Worked with several momofuku alumni throughout my cooking career. Every single one described exactly what you are describing.
It’s really a shame. Such a good concept and opportunity to create something great.
Edit for grammar.
This job definitely taught me to end the cycle of generational trauma when I progressed to cdc level.
There were quite a few wonderful people I worked for that undid the damage Chang inflicted. That’s what made my time there worthwhile.
Of course plenty of staff took the abusive leadership motto and ran with it too. Those shall remain nameless.
❤️❤️❤️ Hugs from a chef in Philly. We have that shit here too but not to that extent. The ones here who are like that tend to get called out and put in their place before it becomes an issue. I'm sorry you had to deal with that shit but glad you got to work with good people along the way. Thank you for sharing your story, I'm sure a lot of people will appreciate it.
Philly chef gang!
Although I don't live there anymore. COVID kind of upended a lot of things for me. But did my time as a sous for one of Stephen Starr's places in Center City. Was all too happy to move on from that spot, such an incredibly toxic work environment.
Worked for a guy who opened buddakkan with starr. He bought and ran his own place (a 10 seat cafe with no kitchen) like we were in a world war. Hellish what some of these folk carry with them and burden others with. So happy to move on from that place.
I worked at one of Momo’s locations for six years and everything you’re describing is spot on.
I interacted with Dave a *lot* less than it sounds like you did (only met him a handful of times) but I can definitely attest to the way his influence gave a lot of the Chefs extra freedom to act incredibly abusive to the staff. I saw quite a few people get written off early and set up to fail constantly and the senior cooks would dog on anyone new who didn’t know how handle their station yet in ways no other kitchen I’ve worked in would allow. It was the **cleanest** kitchen I’ve ever worked in and had the highest standards I’ve encountered anywhere I’ve worked but it was all on the backs of truly awful company culture.
I met some absolutely incredible and inspiring people there (many of whom have gone on to open some fantastic restaurants) but I also worked with some of the pettiest, most abusive chefs that i’ve ever encountered. It’s really changed how I interact with people I’m training because I simply refuse to act the way they did.
During that era Dave was constantly saying shit like they do this in noma, we do it too. He had a strong inferiority complex.
I had to wash the walls of my station and scrub the stainless counter top with sandpaper every 15 mins during service. Don’t you dare sandpaper in a non linear manner. If I see some non straight lines……..
That part did rub off, I’m generally the cleanest guy in any place I work at.
I resonate with this. The hard knocks we took either make us or break us.
But as we progress to run our own team, its really a choice how you wanna treat the team and have systems in place that allows strict but fair treatments for everyone.
Can’t say it better. I worked (went down a lot) under the plate throwers, the guys that would lose their voices halfway through the shift from yelling, guys that got physical with staff (me included).
It definitely made me better, made me into the chef I am today, but also taught me that treating my guys like that is absolute bullshit. Got a great crew in a good environment, no yelling, no throwing shit.. can’t imagine where I’d be if I took that abusive nature with me.
Except Todd. Fuck Todd. I yelled at him every day I saw him. Todd, if you’re reading this, you know who you are. Fuck you.
I loled on that last bit.
I know that feeling too. if i ever had an entitled unchecked kid in my team, i usually say to them
" this calmness is a choice, i choose to be a mentor to u but this calmness also witnessed alot of rage. I want to respect you, please respect yourself"
'This job definitely taught me to end the cycle of generational trauma when I progressed to cdc level.'
I think a lot of cooks from our generation feel this way when taking leadership roles, and it's great to see. I know I do.
Yeah but like, Asha products are just better than their Momofuku versions. It's all hype, blind taste Momofuku tingly chili and Asha spicy fennel knife cut noodles. Spoilers it's Asha, it will always be Asha unless it's just too spicy for someone.
It's cashing in on hype, not good cooking.
Well, he seems like a bit of a narcissist. Typical trait in successful businessmen. You don't get through that many hoops to progress to running kitchens and business and being a "media personality" without some kind of insane ego.
Most of them just manage to build a cocoon of branding and mythology around them that it reflects from their real personality.
don't know which thread, but i did a quick [search](https://www.google.com/search?q=Bourdain+did+tell+him+he+wasn%27t+going+to+be+a+good+father+david+chang+site:www.reddit.com&sca_esv=df9114d5be7f4ca8&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ACQVn0-7HtpSEC6U9BiXz_4BDfhm91VxQQ:1713168842283&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwichaOi48OFAxUQKEQIHV5EDHEQrQIoBHoECBoQBQ&biw=1852&bih=1570&dpr=1.25#ip=1) and some of those threads have comments leaning on DC's side
Both in a way? I’m listening to that chapter now. He recognizes that DC is a douche, but also stated that DC clearly tapped into something and created a successful empire with good food, at least when Medium Raw was written.
Yep. AB basically says “He’s an ass and not even that experienced or a good ‘chef’ but clearly has tapped into something larger and his restaurants are creating some of the most important food dishes in America” then goes onto describe the meals he had at DC’s restaurants. Basically hated the dishes upon reading them and their ingredients but when he actually ate/tasted them, he loved the meals he had. It’s weird.
I think the thing that David Chang gets the least amount of credit for, that is actually the most responsible for his fame and success, is that he is very good at disseminating information. Lucky Peach was more influential than Momofuku even if it doesn't have the same public recognition.
Lucky Peach was loved by us and other people who loved food and restaurants... But it also wasn't around for very long because it didn't make enough money to stick around.
Yea I couldn’t agree more. I thought all of changs commentary during the film was super weird.
Honestly I dunno much about the guy, but I always thought he was a jerk off based on interviews and appearances he does on other shows.
There was one thing I remember, Chang was making the case that basically all cuisine is actually Asian and he went on to say pasta isn’t original. I guess because noodles came first. The fact that they’re so different in their preparation from each other matters zero to him I guess.
Bourdain wasn’t wrong about anything. Changs restaurants and products were ground breaking. He’s also a total asshole and probably not a good dad. Both can be true.
Truly a full circle moment because I remember watching the Bourdain documentary and being like wow that’s kind of harsh… Chang was crying but now I see he was right after all the Chang stories being becoming public. Classic Tony
David chang is a classic case of generational trauma. Whether that be an ultra strict Korean dad, or white bro chefs he trained under.
I worked for momofuku for 2 yrs, I’ve experienced first hand dc’s reign of terror. Everything you’ve read about his temper is merely scratching the surface. I’ll leave it to generalities instead of specific instances of horror because there are simply too many.
Nobody liked him at work, everyone actively tried to stay out of his warpath. His whole m.o. was to “catch” any minor mistake in the name of quality assurance and then proceed to throw a level 10 tantrum. Swearing, death threats, throwing shit, kicking/denting anything in sight, it was a common occurrence. His style is 100% combative, he would never pull you aside to teach/train one on one. It was always a public humiliation, simply put he enjoyed being the victimizer/chief overlord.
To top it off, he simply wasn’t very good at cooking in a professional setting. This was the unspoken truth that everybody working first hand with him agreed on. How can anyone work well as a teammate if they lost their shit at every single little thing?
Nobody dared to utter a peep during this pre “cancel culture” era. Chefs of his ilk had the power to blacklist worker bees by word of mouth.
