He's a chef, a bad boy, and a TV star.
But first and foremost, David Chang is formidable cook.
His pork buns may have landed him on the culinary map, but underneath his edgy kitchen persona,
there's the real story of how he got to where he is today.
This is the truth about chef David Chang.
Famous for his bad-boy rep, it's easy to think that Chang dove into the kitchen head first.
But it turns out that his earlier life had very little to do with food.
He attended Trinity College in Connecticut where he majored in religion, not cooking.
And once he graduated, he moved to the world of finance.
Lucky for us, he found his desk job painfully boring, and he eventually made his way to
Japan to teach English.
There, his childhood love for food was re-ignited, and the rest is history.
Though his finance days are long gone, he says he's still interested in the spiritual
side of life.
He told Big Think,
"Religion is actually something that if I wasn't doing cooking I'd probably go to divinity
school or something like that.
Cause it's something that interests me a lot."
Once you've unraveled the mysteries of creating the perfect pork belly bun, deciphering the
secrets of the universe is the next logical step.
Though he loved noodles as a child, Chang lost touch with cooking during his teen years.
Then, while studying abroad in London, he encountered Wagamama.
Chang would slurp up bowls of their ramen regularly, conjuring memories of the restaurants
of his childhood, and further solidifying his love of what he calls…
"Just a kickass bowl of ramen."
Part of the reason Chang eventually moved to Japan to teach English was because of his
ramen obsession.
When he tried to learn to make noodles there and realized he had a backlog of cooking history
he needed to brush up on, it gave him the push he needed to consider culinary school.
Then when he finally opened his first restaurant, Momofuku Noodle Bar, it's no wonder than on
the menu, along with his now-storied pork buns, were steaming bowls of ramen.
Considering that a dismal 70 percent of all restaurants fail within 3 to 5 years of opening,
it's no surprise that Chang's financially-savvy father was less than enthusiastic about his
son attending culinary school.
"My dad immigrated to this country and he worked in the restaurant industry for 30 years,
so they have some serious opinions."
His father had initially wanted Chang to be a pro golfer, and he was already disappointed
that his son had traded in the golf clubs for a low-level teaching gig.
But throwing that away for a chance to work in a kitchen just seemed like too much.
"For a while when I was younger, opening restaurants, I would punch walls.
Or just destroy things."
Yet Chang proved himself.
After graduating from the French Culinary Institute in 2000, he started out as a line
cook at the posh Mercer Kitchen in New York City.
Then, he landed a gig at Tom Colicchio's Craft, answering phones before finally being allowed
in the kitchen.
He worked his way up, eventually going back to Japan for two years to learn more.
Chang showed his father that he was serious about making cooking his career.
And finally, along with some friends, his father gave Chang $130,000 in startup funds
so he could open Momofuku.
Chang's popularity exploded as soon as he opened the first iteration of Momofuku in
2004.
Since then, he's opened several restaurants across North America, helped open 16 Milk
Bar locations with partner Christina Tosi, as well as several bars.
But the most impressive feat has to be his building in Toronto, which over time has housed
several different Momofuku Group restaurants.
"It's better than it's ever been and I think that everybody's really proud of what we do."
When it first opened, the three-story building hosted different Momofuku restaurants on each
floor.
On the first floor was Noodle Bar, on the second floor the bar Nikai and the Milk Bar
bakery, and on the top floor were two restaurants the family-style Daisho and tasting menu-only
Shoto.
By 2018, Daisho and Shoto closed.
But the space didn't stay empty for long.
Kojin opened in June 2018 under the watch of executive chef Paula Navarrete.
Food delivery is everywhere these days.
How many apps do you have on your phone just for ordering food?
Disappointed with the traditional offerings on those apps, Chang became an investor in
Maple, an app which set forth to revolutionize the industry.
Instead of relying on couriers who would pick up food from existing restaurants, Maple would
have an in-house kitchen with a menu curated by famous chefs and arrive at your door in
30 minutes.
"I mean outside of pizza"
"No one's really spent time to make food for delivery"
Unfortunately, it was all too good to be true.
At the end of 2015, it was reported that the company was losing money, to the tune of $9
million.
Maple shut down in 2017.
Chang's second entry into the business, a delivery-only restaurant, was likewise unsuccessful.
Luckily, Chang still has many restaurants in his empire to keep him busy.
When Lucky Peach magazine released its first issue, foodies around the country were immediately
smitten.
There were the customary long-form scholarly articles, but done with a new bent.
Snark was abundant, creativity bursting from every page, and the documented food was obviously
phenomenal.
"We weren't really thinking about what other people wanted.
We…what would be funny and interesting to us"
But it wasn't a lack of financial success that caused the magazine to fold.
Instead, it came down to quote "creative differences" between Chang and collaborator Peter Meehan.
Meehan claimed that they had disparate visions for the magazine and its funding, and Chang
said that he planned on searching for new financial partners so that Lucky Peach could
still live on.
Though Lucky Peach has yet to resurface, it did manage to print four cookbooks in its
heyday, so if you're still mourning the closure of the magazine, you can at least hold on
to those hard copies.
It's no secret that David Chang's Netflix show, Ugly Delicious, has become a huge success.
"I just reached a point where I'm ok making really ugly food."
It was quickly met with critical acclaim and renewed for a second season, per The Hollywood
Reporter.
But even with its 100 percent Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score and critics hailing
it as a love letter to America's melting pot of food, it's not gone without its fair share
of criticism.
"I can't change their politics, but maybe I can by opening up their viewpoints to food."
Even when the show made efforts to address the issues of quote "racial politics" in the
food world, it's still received backlash for not doing a good enough job.
