Melora Koepke

New York’s master of pork buns visits Montreal to hawk cookbook, Banh mi

By the time I get to meet David Chang, the interview has been put off twice because of what a good time he’s having in Montreal. Chang, whose four Manhattan restaurants – Momofuku, Ssäm Bar, Milk Bar and the new-ish, two-Michelin-starred Ko – are within two blocks of each other in the East Village, is probably the most sought-after chef in America right now. With his friend and cookbook co-writer Peter Meehan, a New York Times critic, he booted up to Montreal for a semi-guerrilla press stop and kitchen demo hosted by Westmount’s Appetite for Books.

My time with Chang happens over a beer in Appetite for Books’ gleaming demo kitchen, dwarfed by a giant pile of banh mi sandwiches that are being eyed by the gathering crowd of foodies here for the book signing and demo. He apologizes for his delay: He had a late night, and has been eating and drinking with his friends, the triumvirate of Joe Beef/McKiernan’s/Liverpool House owners, for nigh-on 48 hours.

Chang is younger, and more tired looking, than you’d expect for a guy who has been nominated for several James Beard Awards, whose restaurants are among the most vaunted on the New York resto scene, and whose cookbook, the eponymousMomofuku, has been on the bestseller list since its release. Read article