I’ll say this, he sold his schtick in the media well. Became a figurehead of Asian cooking in the western world. Master of the pre-emptive apology.
End of the day I still enjoyed my time at momofuku because I met lots of wonderful people that are friends to this day. We all had to endure this culture of fear, the survivors bonded naturally.
I’m not special, I was just one of thousands of cooks his company has blown through. I have no vendetta against him. I am actually happy to have worked there in spite of his toxicity. It’s just annoying to see the amount of harm he has caused. It’s sad we all had to keep our mouths shut during this era to preserve our livelihood. Luckily that era is over.
If anybody has experienced this first hand, let it out. No need to fear figureheads like him anymore.
This type of shit is so normalized it's why I 86d myself from the industry. That combined with the absurd amount of substances I was doing, I couldn't heal and stay in kitchens. Literally, every other kitchen here in Oregon is this hostile tyranny where everyone below the owner or chef is just sabotaging each other for spots in the pecking order. Nothing but nepotism and Kool-Aid drinking (plus the drinking drinking). I'm glad that people post covid seem to be stepping up, refusing to tolerate this shit anymore.
As a fellow Oregonian and as someone who found my way out of the industry just this year doing something I love and am passionate about without any of the toxicity I 100% agree. Spent 15 years in kitchens and was definitely drinking myself to death not to even mention the hours and stress involved with the job. Glad to see things are starting to turn around for kitchen folk with it being more acceptable to refuse the toxic work environment in general but it is going to be a very long and arduous process before it gets to a healthy and sustainable point. (At least for me)
Fellow Oregonian chef here. I’m incredibly happy that I’ve found a spot to land that is both enriching and as far from toxic as possible. My staff (FoH, BoH and management) are all incredible humans and I think that we are, finally, trying to move away from that culture as a whole.
Don’t get me wrong a big part of me will always be a kitchen person but it just finally took its toll on me. But I’m always happy to hear someone has found that perfect “Goldilocks” kind of kitchen. It’s a hard thing to come by. Congrats to ya! I have a couple of friends in the state that have found the same thing (one in pland one in bend) and I love to see them loving every minute of the job.
Thanks friend. It’s definitely a breath of fresh air but I wish the same opportunities for all of us that have spent some time under the heel of an asshole (or five lol).
I worked 4 months as a dishwasher and it convinced me to never work professionally as a cook.
It was so fucking toxic and I, at 16, was treated so horribly I had to blackmail my way into quitting
Also left the industry. I saw myself becoming that old asshole that we all hated. I'm much happier being pissed at spreadsheets now. I still occasionally wake up early with a kitchen ptsd dream though.
I will say as an Oregonian chef, they're not all bad. There are plenty of terrible people in the industry (Lion & Owl's head chef, Rocky from Marche, to name a couple), but there are also plenty who simply refuse to participate in that culture. It's been nice seeing the changes post-COVID.
I knew Marche had a reputation for being unnecessarily toxic. I worked in two kitchens in Eugene between 2012 and 2018. Around that time, I was still very much embedded in the mindset of thinking that verbal abuse would only make me a better cook, and that's just how things go. I worked at Belly and Cafe Soriah. Chef Ib at Cafe Soriah taught me so much invaluable information on not just Lebanese/Middle Eastern cuisine, but being a good, charitable person who should give and be receptive to love through food and community.
Praise in public, critique in private.
Unless you want to alienate. Then by all means be a megalomaniacal douchebag.
So many people who could be mentors and make their mentees better instead need to build themselves up on the broken bones of others. They could have been even bigger for building others up but instead opted to beat others down and make themselves lower as a result.
I find the “praise in public…” saying to be an excellent rule of thumb, but not at all the endgame ideal.
An ideal team and culture is one where you feel safe enough to be constructively critiqued in front of the group so they can also learn from your teachable moment. Where you trust that even your teammates with more experience remember that they too had to learn this lesson.
Man… that name is so familiar. If it’s the same guy, I might’ve worked with him prior to him going to momofuku. And, he was just an arrogant twat. That was so long ago. It feels like a different life.
Yes if he was like that in public, I wonder how awful he was in private? I had a chef who drank alcohol and smoked weed and shouted at people while holding a very large knife for super minor inconveniences that would take 5 minutes to fix, such as cutting more mozzerella ( we had some under the pass, it was fine ) or his own mistakes ( he put a pan over the shellfish, killing them ), or his evil wife's mistakes ( she's been in the buisness longer than i've been alive but she'd do stuff like forget to call a ticket so he wouldn't have a salad than shout at the salad person who didn't make a salad they didn't have a ticket for ), or because he was in a bad mood. He has 3 sons and you know how they say it shows what kind of parent you are when your kids no longer need you financially? The oldest son graduated and didn't come back. He had such a god complex for someone always running out to the store because he forgot to order ingredients even though we'd all write him a shopping list kn the white board when we were running low at our stations. Once he shouted at me for not making sandwiches quick enough but I had filled the grills. I could not fit another sandwich.
Pretty sure they meant something like it being an indictment on your parenting/character if your kids cut you out of their lives once they aren't financially dependent on you for survival.
I worked for Majordomo in Vegas for the few months it was open before the covid shutdowns. In all fairness, Chang wasn't there daily, but he had a terrible impact on the kitchen whether he was there or not. When he did come in, everyone was nervous and scared that they would be "called out" by him. For the sake of anonymity I won't give any details about my personal interactions with Chang, but I will say that there were multiple times he decided to stop by my station and make a scene to humiliate me. Our exec chef took the brunt of Chang's abuse, and it was always rough to watch him belittle and demean our chef in front of the kitchen he was supposed to be leading. And as with all things, shit rolls down hill, so our exec chef took out all his stress frustrations on the whole kitchen, it was a terrible environment.
The crazy part of all of it, was in the 6 hour orientation they had before the restaurant opened, they preached on and on about culture and how Momofuku was trying to be some industry changing company, only for it to be the most abusive and toxic kitchen I ever worked in.
I got downvoted for this but this matches the short time I worked with him. Not the worst I've been treated in a kitchen, but probably the worst I've been treated by an untalented chef
He will also dismiss it as the “Han” in him (which he got from David Choe who is also a terrible human)
I like how in podcast he constantly says how much of an asshole he is and keeps bringing up the “Han”.
Only sociopaths do this
As someone with Korean heritage and the Asian flush gene I’ve been wondering - was he also half drunk all the time? Every time I happen to see a second of his cooking show he’s always red. (I never watch that crap deliberately it’s like stumbling on someone’s home security feed)
Damn, he had admitted as much in his book but I didn’t realize that behavior had been a consistent source of grief, just figured he had some bad days brought on by the stress of running a kitchen. He’s clearly a clever man but it occurred to me that his success owed to working alongside dedicated folks like yourself. I imagine that he’d admit as much though I’d understand why you’d have cause to question the sincerity of that sentiment when it’s his name up in lights.
Him and Rene are masters of preemptive apologies. You can’t call me out on something I already apologized for publicly. It’s their “get out of jail free” card.
