Omnivore - Interview with Momofuku’s David Chang
Besha chats with the chef about his new book, Soto, and the best thing about success.
David Chang is in the final stages of a book tour for his cookbook Momofuku, and last week he followed a book signing in Chapel Hill N.C. with a dinner at Lantern, one of Chapel Hill’s best restaurants. In this week’s feature, I talk about the dinner, the cookbook, and the phenomenon of Chang and his restaurants.
I spoke to Chang between the book signing and the dinner, sitting in the black-lacquered and red lanterned bar in the back of Lantern. I wasn’t able to get much of that interview into the feature, so I thought I’d post some of our conversation here. Also, look after the jump for the menu from the dinner at Lantern.
On how the dinner came about: chang_01
On the narrative element of the book (and where the hell I’m from):chang_02
On being a mediocre cook and making mistakes in the kitchen: chang_03
On Soto (Sotohiro Kosugi ): chang_04
On Soto’s reputation in Atlanta for being, um, difficult, and whether Chang’s story could have happened anywhere other than New York: chang_05
On the best thing about the huge success he’s achieved: chang_06