bedeviled mojo slop

There are only a few things you need to know if you want to eat at Momofuku Ko.

1. Reservations are made online. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. The system is free.
2. Reservations are for 1, 2, or 4 people.
3. Reservations are booked a week in advance.

Aside from that, if you get a reservation (once the reservation system opens at 10 AM, all the next week's reservations are gone within 20-40 seconds) , I think you'll enjoy yourself.

They've been open about 3 weeks now and although the menu hasn't changed too much since they opened (1, 2), it's still an interesting mix of dishes. Here is my Momofuku Ko photoset.

Another thing you should know about eating at Momofuku Ko is that you're there for the food. You're in a chef's kitchen. The chefs are busy preparing your food, so don't expect a lot of back-and-forth chit-chat. They're there to cook ... you're there to eat.

And ... the seats that they have around the kitchen are hard and have no back, so it'd be entirely uncomfortable for more than a 2 hour meal. Again, you're there for the food.

For me, the 7 PM reservation was ideal. By that time, the chefs are cooking away, and they're getting into their groove. Food is cooked, food is plated, food is served. Lather, rinse, repeat. It's great if you want to see how a kitchen operates.

There were a few chefs observing that evening. My guess is that they were in training. The most memorable quips from Chef Chang's #2 during my meal were, "This is not that hard. I'm not going to explain it again." and "Well, that's a service. You can hang out or you can head out. What do you think?" The chef observing whom that question was directed to decided to hang out. I think that was the smarter choice.

If it's your thing, they offer a wine pairing (though there were a couple of Sake pairings thrown into the mix). Their wine menu comes to you in a Moleskine Notebook. Honestly, if you're going to have a couple of glasses of wine, you might as well not even open up the notebook and hand it right back to the hostess, telling her, "I'll have the wine pairing." That's what I did.

Sit up straight, eat your food, go home happy. Such is Momofuku Ko.

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