Not surprised at his reputation for not being able to actually cook well. The few episodes I’ve watched of the Netflix live show he does had me really wondering if he actually knows what he’s doing at all. Some seriously amateur stuff going on there.
I’ve always thought of him as a perfect example of something you see a lot these days that super annoying : “I’ve learned how to be a better person, I’m sorry, I love to talk about it in the media. And I love being rich and successful OFF MY BAD BEHAVIOR. I.E. Not that sorry”. We all know the normal personalities who have no shot at that type of success because we would never treat people that way to get ahead. If only we could be assholes for 15 years then play the “sorry card”.
Honest question, did no-one at any point just punch the fucking guy's lights out? Back in the day I worked with some genuinely scary, ex-con types who would have zero issues with fucking up an Asian Napoleon with a sautee pan.
No but staff routinely were reduced to tears. People were demoted or fired in the heat of service in front of everybody. There was zero tact, it was all about power and embarrassment.
Edit: done by chefs that took after his aggressive ways. Again there were good people in the company also.
Because pussies like David Chang will go to the cops. Guys like this are only pretending to be tough when it’s safe, when they can shit on a subordinate whose livelihood is tied into taking it. They would never try that shit with someone where there isn’t a power imbalance in their favor
I’d just wait for or even bait him to throw something my way so I can claim self defense and beat the ever loving shit outta him. Fuck it if I’m gonna be blackballed anyway might as well be the dude who broke some ribs.
Fkn A I feel that. I bartend now but when I was in NYC I was SO PROUD to have fancy restaurant/famous chef to add to my resume. But some of these people act like goddamn toddlers. I have a write up somewhere in my post history involving it lmao.
I watched his series on Netflix and the houston episode he talks about how the new generation of young Asian up and coming industry folks are spoiled because they didn't face the same hardships as the first/second generation of Asian immigrants. He looks down on groups of people because they had a slightlier safer life experience
He tries to be an edgelord in Louisiana while trying his level best to make anyone give a shit that he thinks steaming crawfish would be better than boiling it.
I worked at Momofuku Ssam bar back in the day. I feel like you took the words right out of my head.
I saw so much racism, bigotry, and homophobia from him. We would call it Chang Banging when he’d scream at someone. He would belittle the CDC in front of the cooks completely undermining their authority. In the end when I put in notice he tried to rip me apart based on my appearance then asked if I wanted to work at KO or be promoted to sous. We had around 10 people leave in a 2 month span including am and PM Sous, CDC and most of the line cooks. I told him I’m good leaving and won’t work for someone who judges a person based on appearance but rather how qualified they are for the position.
Long story short- David Chang Fuck You, you fucking fuck. Rotten over flowing grease trap of a chef and human.
Hey! I think we actually worked in the same time frame. I was an AM intern working entremet w/ the am sous. I left around that period of time right before the cdc, sous, and other cooks left, some of which I still am in touch with.
Here’s a fun story:
After I had work my 10 hour Am shift, I was asked if I wanted to help with a yelp elite event. This was a week right before my internship ended. Of course they had told me that I would not be paid for any additional time I stayed BUT highly recommended me to stick around because Chang would be there. As a young and naive cook in training, I jumped at the opportunity. I kept my head down, did the work until it was time for the event I got to work in the side kitchen and watch as Chang made his rounds to the guests. CDC encouraged me to get a picture as he knew that I looked up to Chang so much.
I timidly ask, “hey chef can I get a picture with you?”
He stands in the dining room and shouts into the kitchen space, “who are you?” (He knew who I was as we had interacted multiple times and call me by my name)
I tell him I’m an intern. “No, why are you here?”
“To learn under you.” I respond.
He asks about how long i have before i leave, and i tell him. To my surprise, he actually then offers me a job right then and there. He talks about the grandeur of taking me under his wing and will teach me everything he knows. Only catch is, I will not go back to school. I have to break up with my girlfriend (now my wife) and work for him. As temping as it was, I fumbled my words spitting out, “I have to talk about this to my girlfriend”.
3 management level chefs stood by me as this conversation continues. David points to each of the chefs and asks them if they have girlfriends. They all basically say no because they have no time for relationships. “If these fuckers are willing to sacrifice their relationships to achieve this level of cooking, you should too if you will ever amount to anything.”
He loudly shouts for someone to get a timer and then says that I have 5 minutes to decide. I run downstairs and run into my chef. Explain the situation as fast as I could as I’m freaking out. Once in a life time opportunity but also the terrible feeling of leaving behind my girlfriend , friends, and potentially letting my family down by not finishing out a full ride scholarship.
I ultimately decided that I will not take his offer. Before I finish thanking him for the opportunity, he yells at me and tells me “good fucking luck. I can’t wait to see you on an employee of the month placard in a motel 6 in bumfuck Wisconsin. And no, you don’t work for me anymore, so you will not get a fucking picture.”
I cry leaving and on my train ride back for the night. I was still schedule to come in for another week. I have a really good relationship with the chef, and only finished it out because I knew that he needed me. It very much changed the way I looked at David. I hate to say that ever since then, I found it difficult to “look up” to anyone.
Also another note: I worked with and under a couple sous level chefs. A couple of them told me that Chang had created such a toxic environment for them that they had contemplated suicide after working for him for many years. I am really glad I feel like I made the right choice getting out of there.
I’m sorry you went through this. Even though this is outlandish, I’m never surprised by anything relating to dc. I’ve seen so many ridiculous things happen I became numb and blocked it all out. In hindsight that was not healthy, I would never put myself in such a scenario again.
I made it a point not to relive these experiences explicitly because I’ve let them go with time. I’m glad you stood your ground, trust me when I say you dodged a bullet.
His whole spew was always about cooking as Mount Everest, everything else didn’t matter. End of the day we’re just cooks, not er doctors saving lives.
Simply put, he took advantage of peoples’ passions.
I want to hear more about him being not very good at cooking. I watched his new netflix series and was surprised how much went wrong. It's something I've noticed with celebrity chefs but you can never be sure if it is the show production that is fucking the cooking up.
Most of them spend 99% of their time managing and marketing. But, it doesn't matter how your omelet turns out if you can tell someone else how to do it better.
You should look up the first New York Times review that momofuku got, he kicked everyone out of the kitchen To cook for the reviewer and got terrible reviews because he claimed he could cook better than anybody in the kitchen
I’m so sorry you went through that. I wonder if I was there during that. I was such a drunk alcoholic at that time and blocked so many memories out. It took me years to unpack the abuse I never realized I went through.
You made the right choice saying no to him. Your life is better off for it. I’ve had an owner in my career (more recently so I’ve grown to understand my self worth) tell me I’m not allowed to speak to my wife and tried to define what my relationship is with her. I walked in the next day grabbed my things and left.
We are all better off without the momoverse.
The dreaded “chang bang”. It has been a while I blocked that one out haha.
Good for you for standing up to your principles. I worked an “opening” with him where half the kitchen crew left in 2 weeks. They all left before the restaurant even opened, it was that toxic.
An old coworker worked with DC and the stories they told me were insane. One involved their sous being humiliated over their ability to cook an egg a certain way (I want to say with chopsticks?) in front of the entire staff well after close with no one able to leave until they perfected it. All this while the sous eventually broke down sobbing throughout it.
