Daily Blender Exclusive: Chef David Chang

Strolling into a West Seattle restaurant on a dreary November afternoon, chef David Chang enters nearly unnoticed. Showered with national food awards, the New York chef seems to have his feet planted firmly on the rainy Northwest ground – without entourage, without fanfare.

“I don’t know,” he confesses with ardor.

As we take our seats, Chang still seems anxious in the opening moments of silence, until questions begin from the crowd. With Spring Hill owner/chef Mark Fuller observing from the sidelines, curiosities are tossed at the guest chef left and right, ranging from employee count (nearly 300) to menu adaptation. He talks proudly of his kitchen’s integrity and evolution.

“There is always a way to make something better,” he offers. “When people leave, I want them to think, ‘Good lord, what the f*ck just happened?’ If we’re just meeting expectations, we’re failing.”

Off to a rocky start in San Francisco, Chang’s book tour for the newly released Momofuku cookbook will take him across the country. Penned by New York Times writer Peter Meehan, the cookbook recipes are arranged by restaurant – Momofuku Noodle Bar, Ssäm Bar, and Ko – the three locations in operation during publication. (Chang later opened Milk Bar.) Chapters begin with a bit about each location’s development and the chef’s candid thoughts on everything from finances to staffing.

Unsurprisingly, he’s also straightforward about health issues that plagued him during the building of his second restaurant, Ssäm Bar. With stress at an all-time high for the award winner, his health took a dive, and he retreated across the Canadian border for a week. Diagnosed with shingles, Chang was out of commission for months during the development of his third location, Ko.

When a fellow media attendee inquires as to whether he still makes an appearance on the line, the chef explains, with a distinct note of sadness, that he’s rarely in the kitchen these days.

“I don’t cook in the restaurants anymore,” he says, looking briefly out the window, “I don’t know how to cook and let service not affect my health.”

One of the best things about being a line cook is that you know when you’ve had a good day – you do your mise en place, you have a great service, catch a few beers with the crew afterwards. In not cooking, it’s hard to know when you really have a good day.

Q: What really inspired you to become a chef?
A: I wanted to do something that was honest, something that I enjoyed. Cooking at that time, back in ’99, was always something that I wanted to do. I didn’t know if it was the perfect answer, but it was something I wanted to take as far as possible.

Q: What’s really surprised you about running a restaurant?
A: It’s so f*cking hard. It’s so much harder than you would ever think.

Q: Who are the chefs you admire?
A: Wylie [Dufresne]. Ferran Adria – El Bulli is all that and then some. Pascal Barbot. Jeremy Fox.

Q: What’s your method when you’re developing a new dish? Are there any guidelines you follow?
A: It has to have technique, it has to be delicious, and it has to be smart. It can’t be a solo effort – it always has to go through the team.

Q: I know that many chefs have difficulty balancing their personal and professional lives. Are there plans for settling down and having a family?
A: Certainly. It is certainly a strain, and certainly a goal, and I don’t know how to balance it out. I’ll find a way, but I don’t know exactly when. Most of my friends are married or with child or on their second child, so it makes it strange that I’m not there yet. Do I want a family? Do I want all that? Yes. But I want to make sure I have certain things settled before that happens.

Q: What can you tell us about your new restaurant, Má Pêche?
A: The chef there will be Chef Tien Ho, and I’ll just be a guy in the background. This one is our biggest projects to date, so I’m trying not to freak out. All of our restaurants are tiny – this one is literally…big. It’s going to open in stages.

Q: Will it have the same sort of reservation system as Ko?
A: (laugh) I don’t know. We’re just going to let it ride and see what happens.

~Jennifer Heigl

*Photo credit: Jennifer Heigl / Daily Blender