As you know I am a David Chang and Momofuku groupie. How could I not be when he is a 30 year old chef nominated for his 3rd James Beard award? He's got talent and a kick-ass personality!
Steve and I are headed to NYC soon to celebrate our anniversary. As he has never been to one of Momofuku's establishments, and he loves the Momofuku cookbook, I thought it would be amazing to score a reservation because i know he is dying to eat at one of the restaurants. I am lucky enough to have dined at Momofuko's Noodle and Ssam Bar. The minute Steve told me we were going to NYC, I made a reservation to Ma Peche (but deep down inside my heart was set at dining at Chang's dining empire, Ko. )
Ko is like a semi-exlusive dining club that seats only 14 patrons. Seats are released seven days in advance through their webiste. The system begins accepting reservations at ten o'clock in the morning and without exception all seats are gone in matter of seconds. It is an egalitarian system, but actually getting a seat requires as much luck as winning the mega millions lottery. No joke!
This morning was my chance to log in and see what sort of luck will be on our side. Momofuku does mean lucky peach! As expected, someone beat me to my first time choice selected, and then to my second time choice selected, but my third time choice... BooYa!
We got in. I quickly plug in my payment info and the reservation is confirmed.
It was the most stressful dinner reservation I have ever made in my life, yet so rewarding when it worked. It reminded me of sitting in front of Facebook constantly hitting the refresh button to get rewarded a "same night" table at Next in Chicago for the childhood menu.
You have to understand, these are not your typical restaurants. These are the most popular eateries in the country; places my foodie friends drool over. Places where you spend more time scoring a reservation than picking out an anniversary gift. Is that me? I think so! Whether it's the chef's reputation or the mystique of exclusivity, these are the countries hardest eateries to score a seat. Some people try for months or years to get in. So I am grateful and feel very lucky to be able to celebrate my anniversary with Steve at Ko.
The only thing I am bummed out about, is that due to the size of the restaurant and respect to the other 12 diners, there is no photography allowed. Don't you worry, I will have a full report for you! Hopefully, the luck will continue and I will get to see Chang in action....fingers crossed!