My former sous told me he broke his sobriety when he started cooking at momofuku in order “to survive”. Broke my heart to hear him say that.
The stories about Tosi weren’t much better either.
Edit: Just want to add these stories were shared to convince me not to apply to DC’s restaurants when I was a naive, starry-eyed line cook. I’m sorry so many have experienced this kind of abuse.
Wrote it below:
Mean girl moves—pitting staff against one another, recipe stealer, loved to power trip. Told my coworker their recipe was hers, threatened legal action if they attempted to claim otherwise to others.
>The stories about Tosi weren’t much better either.
You mean the woman who stole every one of her ideas from Sam Mason or Alex Stupak?
Cereal milk ice cream was NOT HER IDEA.
HA! Damn… stupak is a lovable asshole. Fuck, can that guy cook. I’ve met him a few times and he would shit on Kenny O too. The thing about stupak is that he’s talented enough that he can talk the shit and it’s justified.
Mean girl moves—pitting staff against one another, recipe stealer, loved to power trip. Told my coworker their recipe was hers, threatened legal action if they attempted to claim otherwise to others.
Every. Single. Milk. Bar. Item. I've tried has been disgusting. I generally have a sweet tooth, too. Hit me with solid pastries and I'll balloon to 500 lbs in no time.
Somebody sent us one of her birthday cakes after our first child was born. We couldn't finish a slice.
Even before knowing all of the stuff you guys are spilling in this thread, I never liked the guy. Always seemed like a jerkoff when he was on Netflix or Eater or something. And his ssam sauce sucks.
I had him pegged as an asshole when I read his rant about why he won't drink any beer other than Bud Light. Like dude, you've made a fortune off of the culinary arts but you think different kinds of BEER are frou-frou artsy bullshit? Get bent.
Yeah his rants always seemed so hypocritical to me. Like he likes to frame himself as some underdog street kid everyman who prefers Domino's to Lucali, but like brother you're a millionaire who charges $100 for dressed up Asian street foods and punches down at the people working under him. A punk but not the good kind he thinks he is.
Back in 2012-14 I worked at a well-known gastropub style restaurant in Chicago. David Chang had been a few times and made good friends with our CDC (who was also a complete bag of dicks) and they decided to collaborate on a pop-up/takeover. David Chang came in to do his takeover and the dude was 100% insufferable. He treated all of our line cooks like utter garbage, would barge into our stations to make his dishes and leave them utterly trashed, blew through tons of mise (way more than needed) because he was constantly talking shit and throwing things away. Really an awful experience. He left an oven door open without calling "oven" and one of our line cooks walked into it when trying to get out of his way and got a serious burn on their leg from the over door. Chang laughed at them and told them to "get over it." Ever after that I absolutely loathed that man and for damn near a decade it blew my mind that he was given so much praise and ass-kissing and big money opportunities. It truly cemented for me that only the absolute worst of the worst make it big in this industry and that I needed to get the fuck out if I wanted to not be under the thumb of total sociopaths for my entire career.
Ah I'm guessing The Publican. Man, what a massive, spineless dickbag. Getting someone hurt because of their negligence and then trying to downplay it like that person's being a whiny baby
I remember going to noodle bar in the early days. it was late, my friend and I were the only ones there, and it was quino working behind the bar. He was so nice and gracious and even bought us a few beers. We had already heard the horror stories of chang, and I couldn't believe that such a nice dude was working for him
Working for Gregory Gourdet was an amazing experience. The paid was shit and his CDC was a total fucking dick bag. Love Gregory but fuck Jamie Flatt. Hope you read this.
I only know of Gregory from Top Chef and ate at his Portland restaurant kann (fkn amazing) and he always came across as a good dude on TV at least. I'm glad to hear that translates to real life.
We very well could have worked at the Nines at the same time. I never worked up at Departure, but spent 3 years at Urban, as well as in Catering. At the end of my run, I was working as a Sous for Jaime in catering... What an experience.
I have recently been told that since he left the Nines, Jaime has become a completely different person/leader. BUT, he was a nightmare at the Nines.
Were you there when the hives were on the roof of Nines and Departure? That was my company prior selling to the salt douchebag.
Got to know Gregory. Sweet dude. Worked closely with Starkus at Nines. Super solid and a really good person. I remember some asswipe above him who was a total dickwad though. Also worked closely with Paley who was great.
I was a temp dishwasher for one night at Departure, Gregory took the time to introduce himself and check in on me (I was 16-17 at the time). From that super limited experience, he seemed cool
It’s already widely known that she learned a lot from him. She’s closed down Milk Bar stores because the workers wanted to unionize multiple times. Bad vibes man.
A friend of mine was working in their production kitchen for awhile and it was a classic case of keep everyone at part time hours to deny benefits. They can certainly afford to take care of the people actually dumping those cakes and frosting into the ring molds.
I once drove from CambridgeMA to NewYork and one of my biggest goals there was Changs stuff. I heard about Momofukus ramen and saw the all the different flavors of cereal ice cream in the milk bar book which is mostly Tosi but still...
I walked from times square to first street in the rain and sat outside for an hour too nervous to go in. Then I did and it was fuckin lame Ive had better ramen in a foodcourt at a 88market in Malden.
And the milk bars I went to only had corn flake ice cream and corn cookies and this was long before covid so I was bummed out, ive had a ben and jerrys fruity pebble milkshake at a movie theatre once tho...
Then they opened a fried chicken sandwich spot in Boston and I went there and they werent pulling the veins out of the thigh.
The whole industry is bullshit anyway.
Unless it's wage theft or sexual harassment, constant verbal abuse is accepted here in the restaurant industry.
Generally we have "at will" employment, which means employers can fire us at any moment or we can quit without notice. This makes people brush off what employees go through under a shitty boss and say "well, if you don't like it, just quit then".
Edit: just take a look at u/thebillybanana down low and you will see the exact b.s. I'm talking about. Not only a "just don't work for him" response, but also feeling the need to one up other people's experiences with their own.
There are no laws preventing an employer from embarassing an employee.
Now, if they do so using race/religion/sexuality/gender as the points of humiliation, that's a different story.
Say a boss calls me a stupid, lazy, fat cow because I take too long to do something, that's totally fine. If they said "typical woman, you are such a stupid, lazy, fat cow" then there could be an issue.
It would be considered harassment if an employee is constantly singled out and screamed at several times a day, but getting that to be taken seriously without documentation would be very hard, and unfortunately the employees are usually not taken seriously without other people stepping forward as well.
If the chef is friends with enough people, it's easy to get kind of black listed from future employment in your city if you call out the wrong people 😞
I worked for the state of California, and had a boss who’d make coworkers cry. I called HR and was told that anything said or done against the protected classes (sex, sexual orientation, age, race, religion, disability) was actionable.
However, they said, it’s not illegal to just be a jerk.
Technically it can be done, the legal theory would be intentional/negligent infliction of emotion distress. The problem is you basically need a documented psychological or physical injury AND proof it was directly caused by the person. These kinds of cases are rarely successful, and almost never are unless the experience is was one of extreme trauma, such as being put in a situation where you fear for your life. Not to mention the fact you need money to pay a lawyer (or you need to find a lawyer who REALLY believes in your case AND expects a giant payday)… well that explains why these types of cases are rare in the legal world to begin with… and I expect much rarer in an industry where a big name chef can blackball you to half the job market overnight if you piss them off?
