Don’t Mess with the Bull, Young Man. You’ll Get the Horns.

My friends Ellie and Jessica were visiting two weekends ago and wanted to eat some NYC finery, so I showed them a good time first at Tocqueville and then at Momofuku Ko.

The dinner at Tocqueville included sweet shrimps, creamy winter squash soups, succulent chickens, truffled grits, and so many desserts we had to leave whole scoops of ice cream behind. It’s one of my favourite restaurants in the city, and I thought the reasons why were pretty clear to my friends.

But the next night at Momofuku Ko, we were making smalltalk with our chef and mentioned that the girls were visiting from out of state. He asked where we’d been to eat, and when I mentioned Tocqueville, he scoffed. He said he’d never actually eaten there but implied that it was somehow beneath him. Not only was I offended for this restaurant that I love so much, but I was embarrassed that my friends would somehow think I’d led them astray and wasted one of their few NYC meals.

Well, I was vindicated this past weekend when a couple of my other friends went to 15 East, which is owned by the same couple who owns Tocqueville. And who was there eating alongside them? David Chang, owner of the Momofuku restaurants.