Restaurants: Momofuku Ssam Bar

Dara writes:

I love it when most people leave New York City and I can pretend I have it all to myself. Such is the occasion on the Friday of Christmas weekend--especially when the rain pours.

James and I took the opportunity to revisit the more casual restaurant of David Chang, he of Momofuku Noodle Bar, which critics worship. You might remember that I was negative on the Ssam Bar here. In fact, I have changed my mind; the workings of the Bar have changed.

When I first went to the Bar a few months ago, I ordered a Ssam (a Korean burrito), and while I liked some of the ingredients--the pickles, cole slaw, and spicy sauce--the next day I felt a bit less happy to have ordered it. Now the process has been deconstructed, so that when you go up to the counter and place your order, you can pretend you are at Subway and really make your meal as you go.

Now I get the rice bowl instead of the Ssam. The rice bowl is just rice and you add a protein. I always go for the Berkshire pork because it is tender, high-quality, and delicious. Then, because I can order as I go, I avoid beans, edamame, and others bits that don't agree with me. I pile cole slaw, ginger-scallion sauce, and portobello pieces on the rice and am satisfied. Also: as far as I am concerned, David Chang makes the best pickles in the city. Tonight I let James eat some of my bowl but absolutely insisted he not touch the pickles.

In case you were surprised up there by the word counter: yes, this restaurant is cafeteria style. You stride in past the burnished wood bar on one wall and the roomy wood communal tables along the other wall. You pass the big picture of John McEnroe and place your order at the counter. You pay and then, since every time I have been I have shared the restaurant with only a few others, you take a whole "communal" table to yourself. I once met a fellow teacher here to plan a week of lessons and the space and quiet proved essential to the success of our meeting. Not that it's completely quiet: the Rolling Stones invariably mix with hip-hop and rock on the playlist. And by the way, the restaurant does get busy, and on weekends stays open until 2:30am--at which point table service gets the job done.

Letter: Ramesh Ponnuru

To the blogger:

re: 'How the Right Went Wrong'

In your profile of Jeffrey Hart you write, “Hart’s young colleagues at National Review have been equally unsympathetic: ‘In every generation,’ wrote Jonah Goldberg and Ramesh Ponnuru in the magazine, ‘some conservatives will lose the intramural debates, and it will be only natural for them to feel that they have lost them unfairly. They will maintain that they alone have stayed true to the faith. Liberals will, in turn, be delighted to tout these scolds as exemplars of a good conservatism.’”

Thanks for quoting us. But I should point out that the comment was not directed at Hart, whose name did not appear in our article. Hart, in his letter responding to your profile, says that we have listed him “among the conservatives who have lost the ‘intramural’ argument about what conservatism in fact is.” That’s not true. Still less have we “maintain[ed],” as Hart has it, that “Bush now defines conservatism, and that to deny this is to lose the ‘intramural’ argument.” The article said nothing that could fairly be so construed, and neither Goldberg nor I have said anything similar elsewhere.

Best,

Ramesh Ponnuru

Restaurants: Yama

Dara writes:

On the way to our apartment near Gramercy Park in Manhattan after a long day of running pre-Christmas errands and fighting the midtown tourist crowds, James and I stopped in Yama, the venerable sushi restaurant on Irving Place.

Since we arrived before 6pm, we were seated immediately at a comfy corner table. Our server attended us lovingly and our sushi and sake arrived very quickly. We ordered inventive and huge rolls: salmon with chives and spicy mayonnaise; tuna and yellowtail with avocado; and the "crispy shrimpy," which is tuna with shrimp and little tempura flakes tucked inside. Each roll looked delectable and the fish broadcasted its freshness. The fish was tender, buttery, and clean tasting. Perhaps the rolls do play to Americans' focus on size. Nevermind.

While I love the sushi joint closer to our apartment, and I attest it is better than average, Yama was in a different class and reminded me of how important texture is in raw fish. It occurs to me the East 40s in Manhattan is a bit of a Little Tokyo, and I intend to try some of those places soon.