A writer for Reappropriate described Chang's attempts at addressing racial issues as quote
"ham-fisted" and "disappointingly un-nuanced."
The show's take on barbecue also caught flak for presenting an episode that ignored the
influence of Black Americans in barbecue culture.
"Only Americans say 'that's not barbecue.'"
The critiques didn't go unnoticed by Chang either.
He told Eater,
"I've read every criticism, whether it wasn't inclusive enough through African Americans
or through women, I just know that we had one season, and we did our best, and we had
no intention of trying to be exclusive."
"If there's anything you'd like to say to the people at home watching on Netflix, what
do you have to say to them?
Konnichiwa, b----es"
Chang is certainly a busy man and prior to rolling out the second season of Ugly Delicious,
he found the time to shoot a second show for Netflix — Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
"What have I gotten myself into?"
The show premiered in October 2019 with four episodes that feature Chang bouncing around
the globe and munching on you guessed it breakfast, lunch, or dinner with celeb pals including
Seth Rogen and Chrissy Teigen.
"We're doing a show called American Chubbz."
While the show does touch on the origins of certain foods, that's certainly not the goal
of the series.
Reviews of the show have compared it much more to a formulaic travel show with the allure
of the featured celebrity being a real selling point.
As for whether or not there will be a second season following the debut four episodes,
that's yet to be determined.
Delish reports that Chang is already working on a show with Teigen for Hulu called Family
Style.
And he also has yet to deliver on that promised second season of Ugly Delicious.
Either way, fans of the chef will have no shortage of streaming shows to binge.
David Chang has literally eaten around the world, and we trust his expertise when it
comes to food.
So we're totally on-board with his go-to diner order a patty melt, on rye, with American
cheese.
But it wouldn't be just any patty melt.
According to Chang, the best one in the world can only be enjoyed at Cassell's in Los Angeles.
Apparently, they have a special griddle that cooks the cheese to perfection, setting their
melt apart from all the rest and making it hard to replicate even in Chang's own restaurant
kitchens.
"Far back as I can remember, if you'd asked me, I would always tell you my favorite food
was a cheeseburger, so what better pursuit than making the best cheeseburger?"
Chang loves them so much that he voted for Cassell's on his ballot for The World's 50
Best Restaurants, and he's even considered adding their melts to the menu of one of his
restaurants.
He insisted, via Eater,
"It's just one of the best g-----n things you could eat anywhere."
…We're not the only ones suddenly craving a patty melt now, right?
With their similar no-cares-given attitude and reputation for general culinary bad boy
living, it's no surprise that Chang and Anthony Bourdain were close.
So close, in fact, that Chang called the late Bourdain "Uncle Tony."
Bourdain acted as a mentor to Chang, especially once Chang started to enter the world of food
TV.
"Come on it's delicious.”
“It is delicious"
David said via Eater,
"Tony is one of the most amazing, magnificent human beings ever.
People always ask, 'Is he as awesome as I think that he is?'
I'm like, 'Yes, and still way more awesome than you could believe.'"
Understandably, Chang was devastated by Bourdain's death in June 2018.
But rather than keep silent, he was inspired to speak out about his own battles with depression.
On an episode of his podcast, The Dave Chang Show, he talked about his own struggles, and
how he never thought he would make it past 30.
He hopes that by being open about his own mental health battles, it will help reduce
the stigma surrounding depression so those who need it most can get help.
Chang continues to hold Uncle Tony close to his heart.
"In many ways he's been my mentor and my North Star, 'cause he trailblazed a path that would
not be available to me otherwise."
Chang went on to add, quote, "I am in great debt to him.
I miss him so much."
"Life is too short to be mediocre at something."
Considering just how many restaurants Chang currently has in his fleet, one would assume
that he loves the restaurant business.
But as he told GQ, that quote "love" might be an overstatement.
Chang recalled one of his earliest disappointments with the industry, when a restaurant he was
working in at the time was waiting for its first review.
The manager had told Chang that the most important thing was the service, followed by the room
décor.
The actual food was a distant third.
But Chang's view was,
"That's ridiculous.
The food should be first, always."
Chang revealed that when he first started out, he received push-back from the industry
about the lack of décor in his restaurants, and even with his success today, he doesn't
always enjoy being a restaurateur [res-tehr-ah-TUHR].
He said,
"What I don't enjoy is that there is no room to fail anymore.
And not being able to grow from that failure feels so restrictive."
As far as the business model itself, Chang believes that food is being priced too cheap
and because of that, those in the industry are being pushed out to earn a higher wage.
Rising rents and labor laws only compound the pressure.
He said,
"The longer chefs look at restaurant math, the less it adds up for them."
They say never trust a skinny chef, but we'd be even more wary of one that didn't seem
to love the food they're selling.
But Chang definitely puts his money where his mouth is.
In 2017, Chang married his girlfriend, Grace.
They eloped, but nevertheless Christina Tosi, the mastermind behind Milk Bar, managed to
find out where the couple was headed and sent them a wedding cake.
It was Milk Bar's famous chocolate chip passion fruit cake.
A combination of fluffy chocolate chip cake, chocolate crumbs, passion fruit curd, and
clouds of coffee frosting, it's a dessert that at first sounds a little strange.
"I tasted it and I was like who the hell would make something like this?"
One bite, though, and you're sure to be a convert.
Tosi herself is a huge fan of this particular Milk Bar sweet.
And Chang says it's because of her that he loves it, too.
He told Eater,
"Christina has forced me to also love it, because she's like, 'This is David's favorite
cake.'"
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