David Chang
David Chang
David Chang is an American restaurateur, author, and television personality. He is the founder of the Momofuku restaurant group, which includes Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku Ssäm Bar, Má Pêche, Milk Bar and Momofuku Ko in New York City, Momofuku Seiōbo in Sydney, Australia, the Momofuku Toronto restaurants Momofuku Noodle Bar, Nikai, Daishō and Shōtō, and Momofuku CCDC in Washington, DC. In 2009 Ko was awarded 2 Michelin stars, which it has retained each year since. Chang attended Georgetown Prep and...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionChef
Date of Birth5 August 1977
CityVienna, VA
CountryUnited States of America
If you come in and then get released two times, you have a higher chance of dying than if you come in once. If you come back three times and go back out, you have a much, much higher chance of dying.
I like eggs. My favorite way of cooking eggs is old school French.
There's the common misconception that restaurants make a lot of money. It's not true. If you look at maybe the top chef in the world, or at least monetarily, it's like Wolfgang Puck, but he makes as much money as an average crappy investment banker.
I learned so much more prepping vegetables than I ever did in cooking school.
I'm not trying to bring New York to Toronto. I want to understand Toronto better.
It's very humbling. There's so many great chefs out there. It's a huge honor.
'Tampopo's amazing. I think it's an absolutely fantastic movie, but I don't think it captures for me the meaning of food.
Before I had my own restaurant, I was never top dog in the kitchen. I've always had a low opinion of myself as a cook.
Everyone tries to compare cooks to rock stars. I see more comparisons to the fashion world.
Open your refrigerator, your freezer, your kitchen cupboards, and look at the labels on your food. You'll find 'natural flavor' or 'artificial flavor' in just about every list of ingredients. The similarities between these two broad categories are far more significant than the differences.
The one reason why I got into cooking was because I wasn't good at anything else - not that I was good at it, but it was considered honest work.
As a child, I didn't see my dad that much because he was always working at the restaurant. He became pretty jaded after working at the restaurant for so long.
I've never bribed my way into a restaurant. I've never slipped a C-note or greased a palm. In truth, I've never even considered it. I've assumed, of course, that people do such things.
I wanted to disprove the notion that you couldn't open a great restaurant in a casino.