roaming the streets with their sombreros and serapes.  It always cracks me up to see people in the early stages of getting buzzed with lots of smiling faces.

With one turn our cab took us into a quiet and quaint little neighborhood away from the raucousness and there we spotted a spotted pig hanging over a door of a quaint tavern.     And that’s what the Spotted Pig really is a quaint candlelit tavern in a building that dates back to 1836.

As we enter we were lucky to score the last table.  The tables are tiny with small stools to sit on.  The windows are filled with plants in old food tin cans.

It has charmingly rich colored cluttered walls filled with anything and everything that has to do with pigs.   On one of the walls is a chalkboard with all the scribbled specials.

Its a simple place that you truly feel at home.  There is no pretentiousness or attitude so one can truly enjoy a meal.

As we strained to read the menu against the candle on the table we were surprised to find simple dishes with some amazing ingredients.

We placed our order and shortly thereafter our small table was filled with the following dishes:

Grilled Octopus with Fennel & Pickled Onion

Thick cuts of octopus perfectly grilled and topped with the nice sweet crunch of sweet shaved fennel and followed by the always welcomed vinegary flavored pickled onion that helps to open up all the other flavors of a dish.

Sheep’s Ricotta Gnudi with Brown Butter & Sage

Gnudi is like gnocchi the Italian boiled potato dough.   This turned out to be their most popular dish and it was no surprise.  The sheep’s ricotta provides a deep rich flavor in a surprisingly light and airy package.  Topped with brown butter and sage takes one over the top.

Soft Boiled Araucana Egg with Sardine and Ramp Soldiers

Now this dish I had to have.  When I was younger we raised chickens.  And being a suburban chicken farmer (6 chickens in all) one always did research on other chickens.  The thought of getting colored eggs from a chicken always fascinated me.  Unfortunately you had to order at least 36 chicks.  So my dream was never realized.  Now in front of me stood a softly poached Araurana egg surrounded by delicately toasted small slices of bread and a mixture of sardines and ramps.  I delicately tapped the top of the egg to crack the shell and carefully removed the shell to see the glorious bright and rich yolk of the egg.  I took a piece of the toasted bread and spread some of the sardine mixture and then dipped it in the egg yolk.  It was spectacular.  There is something great about dipping bread into egg yolks.

Ramp Champ

Now this time of year in New York ramps can be found on many menus in New York.  Ramps are like green onions or scallions that grow wild on the east coast.  Their flavor is like an onion.  And champ is an Irish dish that is basically mashed potatoes.    In this case milk or cream is warmed up and ramps are added with butter.  The mixture is then poured over boiled potatoes and then mashed.  More butter is then added.  It is just the best comfort food.

To drink we had Spotted Pig Bitter which is a cask beer and defined as followed on the Spotted Pig’s website:

Cask-conditioned ale is the traditional beer of Britain. It is unfiltered and undergoes a secondary fermentation in the cask. When that fermentation is finished, the beer is left with a very light natural carbonation and a subtle depth of flavor. The yeasts, its job finished, drops to the bottom of the cask and leaves the beer clear. It is pulled up to the bar by a hand pump, just as it is in England’s Pubs. Cask ales are best enjoyed at a gently chilled cellar temperature. We hope you enjoy this handmade artisanal beer, brewed from the finest malt and hops.

The beer is smooth and mellow, which is great since it did not over power any of our selected dishes.

As our cab took us back through the craziness of the Meat Packing District the early buzzed happiness of the youth had now turned to serious contemplated looks of what had taken place that night.  New York the city of millions of stories.  As we drove off I kept on thinking on how I wished we had a place like this in Los Angeles.  This would be a place I’d happily go to on a weekly basis.   The dishes and the ambiance put us at ease and provided the stage for great simple food memories.  I love a place that makes you feel at home.   This will definitely be a place we’ll have to stop at each time we visit New York.

It’s 11:45 AM and we have a 12-noon reservation at Ko.  We scramble out of our Midtown Manhattan hotel and jump into a cab.

How could I let this happen?  This was one of the hardest reservations to get and I give myself only fifteen minutes to get there?

As usual we encounter crazy New York traffic crawling at 5 miles per hour with drivers tooting their horns.  I kindly ask the driver,  “Can you make it? “ He simply says, “I’ll do my best.”

The driver then turns into Nicholas Cage from Gone in 60 seconds and acted as if he was driving the 67 Fastback Mustang Eleanor.  It was quite a ride.  At one point we were helping to escort a siren blaring ambulance through traffic.

