We're going to the mean streets of K-Town.

[LAUGHTER]

DAVID: I got into this profession because there's

something honest about getting better every day.

Like, OK, my knife skills aren't very good here but, use

it every day.

And after a year or two you can start to see progression.

I spent time at the Mercer kitchen, worked at a variety

of little establishment in Tokyo.

Spent some time at Cafe Boulud under Andrew Carmellini.

There was a variety of things that led to me leaving.

I was having a hard time keeping up with the rest of

the crew at Cafe Boulud.

It sort of reminded me that I wasn't that great.

The cooks around me were all more talented.

And ultimately I would always look at Andrew Carmellini and

be like, I'm never going to be as good as him.

PETER: What's the awareness of Momofuku among the

Korean-American population here?

DAVID: Do you see me hanging out with

Korean Americans much?

SUE: They love you.

Every single day I have like 10 requests from a fucking

Korean newspaper--

the third largest Korean newspaper.

DAVID: I needed to challenge myself.

I thought opening a restaurant would be the ultimate test to

see if I could just do it.

And that was really the first goal.

Can I open it up?

Didn't really think about the food I was going to serve.

I knew I wanted to do a noodle bar, and that was

the extent of it.

This spot was the first restaurant.

This was the original noodle bar.

And now this is transformed to Momofuku Ko.

And we have Ssam Bar on 13th and Second, and Milk Bar.

And yeah, shit, just a lot.

We are on the corner of 32nd and 5th.

We're going to Mad for Chicken.

We're here with our good friend, Peter Meehan,

co-author of our cookbook.

And Sue Chan works at our office at Momofuku.

So that's it.

[MUSIC-- THE DIRTY FENCES]

SUE CHAN: Oh my god, what's this?

What the hell is that?

DAVID: Beer.

SUE: Oh my god.

DAVID: When I lived in Korea, you could get the mini liter,

or like the huge liter.

You just try to drink it as fast as possible.

PETER: Wow.

DAVID: That's just fucking great.

I feel like I'm in Korea.

This is so Korean it's insane.

I am the worst type of chef, I guess.

I don't like to go out to eat to fancy restaurant, or

restaurants in general.

Why did they give us the non-chicken menu?

I can't find any chicken.

Oh, there, on the front page.

I'm dumb.

PETER: Mad for wings, mad for drums, mad for combo.

DAVID: I think we go combo.

What I want to eat, personally, is straightforward

stuff, something that's assuming, and you can go to,

and there's no bullshit.

There's no pretense.

You're just going to eat.

Can we get a mad for combo?

Hot and spicy.

SUE: Notice his nice voice?

DAVID: Sue's leaving soon.

I don't know, Chinese food sort of hits the spot.

Or Asian food, or Korean Town.

I want to have a successful restaurant group.

I want our employees to do well.

I want them to have the creative freedom to express

themselves.

I want a lot of different things.

But I'm not necessarily too thrilled with the baggage that

comes with it.

We were open.

And we didn't get reviewed for eight months.

I was like, man, we must really

fucking suck, or something.

We did suck.

So it was terrible.

The food was fucking bad.

Because we were just learning how to run a restaurant.

I was trying to figure how to run a cash register.

PETER: The first time I went to Momofuku I

fucking hated it.

I went back later on when they got better.

I had heard they were getting better.

And I had a great meal, and then had three

or four great meals.

And then I wrote the review.

DAVID: And I was trying to figure out who this fucking

Peter Meehan dude was.

Because you always want to spot the critics.

PETER: I was eating at Momofuku every Saturday with

Mark Bittman, who was the guy I used to work for.

He had written about Dave.

And at some point he was like, I'm telling Dave who you are.

And I was like, OK, whatever.

You already gone on to such great heights of fame that I

know I could never sully your reputation

with my byline again.

And it was very awkward and fast, how you want if if

you're a restaurant reviewer.

DAVID: You guys ordered grits and pig tails.

And I think I might have been hungover.

PETER: Quite possibly.

DAVID: And that was it.

I was like, you're fucking Meehan?

I was like, you're the guy.

PETER: Then there was a point at which Dave was getting

bombarded with offers to do a cookbook

from agents and authors.

We were having dinner at Ssam Bar, actually with Mark

Bittman again.

And he was like, well you're not going to be

this popular forever.

So you better cash in quick, and do

this as soon as possible.

And Chang was like, well if people do it with me.

DAVID: I had no idea.

Everyone wanted to write a fucking book.

And I was just like, that's news to me.

PETER: You were less interested in doing a book of

recipes than in kind of getting the story down of the

wild and early years of Momofuku.

And I was more interested in the recipes, because I have to

pay for food at Momofuku.

So being able to make it home seemed

like it might be cheaper.

So I get a little bit.

You get a little bit.

In the end, no one's happy?

DAVID: Yeah, basically.

This is amazing.

Look how crispy this motherfucker is.

SUE: Smells good.

PETER: These fries are fucking wet bullshit.

But this is good chicken.

SUE: This is spicy.

Woo.

DAVID: Are you Asian, really?

SUE: Are we doing this?

DAVID: Can you handle it?

SUE: Fuck you.

Can Pete Meehan handle this?

DAVID: No, he's Irish.

[MUSIC-- THE DIRTY FENCES]

PETER: We're going to go down to Second Avenue.

SUE: Oh, Second and 13th, please.

Ssam Bar!

DAVID: Yeah, 13th Street and Second Avenue.

SUE: Yes, tell him to come.

DAVID: We're going to Ssam Bar.

SUE: Momofuku Ssam Bar.

DAVID: It's this overrated fucking restaurant.

[MUSIC-- THE DIRTY FENCES]

SUE: Dave, are you OK with cooking tonight, by the way?

DAVID: Yeah, that's not happening.

SUE: No?

JOSE: David Chang.

DAVID: He's the fucking man.

That is Chef Jose Andres.

He's the chef at Jaleo Zaytinya in Washington, DC.

He also has an award winning restaurant in Los Angeles

called the Bazaar at the SLS.

He's incredibly influential.