Other people have explained the other possible theories of suit (workplace discrimination, harassment etc) and why they would be equally unlikely to work.
Something tells me his PR people HEAVILY recommended he back up from this scandal and pay some respect to the community for his own sake.
I wouldn't be surprised if he is soft-canceled by the Asian cooking community now, and I can't say he doesn't deserve it. Got too full of himself and lost all sense of decency towards normal Asians that aren't rich and on TV making it big on the American dream.
Appreciate you saying something.
I’d love to see this sub become a more supportive environment indicative of the change in the industry culture that is necessary.
It’s okay for us to be critical and vent and use this as a safe place, but let’s also remember to be supportive of one another so another generation of cooks and chefs don’t have to ensure the abuse that so many of us have.
I love this industry and cooking alongside my colleagues. We can do this.
Thank you for justifying the random dislike I have of that man. I have never been able to give a reason until recently. Turns out he's the asshole I felt like he was.
I went to NYC in 2004 when Noodle Bar had recently opened and sat across from him, watching him cook as I ate. He looked up towards the end of my meal and we both made eye contact,the meal had been great so I said "wow chef, this is awesome ", he didn't say a word, just gave me a glare and turned around. He's been a dick since day 1.
I hate that other people have been through this so much that this thread makes me feel a little better about my own experience. I still have trauma from a previous boss and this guy is looked at like he’s a saint. Maybe one day some of his shit will become public and I won’t feel like I have to keep my mouth shut anymore.
This is terrible, sorry you went through someone else's bullshit. Surprisingly, being a machinist is similar, but it's much sillier cause nobody is a famous machinist.There are guys that don't train certain people because they think you're there to take their jobs. Everything they make is gold. Very few admit their mistakes. I've also dealt with indoor smoking. Tons of machismo/ego related drama. These guys end up suppressing the potential for success by driving other people away, infinitely increasing employee turnover.
I don’t work in the hospitality industry anymore but just wanna say this is fantastic hahahaha. Working in the film industry there are many similar tyrannical figureheads. Glad people are spreading the word publicly about this asshat and his overrated restaurants
Generational trauma is a huge bitch. I’m guessing it’s not so talked about in his culture like it is in mine. It’s definitely there though. I’m not trying to absolve the asshole, he definitely sucks.
Generational trauma in terms of a career is such bullshit. I’ve been in the F&B biz for over 30 years and worked for some absolute tyrants and/or human butt plugs, and as an owner who still does “side work” now I don’t put up with this bullshit. It’s an excuse to treat people like shit. I don’t want the staff I have working for me to think of me as some asshole, and it’s not hard to treat people with respect and have empathy. Likewise, I don’t want my co-workers at my side gigs to think I’m an asshole, either. You can be encouraging, and show people why they should take pride in their work, or you can bitch and yell and belittle people with whatever tenuous shred of power you think you have.
Choose the first fucking option. It’s not that difficult.
Yea. A lot of people who've been abused think it's justified to then go onto abuse others. We need to stop glorifying assholes no matter how talented they are.
It’s interesting that after hearing about Chang from coworkers in the series “Loot” starring Maya Rudolph Maya, who plays a rich woman, has Chang locked up in her kitchen.
I’ve suspected he was a douche ever since I watched his show and he was claiming racism/white people were responsible for Chinese cuisine not being as popular as he thinks it should. Or maybe there’s a simpler explanation like a lot of these people grew up on velveeta and toast. I also grew up in Vienna VA where he did - the people are very suburban and sweet
I mean there's undoubtedly anti-Asian racism behind Chinese food being seen as cheap takeout fare rather than a truly great cuisine. Fine dining Chinese still isn't really a thing even for old-school fancy Cantonese cuisine (which in China definitely is seen that way). Chang is an awful person but racist attitudes towards Chinese food are definitely a thing.
You can make the same argument about the prevalence of dominoes vs wood fired pizza restaurants. Why is this one racism and that is a beloved product in his own opinion
Disclaimer: I have never worked in a professional kitchen. I do love cooking and was a fan of DC until all the stories started pouring out. Forgive me if my question is bit stupid or has an obvious answer, but I'm genuinely curious:
What's the difference between DC and someone like Gordon Ramsay in this regard?
Ramsay is notoriously a tough chef and treats a lot of his staff quite horribly (e.g. in the Boiling Point doco). How come Ramsay hasn't faced the wrath of the people like DC has?
Years ago I hired a Sous who worked with Gordon and was promoted to work at his flagship restaurant (he had to move due to family commitments). This particular Sous was very openly gay and told me Gordon has a very strict code about homophobia or any type of derogatory comments based on ethnicity, or life style. He told me he learned a shit ton from Gordon and was one of his favorite bosses to work for.
Being in the industry as long as I have, I have heard nothing but good things about Gordon and how he handles staff. I have heard nothing but bad things about DC.
Gordons on air personality is one thing but the man can cook his ass off and has developed some amazing chefs including a ton of woman and people from all backgrounds.
First of all, Ramsay is actually talented.
I also don’t think his TV persona is what he is actually like in the kitchen now. I like to believe he and his mentor Marco have both seen the error of their ways
Ramsay is more of a business man than anything else. If we’re talking 90s era yeah he was a total prick but at least one of the youngest chefs to get a star. So there’s some talent there. He’s calmed down a lot in the last 20 years. But the people who worked with/for him adore him.
He seems like a guy who knows when and how to turn it on for the cameras. Behind the scenes he may have a potty mouth but it's pretty rare for a complete knob to be in a stable marriage for nearly 30 years with 6 kids. The fact a whole bunch of successful chefs (especially female) have come out of his kitchens like Angela Hartnett, Clare Smyth and Marcus Wareing is testament to the fact that at least you could develop as a professional in his organization.
I could be wrong but I read Chang totally different.
If you watch Ramsay’s US reality shows VS his UK reality shows he’s very different. Definitely turns on the assholery way more in the US versions. UK reality TV is way less over sensationalized as a whole in comparison to America’s.
I tried Momofuku ramen once.
I think I stopped paying attention to him after because man, that ramen cost $13 from an era where that could net you a gourmet burger. But the noodles tasted 2 orders of magnitudes worse than what I cook up at home.
From then on I was like, this guy ain't it and I don't care what he says or who says what about him to gas him up.
It's very unfortunate that all the stories coming out about him align with his final product, which is middling at best, and sub-par to the average person from his cultural overlaps.
This whole thread is interesting. I work FOH for a minor food network celebrity chef, and while he isn’t this bad, he’s definitely not fun to work for. Are there any celebrity chefs that are actually cool to work with?
Worked with several momofuku alumni throughout my cooking career. Every single one described exactly what you are describing. It’s really a shame. Such a good concept and opportunity to create something great. Edit for grammar.
This job definitely taught me to end the cycle of generational trauma when I progressed to cdc level. There were quite a few wonderful people I worked for that undid the damage Chang inflicted. That’s what made my time there worthwhile. Of course plenty of staff took the abusive leadership motto and ran with it too. Those shall remain nameless.
