This is the second post in the New York Thanksgiving series. Other posts in this series include Momofuku Ssam Bar.
It's a well known fact that it's really hard to get into David Chang's restaurants. Securing a reservation at Ko involves setting up a special online account on the restaurant's website and then logging in exactly 10 days before the date you want to reserve precisely at 10AM. The reservations are gone within seconds.
Similarly, you can't make a reservation at Momofuku Ssam unless if you are a big party eating a Bo Ssam. If you don't arrive early, expect to wait in long line before getting a seat.
The last time I was at the Milk Bar, I almost missed our taxi to the airport due to the long line of people waiting to buy cookies and soft serve.
Yet interestingly, David Chang's newest restaurant in Midtown, Ma Peche, is never full. Some say that the Midtown location just doesn't attract as many diners. Others blame the weird ambiance - those cold, high celings and weird pink lighting doesn't make for a cozy environment in which to eat. And then others say that the food is just not as good as the other two places.
Despite all these reasons, Bryan and I decided we still needed to complete our "tour" of David Chang restaurants. This was the only one left in New York that Bryan had not visited yet (I still haven't visited Noodle Bar, but Bryan's been there before).
Around 6PM on our last night in New York, we showed up at Ma Peche - luggage and all - for dinner before catching a taxi to the airport.
Inpired by the childhood favorite combination of apples, celery, and peanut butter (something I never ate as a child but something Bryan always ate), our next course was the Apple Salad, which consisted of fresh apple and celery shavings tossed together in a sweet peanut butter and celery root dressing. Crispy rice on top provided a textural crunch to the salad.
I personally thought the salad was too sweet, but Bryan really liked the combination. Perhaps it made him reminiscent about his childhood?
After falling head over heels for the rice cakes at Momofuku Ssam, we were anxious to try the Spicy Roasted Rice Cakes, which came with pork sausage "ragu", water spinach, and tofu. These rice cakes were overall less crispy than the ones from Ssam Bar. They were inconsistent. Some were crispy while others were not. Though the flavors of the dish were perfectly serviceable, the execution was clearly subpar compared to the ones at Ssam Bar.
Despite our disappointment with that dish, the next dish totally made up for it. We ordered the Fried Chicken ($48), an entire chicken deep fried and served with habanero, coriander, and black pepper.
We asked if we could order a smaller portion. Unfortunately, it's all or nothing.
We convinced ourselves we could take any leftovers on the plane back to Boston, since we were leaving that night.
So we ordered a whole chicken.
It was huge.
But it was so worth it. The chicken was fantastic.
"This is the best fried chicken I've ever had in my life. I like this better than the one at Ad Hoc," Bryan declared.
The chicken was delightfully crispy and had a really nice deep, smoky habanero pepper flavor.
It was definitely quite spicy though definitely tolerable. Bryan was sweating by the end of the meal. It tasted especially good with a squeeze of lime.
Before we left, we enjoyed a nice pot of China Green Tea from the Rare Tea Company ($5).
For the second time at a David Chang restaurant, I found myself scooping up the last bits of mousse with my spoon. I was this close to licking the bowl clean.
All of a sudden, Bryan rushed inside the Milk Bar.
We rushed out of there and made our flight in time.
We got home at midnight, exhausted.
I'm happy to report that we happily ate the leftover fried chicken the next day for lunch. After a brief reheating in the toaster oven, it still tasted just as phenomenal the next day.
And dessert?
Corn cookies, but of course.
Ma Peche
Chambers Hotel
15 W 56th St,
New York, NY 10019
All Rights Reserved
[…] The food was excellent. Kudos to Chef Patrick Campbell (No. 9 Park, Eastern Standard), who has put together an impressive menu that is consistently executed well. The food was so good, in fact, that I invited Bryan to come back with me the following week. We ate at the bar the second time, enjoying yet another great meal (detailed mostly via a series of Instagram photos). Bryan went so far as to say that the fried chicken at the bar is the best one he’s ever had in Boston, almost rivaling his favorite fried chicken in the world. […]