Sometimes it all works out

Meredith is here!


(James is here too - but he lives here.) She's been in London at graduate school, so she hasn't appeared much on my blog lately. But this week she's visiting and through some dumb random luck, we ended up with a reservation for four for the Momofuku Fried Chicken dinner (Gwen and I went as well, see?).


Meredith and I have been to Momofuku before (read about it here!) and we liked it well enough. However, last year (just before Meredith went off to London), Momofuku started a fried chicken dinner, which is (in their words) two whole fried chickens, one southern style and one Korean style, mu shu pancakes, long spicy peppers, baby carrots, red ball radishes, shiso leaves, bibb lettuce, four sauces and an herb basket. It cost $100 for the whole thing (not per person) and usually reservations are made up to four weeks in advance (and only online - oy vey). I've been wanting to try it (Serious Eats rated it very highly and I trust them), and the gods must have intervened, because with a minimum of fuss, we ended up at a table (at 5:30pm, but one can't be too picky).

First, just to tempt us apparently, came a bowl of lettuce, carrots and radishes and four different sauces (a pickled jalapeno, a bimbimbap(?), some kind of scallion ginger and hosin sauce).


We eagerly awaited the chicken. And oh good lord, did it deliver.


Yeah, that's a lot of chicken. What? You don't think it's that much? Here it is from a different angle.


Yup, it's a freaking ton of chicken. And it's amazing. The southern style is unbelievably moist. I actually said out loud "how can the insides be so moist and the crust be so crusty?" (Yeah, for reals. Gwen laughed at me). We all dug into the chicken with crazy gusto.


Some people may have said it was the best fried chicken they have ever eaten. Others may have nodded in agreement. If you like Old Bay in fried chicken, this is the place for you (and if you don't, well then, more for me).

The Korean style was equally good. Hot but not overpowering, the flavors were clean and addictive. I had an excellent time making fried chicken tacos that reminded me of Peking Duck except twice as awesome.


The waitress kindly brought us a bowl for our chicken bones, which was practical and funny.


We tried to finish it, but to no avail. My stomach is still full as I type this hours later. However, Zack is reaping the benefits of our stuffed bellies, as he has leftovers in the fridge.


We squeezed in a bit of soft serve - Momofuku is famous for it.


Today's flavors were olive oil and pickled cherry - sounds disgusting but was very refreshing and a nice palate cleanser.

I highly recommend going! Get a reservation and maybe bring more people - or at least bring bigger people and less tiny girls (not that tiny girls don't love fried chicken). And don't eat too much before you go. You'll thank me later.