We arrive at the corner of 1^st Avenue and 10^th Street and jumped out of the taxi frantically looking for the restaurant. It’s hard to spot so we have to resort to looking for the address number on the storefronts.  I spot a small lucky peach on a very small smartly decorated door.
We rush in and find a true hole in the wall.  A plywood wall covered hole in the wall.  I could not believe how small it was and as stated in other articles it was a bar that only seated twelve people.  Ten lengthwise and two widthwise.

The location was actually the first of the Momofuku restaurants that housed the popular Noodle Bar.  As the popularity of the restaurant grew of course they needed more space and moved it to a larger location.

As our eyes begin to wander around the room the host/waiter patiently asks, “Did you bring the print out?”  I calmly go through my bag and produce what I consider to be Willy Wonka’s Golden ticket that confirms our reservation.

He escorts us to the first two seats at the bar and places in front of us a card that reads:

Lunch Menu $175

Lunch Pairing $95

The lunch pairing wasn’t just a wine pairing.  It included wine, sake, and beer.  If we didn’t want to do the pairing we could pick from a very extensive list from their bar menu.

Since we’re in New York and I didn’t have to drive we went with the pairing.

As we sat down we really started to look around the restaurant and started to really ponder the vibe of the restaurant and what they wanted to accomplish.

First, it’s all about the food.  There’s nothing fancy about Ko everything is minimalistic.   You’re sitting at a bar and staring at a kitchen and it’s the staff.  And if you’re really into food you’re really going to enjoy it.

Second, cooks rule.  When you read the Momofuku cookbook and the various articles about Ko you understand that David Chang felt like the cooks were getting the short end of the stick.  As the cook’s slaved away in the kitchen they would make a menial salary while the wait staff in front would make a killing through tips.  With Ko being so small and the cooks serving the food all the tips would go to them.

Third, the kitchen is not meant to produce massive quantities of food in short amounts of time.  But is meant to be a stage for the awesome preparation, plating, and presentation of dishes.

Behind the bar I saw the following:

A large convection oven filled with dishes set to a 150 degrees.

Two commercial stoves with griddles, burners, and a grill.

The cookware of choice is All-Clad with some skillets that appear to be cast iron.

There are many clear plastic containers filled with ingredients strategically placed around the kitchen in refrigerated drawers under the bar counter in compartments overhead that the chefs used small knives to fit into the container crevices to pull down.

Everything is tight and efficient in this small kitchen,

There are three chefs working behind the counter with what appeared to be an apprentice chef in the back room that peaked his head out ever so often to get instructions.  The chef’s would give empowering instructions and I’ll I could make out was:  “Just make it taste good and keep it simple.  Words to cook by…

The Chef working in front of us was Tyler Lyne from College Station, Texas.  He asked us, “Do you have any allergies we should know about?  We stated, “No.”  He responded, “Great.”

The Office at Ko

Even the restroom or what they affectionally refer to, as the Office is also all about food. It was probably the coolest little restroom I’ve ever been in. They have a bookshelf filled with all the real cookbooks.  Cookbooks written by the best chef’s in the world and of course I had to take a picture.  It must be a great place to read.

Now I would love to give you a blow-by-blow recount of exactly what we ate with pictures and mouth-watering descriptions but honestly #1 they don’t allow picture taking which I applaud and #2 I really wanted to enjoy the food and be in the moment.  I didn’t want to have a notepad next to me scribbling away about ingredients, taste, etc..  That would be insane since each dish was a fusion – yes I said it a fusion of ingredients.  Lots of Asian ingredients combined with the best local ingredients. Each dish was meticulously and thoughtfully planned and prepared and one could tell hours of preparation were invested.  To try to capture this would take numerous visits to Ko and on top of that the menu is always changing.  What ever is fresh and of the best quality finds it’s way to Ko so there is no set menu.   For our lunch they received a call the night before that there were fresh soft shell crab available.  It ended up being deep fried tempura style in a bento box.  It was awesome.   In all we had over 16 dishes.   I honestly lost count and the pairing didn’t help either as we had a new wine, beer, or sake with each dish which they generously poured.

Lunch took over 3 1/2 hours.  The one dish I had to jot down on my Iphone in my stupor was their signature dish Shaved Foie Gras Lychee and Pine Nut Brittle.  As we watched them prepare the dish an excitement started to build amongst the diners.  We all stopped talking and starting to really concentrate on what the cooks were preparing and the questions began.  What is that?

In a bowl they combined the following:

Canned Lychee – which has been drained and quartered.

Riesling Gelee – Combination of Riesling, gelatin sheets, and rice wine vinegar.  They basically make a gelatin, allow it to set and then scrape it out so that appears like shattered glass.