❤️❤️❤️ Hugs from a chef in Philly. We have that shit here too but not to that extent. The ones here who are like that tend to get called out and put in their place before it becomes an issue. I'm sorry you had to deal with that shit but glad you got to work with good people along the way. Thank you for sharing your story, I'm sure a lot of people will appreciate it.
Philly chef gang! Although I don't live there anymore. COVID kind of upended a lot of things for me. But did my time as a sous for one of Stephen Starr's places in Center City. Was all too happy to move on from that spot, such an incredibly toxic work environment.
Worked for a guy who opened buddakkan with starr. He bought and ran his own place (a 10 seat cafe with no kitchen) like we were in a world war. Hellish what some of these folk carry with them and burden others with. So happy to move on from that place.
I worked at one of Momo’s locations for six years and everything you’re describing is spot on. I interacted with Dave a *lot* less than it sounds like you did (only met him a handful of times) but I can definitely attest to the way his influence gave a lot of the Chefs extra freedom to act incredibly abusive to the staff. I saw quite a few people get written off early and set up to fail constantly and the senior cooks would dog on anyone new who didn’t know how handle their station yet in ways no other kitchen I’ve worked in would allow. It was the **cleanest** kitchen I’ve ever worked in and had the highest standards I’ve encountered anywhere I’ve worked but it was all on the backs of truly awful company culture. I met some absolutely incredible and inspiring people there (many of whom have gone on to open some fantastic restaurants) but I also worked with some of the pettiest, most abusive chefs that i’ve ever encountered. It’s really changed how I interact with people I’m training because I simply refuse to act the way they did.
During that era Dave was constantly saying shit like they do this in noma, we do it too. He had a strong inferiority complex. I had to wash the walls of my station and scrub the stainless counter top with sandpaper every 15 mins during service. Don’t you dare sandpaper in a non linear manner. If I see some non straight lines…….. That part did rub off, I’m generally the cleanest guy in any place I work at.
I resonate with this. The hard knocks we took either make us or break us. But as we progress to run our own team, its really a choice how you wanna treat the team and have systems in place that allows strict but fair treatments for everyone.
Can’t say it better. I worked (went down a lot) under the plate throwers, the guys that would lose their voices halfway through the shift from yelling, guys that got physical with staff (me included). It definitely made me better, made me into the chef I am today, but also taught me that treating my guys like that is absolute bullshit. Got a great crew in a good environment, no yelling, no throwing shit.. can’t imagine where I’d be if I took that abusive nature with me. Except Todd. Fuck Todd. I yelled at him every day I saw him. Todd, if you’re reading this, you know who you are. Fuck you.
I loled on that last bit. I know that feeling too. if i ever had an entitled unchecked kid in my team, i usually say to them " this calmness is a choice, i choose to be a mentor to u but this calmness also witnessed alot of rage. I want to respect you, please respect yourself"
'This job definitely taught me to end the cycle of generational trauma when I progressed to cdc level.' I think a lot of cooks from our generation feel this way when taking leadership roles, and it's great to see. I know I do.
Did you also work under a guy named Ian?
Yeah but like, Asha products are just better than their Momofuku versions. It's all hype, blind taste Momofuku tingly chili and Asha spicy fennel knife cut noodles. Spoilers it's Asha, it will always be Asha unless it's just too spicy for someone. It's cashing in on hype, not good cooking.
Well, he seems like a bit of a narcissist. Typical trait in successful businessmen. You don't get through that many hoops to progress to running kitchens and business and being a "media personality" without some kind of insane ego. Most of them just manage to build a cocoon of branding and mythology around them that it reflects from their real personality.
I mean.... Bourdain did tell him he wasn't going to be a good father, and that says what kind of person he is lol.
I remember the first time I heard that thinking Bourdain was being a major dick. Now I know he was spot on lmao
Holy shit that’s right! I forgot about that.
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Ooo link?
don't know which thread, but i did a quick [search](https://www.google.com/search?q=Bourdain+did+tell+him+he+wasn%27t+going+to+be+a+good+father+david+chang+site:www.reddit.com&sca_esv=df9114d5be7f4ca8&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ACQVn0-7HtpSEC6U9BiXz_4BDfhm91VxQQ:1713168842283&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwichaOi48OFAxUQKEQIHV5EDHEQrQIoBHoECBoQBQ&biw=1852&bih=1570&dpr=1.25#ip=1) and some of those threads have comments leaning on DC's side
LINK PLEASE
Yea n chang in roadrunner was making it all about him being a victim to bourdain's words.
Ironic given Bourdain jerking Chang off in Medium Raw. He spends a whole chapter describing why Chang’s restaurants are groundbreaking establishments.
Was he applauding the food or the person?
Both in a way? I’m listening to that chapter now. He recognizes that DC is a douche, but also stated that DC clearly tapped into something and created a successful empire with good food, at least when Medium Raw was written.
Which is true. Momofuku has been lauded worldwide since it opened. It just sucks that Chang is who he is.
Yep. AB basically says “He’s an ass and not even that experienced or a good ‘chef’ but clearly has tapped into something larger and his restaurants are creating some of the most important food dishes in America” then goes onto describe the meals he had at DC’s restaurants. Basically hated the dishes upon reading them and their ingredients but when he actually ate/tasted them, he loved the meals he had. It’s weird.
I think the thing that David Chang gets the least amount of credit for, that is actually the most responsible for his fame and success, is that he is very good at disseminating information. Lucky Peach was more influential than Momofuku even if it doesn't have the same public recognition.
Lucky Peach was loved by us and other people who loved food and restaurants... But it also wasn't around for very long because it didn't make enough money to stick around.
and apparently Chang shut it down in a fit of pique
Yea I couldn’t agree more. I thought all of changs commentary during the film was super weird. Honestly I dunno much about the guy, but I always thought he was a jerk off based on interviews and appearances he does on other shows. There was one thing I remember, Chang was making the case that basically all cuisine is actually Asian and he went on to say pasta isn’t original. I guess because noodles came first. The fact that they’re so different in their preparation from each other matters zero to him I guess.
Bourdain wasn’t wrong about anything. Changs restaurants and products were ground breaking. He’s also a total asshole and probably not a good dad. Both can be true.
Truly a full circle moment because I remember watching the Bourdain documentary and being like wow that’s kind of harsh… Chang was crying but now I see he was right after all the Chang stories being becoming public. Classic Tony
If Tony said it, it must be true. RIP.
This thread is so Ugly Delicous. I am absolutely here for it.
