i have a theory that nishi is the momofuku restaurant that flies under the radar because people dismiss it as just another good-but-average italian american restaurant — and by “under the radar,” i don’t mean it doesn’t do well. nishi does very well; it’s certainly consistently packed. it’s not a restaurant you often find in momofuku discourse, though, except to talk about how rough the opening was. on the surface, i guess i kinda get it because, to be honest, it’s not that difficult to find good italian american fare … which might be my controversial restaurant take. like, i think bestia in LA is good but not worth the ridiculous queue. same with lilia in williamsburg — and i’m not even trying to go to misi anymore.
i do remember when nishi first opened. i remember the shit it got, how pete wells panned it, that momofuku had to do a major renovation of the space. which was criticized for being unbearably loud and uncomfortable. i actually ate at nishi within its first few months of opening, and i came at lunch pretty much when they opened, so maybe the noise issues weren’t apparent because i didn’t give a shit — i loved the food. we had the impossible burger, my first time eating an impossible burger actually, and it came on a sturdy but soft bun with a side of absolutely perfect fries, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, not too thick, not too thin, not salty, just perfect. we also had the ceci e pepe, made with hozon, not cheese, and black bean noodles, nishi’s take on jjajangmyeon. the ceci e pepe lives to this day, served with bucatini. the black bean noodles are, unfortunately, gone.
i go to nishi for dinner on my birthday, and i browse yelp when i’m looking at the menu because i wonder if the ceci e pepe is as i remember — hozon, not cheese. i scroll through the reviews and laugh as i see one that complains that the sauces at nishi are “strange.” i think, of course, they are. it’s momofuku. it’s nishi. why are people sleeping on nishi?
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sometimes, when i sit and think about it, it really annoys me that kawi is all the way out in dumb hudson yards and bar wayo is all the way out in dumb south street seaport. the fact that they’re both in spots of disgusting wealth is one thing, but they’re both so goddamn far and a pain in the ass to get to, and, yes, i will grumble about this forever, especially because i don’t want their dumb locations to put either at a disadvantage — and i’m afraid that they do.
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dave chang’s attempt to argue for mall dining doesn’t hold when the malls he’s putting his restaurants in are not your average american mall but these monstrous shopping centers, which, yes, by strict definition, are malls but are centers of so much disproportionate wealth. he spends a fair amount of time in the beginning of his podcast with sam kang — ko alum, exec chef of wayo — trying to make his argument that mall dining often goes ignored, which, yes, he’s not wrong. he’s just missing the point of the criticism he’s getting because it’s not about malls; it’s about the gross disparity of wealth. or at least that’s one of the criticisms i’m lobbing at him.
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i will also grumble forever about how fuku is also very inconveniently located. can we get a brooklyn location of fuku? but NOT in williamsburg?
this tangent about locations has been brought to you by nishi’s location in chelsea.
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chang apparently had more aggressively asian american ideas for nishi. he wanted to contest the racist idea that you could charge $25 for a plate of pasta but only $8 for a plate of noodles when a plate of pasta and a plate of noodles are actually kinda the same thing. the asian american influences were more obvious in the early iterations of the menu at nishi (which was also originally supposed to be another noodle bar up until the very last minute), but early diners didn’t get it, and the menu was given an overhaul.
and this is why i think people shouldn’t sleep on nishi — they may have pulled back the menu, dressed nishi up in the same style of clothes as all momofuku restaurants, but that also means the food is also still momofuku. the sauces are strange because they’re meant to come from a different flavor profile, and they’re meant to challenge racist notions of “authenticity” and what is permitted to asian american dining, although, okay, i admit that this is me projecting momofuku onto the exec chef (nick tamburo) at nishi. i can’t confess to know the inner workings of his mind — or how menus are developed in restaurants at the momofuku group. i do know, however, that there is a cohesion to the food across the momoverse and that there is intention behind that cohesion and that that intention is what makes the food so interesting and culturally influential.
because, here, case in point: on my birthday, i get two plates of pasta — the bucatini ceci e pepe and the tagliatelle with pork ragu. the bucatini is sturdy, perfectly cooked, in a creamy hozon sauce that you’d think was a cheese sauce with a twist. i am still not the biggest fan of pepper. enough time passes between my two plates of pasta that i’m fully hungry again, but the tagliatelle is hot and fresh, a generous portion of handmade noodles topped with a mountain of pork ragu.
i can’t pinpoint exactly what the ragu reminds me of, but it reminds me of some kind of chinese noodle dish, something about the garlic scapes and the spices. it’s subtle enough that i wonder if my taste buds are playing tricks on me, if i’m trying to find the twist in every dish, but i honest to god expected a traditional pork ragu. some might call this strange, but i find it comforting and stupidly delicious.
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a few months ago, nishi started hosting pizza night on sundays and mondays. i’ve been meaning to go, except it starts at 21:30 and i get sleepy by 21:00 and want to be in bed by 22:00.
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when i look into the kitchen at nishi, all the cooks are men.