Go long on the hams and short on the ssams

Had my maiden voyage at Momofuku Ssam Bar, the 2nd restaurant from David Chang, one of the up and coming star chefs in New York City. It did not dissapoint and perhaps was one of the most enjoyable meals I have had this year. Flavorful food, interesting combinations, attentive service, great wine list and killer vibe. My old friend, Pete, from high school was in town so wanted to have a nice meal and show him what great food he has been missing in New York, while he has been eating deep-dish Pizza in the southside of Chicago.

Before we left we had a couple bottles of wine. Started off with the 2005 Monchhof "Slate" Spatlese which is a branded bottle estate Spatlese. There is a nice label that has a photo of a piece of slate on it. Kind of looks like Dagueneau's Silex. This is all Erdener Treppchen fruit and is in a great place now. Crystalline purity and nice sweet slatiness plus a wonderful dollop of botrytis that adds great energy to the midpalate. Acidity was phenomenal and much higher than I expected. Silky mouthfeel and wonderful precision. Then to conrast, and I mean contrast, we opened up a 1997 Puffeny Arbois. This had a soaring nose of grilled nuts, squash blossoms, wheat, pumpkin, salinity and minerals. Definetly a wonderful overtone of sherry-like maderization over all that veggie/brothy/nutty goodness. The palate had sharp acidity, a silky mouthfeel and wonderful chiseled precision and purity. Long finish and immense concentration. A wonderful wine with a beautiful balance between aged maderized flavors and fresh youtful vitality. What Arbois does best.

Now that we had a great apertif we arrived at Ssam bar ready to get our pork on. The title of this post is the sage advice of the one and only Dr. K who gave me this zen-like one line of advice as I texted him I was heading to Ssam bar. He was right.

Started off with the Caraquet Oysters w/kimchi consomme which were beautifully briny and spicy. They matched beautifully with the 2006 Monchhof Estate Riesling which matched great with all the food. Crisp, rich and pure it was the perfect complement to many of the rich flavors. Next up was the Santa Barbara Uni with tapioca, whipped tofu and scallions. This was one of the most memorable dishes of the night. Sweet, spicy, fishy, and brilliantly textured I could not get enough of this. Brillaint use of tapioca to add sweetness to balance out the creamy texture of the tofu and veggie crunch of the scallions. The uni was brilliant and perfectly subtly fishy. A great dish. We then moved onto the Eckerton Hill Tomato Salad with fried tofu, pickled shallot and opal basil. The tofu was perfectly crispy and served very warm which contrated brilliantly with the crisp purity of the cold tomatoes which were perfectly ripe. The basil was the perfect foil for the tomatoes and the shallots added a nice contrast of bitterness to the slight sweetness of the amazing heirlooms. We then moved onto the Benton's Smoky Mountain Country Ham which is sourced from Madisonville Tennessee. This was just wonderful smokey, salty goodness. It was served with slightly dressed baby arugula and a salty pesto sauce on the side. Brilliantly subtle dish with a nice salty kick. Great intro to the savory element of the meal. Next up was an amazing dish that scared my friend Pete by it's ominous title on the menu, Crispy Pig's Head Torchon with sucrine and spicy mustard. I assured Pete the pig would not be staring at him back on the plate, snout and all. He trusted me and it turned out to be the dish of the night. It is served with lettuce, that amazing yellow spicy mustard and this fruit which I presume is called sucrine. You put it all in a piec of lettuce and create a nice pan-asian/offal taco. The flavors and textures explode in your mouth and the finish never quits. Very filling but a thrilling tasting experience. I need more today for lunch! Finally up was the Pork Spare Ribs with tomatillos, yukon golds and mustard seeds. There also was a beautiful semi-sweet glaze on these spare ribs that reminded me of traditional Chinese spare ribs but all in all the flavor complexity was much superior to the classic chinese spare ribs. Tender and juicy and alarmingly easy to go down.