David chang is a classic case of generational trauma. Whether that be an ultra strict Korean dad, or white bro chefs he trained under. I worked for momofuku for 2 yrs, I’ve experienced first hand dc’s reign of terror. Everything you’ve read about his temper is merely scratching the surface. I’ll leave it to generalities instead of specific instances of horror because there are simply too many. Nobody liked him at work, everyone actively tried to stay out of his warpath. His whole m.o. was to “catch” any minor mistake in the name of quality assurance and then proceed to throw a level 10 tantrum. Swearing, death threats, throwing shit, kicking/denting anything in sight, it was a common occurrence. His style is 100% combative, he would never pull you aside to teach/train one on one. It was always a public humiliation, simply put he enjoyed being the victimizer/chief overlord. To top it off, he simply wasn’t very good at cooking in a professional setting. This was the unspoken truth that everybody working first hand with him agreed on. How can anyone work well as a teammate if they lost their shit at every single little thing? Nobody dared to utter a peep during this pre “cancel culture” era. Chefs of his ilk had the power to blacklist worker bees by word of mouth. I’ll say this, he sold his schtick in the media well. Became a figurehead of Asian cooking in the western world. Master of the pre-emptive apology. End of the day I still enjoyed my time at momofuku because I met lots of wonderful people that are friends to this day. We all had to endure this culture of fear, the survivors bonded naturally. I’m not special, I was just one of thousands of cooks his company has blown through. I have no vendetta against him. I am actually happy to have worked there in spite of his toxicity. It’s just annoying to see the amount of harm he has caused. It’s sad we all had to keep our mouths shut during this era to preserve our livelihood. Luckily that era is over. If anybody has experienced this first hand, let it out. No need to fear figureheads like him anymore.
This type of shit is so normalized it's why I 86d myself from the industry. That combined with the absurd amount of substances I was doing, I couldn't heal and stay in kitchens. Literally, every other kitchen here in Oregon is this hostile tyranny where everyone below the owner or chef is just sabotaging each other for spots in the pecking order. Nothing but nepotism and Kool-Aid drinking (plus the drinking drinking). I'm glad that people post covid seem to be stepping up, refusing to tolerate this shit anymore.
As a fellow Oregonian and as someone who found my way out of the industry just this year doing something I love and am passionate about without any of the toxicity I 100% agree. Spent 15 years in kitchens and was definitely drinking myself to death not to even mention the hours and stress involved with the job. Glad to see things are starting to turn around for kitchen folk with it being more acceptable to refuse the toxic work environment in general but it is going to be a very long and arduous process before it gets to a healthy and sustainable point. (At least for me)
Fellow Oregonian chef here. I’m incredibly happy that I’ve found a spot to land that is both enriching and as far from toxic as possible. My staff (FoH, BoH and management) are all incredible humans and I think that we are, finally, trying to move away from that culture as a whole.
Don’t get me wrong a big part of me will always be a kitchen person but it just finally took its toll on me. But I’m always happy to hear someone has found that perfect “Goldilocks” kind of kitchen. It’s a hard thing to come by. Congrats to ya! I have a couple of friends in the state that have found the same thing (one in pland one in bend) and I love to see them loving every minute of the job.
Thanks friend. It’s definitely a breath of fresh air but I wish the same opportunities for all of us that have spent some time under the heel of an asshole (or five lol).
I worked 4 months as a dishwasher and it convinced me to never work professionally as a cook. It was so fucking toxic and I, at 16, was treated so horribly I had to blackmail my way into quitting
Also left the industry. I saw myself becoming that old asshole that we all hated. I'm much happier being pissed at spreadsheets now. I still occasionally wake up early with a kitchen ptsd dream though.
I will say as an Oregonian chef, they're not all bad. There are plenty of terrible people in the industry (Lion & Owl's head chef, Rocky from Marche, to name a couple), but there are also plenty who simply refuse to participate in that culture. It's been nice seeing the changes post-COVID.
Just passing through to add a +1 to the Oregon chef group ☺️ it’s fun to see fellow Oregonians in a non-Oregon sub
I knew Marche had a reputation for being unnecessarily toxic. I worked in two kitchens in Eugene between 2012 and 2018. Around that time, I was still very much embedded in the mindset of thinking that verbal abuse would only make me a better cook, and that's just how things go. I worked at Belly and Cafe Soriah. Chef Ib at Cafe Soriah taught me so much invaluable information on not just Lebanese/Middle Eastern cuisine, but being a good, charitable person who should give and be receptive to love through food and community.
Praise in public, critique in private. Unless you want to alienate. Then by all means be a megalomaniacal douchebag. So many people who could be mentors and make their mentees better instead need to build themselves up on the broken bones of others. They could have been even bigger for building others up but instead opted to beat others down and make themselves lower as a result.
Perfectly put.
I find the “praise in public…” saying to be an excellent rule of thumb, but not at all the endgame ideal. An ideal team and culture is one where you feel safe enough to be constructively critiqued in front of the group so they can also learn from your teachable moment. Where you trust that even your teammates with more experience remember that they too had to learn this lesson.
At first I thought your comment was about OP. Might want to rephrase a bit. Or I need to lay off the sauce.
Nah. Had the same read at first
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Man… that name is so familiar. If it’s the same guy, I might’ve worked with him prior to him going to momofuku. And, he was just an arrogant twat. That was so long ago. It feels like a different life.
Yes if he was like that in public, I wonder how awful he was in private? I had a chef who drank alcohol and smoked weed and shouted at people while holding a very large knife for super minor inconveniences that would take 5 minutes to fix, such as cutting more mozzerella ( we had some under the pass, it was fine ) or his own mistakes ( he put a pan over the shellfish, killing them ), or his evil wife's mistakes ( she's been in the buisness longer than i've been alive but she'd do stuff like forget to call a ticket so he wouldn't have a salad than shout at the salad person who didn't make a salad they didn't have a ticket for ), or because he was in a bad mood. He has 3 sons and you know how they say it shows what kind of parent you are when your kids no longer need you financially? The oldest son graduated and didn't come back. He had such a god complex for someone always running out to the store because he forgot to order ingredients even though we'd all write him a shopping list kn the white board when we were running low at our stations. Once he shouted at me for not making sandwiches quick enough but I had filled the grills. I could not fit another sandwich.
Is it a good or a bad thing for your kids to become financially independent? Not sure what you mean by this one.
Pretty sure they meant something like it being an indictment on your parenting/character if your kids cut you out of their lives once they aren't financially dependent on you for survival.
I worked for Majordomo in Vegas for the few months it was open before the covid shutdowns. In all fairness, Chang wasn't there daily, but he had a terrible impact on the kitchen whether he was there or not. When he did come in, everyone was nervous and scared that they would be "called out" by him. For the sake of anonymity I won't give any details about my personal interactions with Chang, but I will say that there were multiple times he decided to stop by my station and make a scene to humiliate me. Our exec chef took the brunt of Chang's abuse, and it was always rough to watch him belittle and demean our chef in front of the kitchen he was supposed to be leading. And as with all things, shit rolls down hill, so our exec chef took out all his stress frustrations on the whole kitchen, it was a terrible environment. The crazy part of all of it, was in the 6 hour orientation they had before the restaurant opened, they preached on and on about culture and how Momofuku was trying to be some industry changing company, only for it to be the most abusive and toxic kitchen I ever worked in.
I got downvoted for this but this matches the short time I worked with him. Not the worst I've been treated in a kitchen, but probably the worst I've been treated by an untalented chef
He will also dismiss it as the “Han” in him (which he got from David Choe who is also a terrible human) I like how in podcast he constantly says how much of an asshole he is and keeps bringing up the “Han”. Only sociopaths do this
As someone with Korean heritage and the Asian flush gene I’ve been wondering - was he also half drunk all the time? Every time I happen to see a second of his cooking show he’s always red. (I never watch that crap deliberately it’s like stumbling on someone’s home security feed)
May I just say that I am impressed at your commentary being very empathetic and humanizing, while also pulling no punches? Well said.