Pine Nut Brittle – combination of caramelized sugar, glucose, and isomalt.  Roasted pine nuts, unsalted butter, and kosher salt.  Spread out on a parchment paper covered baking sheet and allowed to cool.

On top of this they shaved their personally prepared frozen foie gras.  It is a decadent delight of rich buttery foie gras, sweet lychee, and crunchy pine nut brittle.  With each spoonful the foie gras delicately melts into your mouth with gentle layers of sweetness and saltiness followed by the ever-important crunch.

To say that we got our money’s worth is an understatement.  We had the freshest in season ingredients, prepared with extreme care and style, and plated in the most unique manner.  The food is cutting edge and is truly American since it brings together all the best ingredients America has to offer.

Every time I plan a trip to New York I have to try and go to some exclusive place to make the trip more of an experience and a definite time to remember. For the last 4 years I kept on hearing and reading about Momofuku. Great stories about Chef David Chang and the care and love he shows for each dish he prepares.

So what is Momofuku? It’s the name of his restaurant group, which is comprised of five restaurants:

noodle bar, ssäm bar, ko, milk bar & má pêche

Which one should I try to visit?

My trip is for only 4 days so the planning for a reservation had to be well planned out in advance.

The first four restaurants require no reservation, but I’m guessing there will be some waiting involved.

Ko is a restaurant that seats 12 and is basically a bar where the diners sit and face the kitchen.

After visiting the site and reading the FAQ section I realized that I would have to register to make a reservation on their online reservation system. Highly efficient I have to say.

Then I read further. Lunch is only served Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It is a 3-hour event. Dinner is served 7 days a week and takes 1 1/2 hours. Reservations for lunch can only be made 2 weeks in advance and dinner one week in advance.

So lunch sounded like it was the meal to hit at Ko and I would have more chances to get a reservation if I started 2 weeks in advance.

The reservation system opens every day at 10am Eastern. Since I live on the West Coast that’s 7am for me.

To prepare to get the reservation I registered on the site and set my alarm for 6:55 am the following morning.

My alarm goes off the next morning and I queue up the site. A countdown clock shows with the amount of minutes and seconds before the reservation system opens up. I felt like I was waiting for the stock market to open.

7am hits and a drop down appears. How many diners? The selection shows 1, 2 & 4.

I select 2 and the screen refreshes to show a grid of dates and times. I see X’s and checkmarks. The check marks are the available times. I only saw one check mark so I clicked on it. A pop up window appears saying sorry someone already snagged that time.

Yikes! This is going to be tough. But it made me really want to get a reservation.

I did this for the next couple of mornings to get ready because I really felt like I could not make a mistake or no food for me.

I then pulled out the calendar to figure out which day I could start to try and get a reservation. It turned out to be a Saturday.

That Saturday I was up really early cooking for a Baby Shower and the alarm on my Iphone goes off. I see the screen and I rush to the computer. Five minutes before the reservation opens up. No problem.

The site comes up. I log in and I’m ready to go.

The clock is ticking down and I continually hit the enter button.

7 AM hits and the screen refreshes.

The magic question appears. How many? I click two.

The grid appears. I click to the next screen to get the first available date two weeks away,

I see Friday, 12:00 PM – Check Mark.

I click it.

Yes! I don’t get the Sorry Pop Up.

Screen refreshes I start screaming yes this is going to happen.

But wait another clock appears showing 180 seconds and it starts ticking down.

What? All of a sudden I feel like McGruber. You have to be kidding me.

The screen states that I have to enter a credit card number to secure the reservation. If I fail to make the reservation my credit card will be charged $150. I have 24 hours before my reservation to cancel.

Credit card? Where’s my credit card? I start yelling. Of course I can’t find my wallet with my credit cards. Get me a credit card I yell.. I need a credit card. My wife is looking freaked out at me saying what’s your problem. I yell credit card! Where’s your credit card? “In my purse!” she yells. I dive into the purse and luckily I find the magic card.

I rush back to the computer and this only took me 45 seconds.

I quickly and nimbly type in the credit card information like I’m saving the world if I miskey just one digit.

I click submit and the screen refreshes.

The confirmation screen shows and I am informed my credit card has been accepted. An email confirmation is on its way.

I scramble to get my email up and there it is.

Willy Wonka’s magic ticket. The email says print this up and bring it with you.

Print button hit. Print out generated.

Next stop New York City and Momofuku’s Ko.

Now I need to go out and buy the cookbook so I can prepare for the feast.