2009 3 月 - VANTAN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM

The Momofuku Empire

I first experienced Momofuku as a senior in college when my roommate and I decided to skip Cancun and spend our spring break trying all the ramen restaurants in the City. One of our first stops was Momofuku Noodle Bar on First Avenue between 10th and 11th Streets. I won’t lie. I didn’t like it. I found the broth too salty and couldn’t finish it.

About two years later, I tried Momofuku Ssam Bar (Second Avenue on the corner of 13th Street and Second Avenue) and enjoyed it much more. In November 2008 (just a few months after I left the City), Momofuku owner David Chang expanded the Ssam Bar to include the Bakery and Milk Bar. Again, I won’t lie. I love this place. One side serves Momofuku’s delicious pork buns, and another side has dessert and amazing soft serve with flavors like marshmallow cereal milk. I opted for plain cereal milk with banana crunch topping. It tasted just like the high-sugar cereal breakfasts I ate as a kid: pure bliss.

I also spent a lot of my trip listening to people exalt about the Momofuku empire’s newest addition, Ko (First Avenue between 10th and 11th Streets). Mind you, none of these people had ever eaten at Ko. Getting a reservation there seems to require divine intervention. However, after reading Frank Bruni’s, New York Times food critic, review, I can understand the interest. (Click here for the review: http://events.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/dining/reviews/07rest.html). I am certainly interested myself.

Catching Up with New York City

I had the chance to catch up with my old stomping ground, New York City, about a week ago. New York City is one of those places that means something different to everyone, and, for me, it means food. Not surprisingly, I spent a majority of my time checking out anything food related. What follows are a few highlights.

Farmers Markets Still Green

Wall Street may be out of green, but the farmers markets remains strong. I stopped by two of my favorite:.

Located on the corner of E 7th Street and Avenue A in the East Village, the Tompkin Square Farmers Market is open Sundays 8am to 6pm year-round. I enjoyed a cup of hot cider while checking out the scrumptious selection of apples.

In the meantime, my friend found a stylish pooch, tied up on the other side of the Tompkin Square Dog Park. The park looked very different than I remembered. For one thing, there is a new high-tech playground on the south west side. More surprisingly, there were no dogs in sight! As a dog lover, I always enjoyed walking through the park on a Sunday and watching the dogs running around. Now, the only dog run seems to be on the north east side. What happened?

Having no answer to that question, I returned my focus to farmers markets and, later in the week, visited the famous Union Square Farmers Market. This market circles the square and is open Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 8am to 6pm. Here you can find everything from biodynamic jam to t-shirts with images of Audrey Hepburn in animated geisha style. I have actually bought both of these items in the past. The jam was yummy, and the t-shirt, needless to say, was a big hit.