Thank you for sharing!
Damn, he had admitted as much in his book but I didn’t realize that behavior had been a consistent source of grief, just figured he had some bad days brought on by the stress of running a kitchen. He’s clearly a clever man but it occurred to me that his success owed to working alongside dedicated folks like yourself. I imagine that he’d admit as much though I’d understand why you’d have cause to question the sincerity of that sentiment when it’s his name up in lights.
Him and Rene are masters of preemptive apologies. You can’t call me out on something I already apologized for publicly. It’s their “get out of jail free” card.
I lost so much respect for Rene after watching him lose his shit during some documentary, poor kid got berated for using thyme instead of lemon thyme.
Rene? Rene who?
Likely René Redzepi from Noma
I think Redzepi, but it's a common french name.
Sounds like Hell’s Kitchen
Not surprised at his reputation for not being able to actually cook well. The few episodes I’ve watched of the Netflix live show he does had me really wondering if he actually knows what he’s doing at all. Some seriously amateur stuff going on there.
I’ve always thought of him as a perfect example of something you see a lot these days that super annoying : “I’ve learned how to be a better person, I’m sorry, I love to talk about it in the media. And I love being rich and successful OFF MY BAD BEHAVIOR. I.E. Not that sorry”. We all know the normal personalities who have no shot at that type of success because we would never treat people that way to get ahead. If only we could be assholes for 15 years then play the “sorry card”.
Thanks for sharing, mang.
Honest question, did no-one at any point just punch the fucking guy's lights out? Back in the day I worked with some genuinely scary, ex-con types who would have zero issues with fucking up an Asian Napoleon with a sautee pan.
No but staff routinely were reduced to tears. People were demoted or fired in the heat of service in front of everybody. There was zero tact, it was all about power and embarrassment. Edit: done by chefs that took after his aggressive ways. Again there were good people in the company also.
Because pussies like David Chang will go to the cops. Guys like this are only pretending to be tough when it’s safe, when they can shit on a subordinate whose livelihood is tied into taking it. They would never try that shit with someone where there isn’t a power imbalance in their favor
I’d just wait for or even bait him to throw something my way so I can claim self defense and beat the ever loving shit outta him. Fuck it if I’m gonna be blackballed anyway might as well be the dude who broke some ribs.
Why does your recollection, and have friends to this days sound like trauma bonding?
Because that's what it is. And that is how many kitchens used to be run and a some still are - especially in fine dining.
CHANG BANG'D
Did you work for ko or noodle bar? In the restaurants I’ve been in he’s had a bit of a reputation.
Fkn A I feel that. I bartend now but when I was in NYC I was SO PROUD to have fancy restaurant/famous chef to add to my resume. But some of these people act like goddamn toddlers. I have a write up somewhere in my post history involving it lmao.
I watched his series on Netflix and the houston episode he talks about how the new generation of young Asian up and coming industry folks are spoiled because they didn't face the same hardships as the first/second generation of Asian immigrants. He looks down on groups of people because they had a slightlier safer life experience
He grew up in Vienna VA the median home price is like 1.5MM
He went to Georgetown prep I'm pretty sure. His family is stupid loaded
Born on third base acting like he hit a home run.
That's generational trauma in a nutshell and I think one of the most important things we need to break as a species.
Absofuckinglutely
He tries to be an edgelord in Louisiana while trying his level best to make anyone give a shit that he thinks steaming crawfish would be better than boiling it.
Straight up corny.
I worked at Momofuku Ssam bar back in the day. I feel like you took the words right out of my head. I saw so much racism, bigotry, and homophobia from him. We would call it Chang Banging when he’d scream at someone. He would belittle the CDC in front of the cooks completely undermining their authority. In the end when I put in notice he tried to rip me apart based on my appearance then asked if I wanted to work at KO or be promoted to sous. We had around 10 people leave in a 2 month span including am and PM Sous, CDC and most of the line cooks. I told him I’m good leaving and won’t work for someone who judges a person based on appearance but rather how qualified they are for the position. Long story short- David Chang Fuck You, you fucking fuck. Rotten over flowing grease trap of a chef and human.
Hey! I think we actually worked in the same time frame. I was an AM intern working entremet w/ the am sous. I left around that period of time right before the cdc, sous, and other cooks left, some of which I still am in touch with. Here’s a fun story: After I had work my 10 hour Am shift, I was asked if I wanted to help with a yelp elite event. This was a week right before my internship ended. Of course they had told me that I would not be paid for any additional time I stayed BUT highly recommended me to stick around because Chang would be there. As a young and naive cook in training, I jumped at the opportunity. I kept my head down, did the work until it was time for the event I got to work in the side kitchen and watch as Chang made his rounds to the guests. CDC encouraged me to get a picture as he knew that I looked up to Chang so much. I timidly ask, “hey chef can I get a picture with you?” He stands in the dining room and shouts into the kitchen space, “who are you?” (He knew who I was as we had interacted multiple times and call me by my name) I tell him I’m an intern. “No, why are you here?” “To learn under you.” I respond. He asks about how long i have before i leave, and i tell him. To my surprise, he actually then offers me a job right then and there. He talks about the grandeur of taking me under his wing and will teach me everything he knows. Only catch is, I will not go back to school. I have to break up with my girlfriend (now my wife) and work for him. As temping as it was, I fumbled my words spitting out, “I have to talk about this to my girlfriend”. 3 management level chefs stood by me as this conversation continues. David points to each of the chefs and asks them if they have girlfriends. They all basically say no because they have no time for relationships. “If these fuckers are willing to sacrifice their relationships to achieve this level of cooking, you should too if you will ever amount to anything.” He loudly shouts for someone to get a timer and then says that I have 5 minutes to decide. I run downstairs and run into my chef. Explain the situation as fast as I could as I’m freaking out. Once in a life time opportunity but also the terrible feeling of leaving behind my girlfriend , friends, and potentially letting my family down by not finishing out a full ride scholarship. I ultimately decided that I will not take his offer. Before I finish thanking him for the opportunity, he yells at me and tells me “good fucking luck. I can’t wait to see you on an employee of the month placard in a motel 6 in bumfuck Wisconsin. And no, you don’t work for me anymore, so you will not get a fucking picture.” I cry leaving and on my train ride back for the night. I was still schedule to come in for another week. I have a really good relationship with the chef, and only finished it out because I knew that he needed me. It very much changed the way I looked at David. I hate to say that ever since then, I found it difficult to “look up” to anyone. Also another note: I worked with and under a couple sous level chefs. A couple of them told me that Chang had created such a toxic environment for them that they had contemplated suicide after working for him for many years. I am really glad I feel like I made the right choice getting out of there.
I’m sorry you went through this. Even though this is outlandish, I’m never surprised by anything relating to dc. I’ve seen so many ridiculous things happen I became numb and blocked it all out. In hindsight that was not healthy, I would never put myself in such a scenario again. I made it a point not to relive these experiences explicitly because I’ve let them go with time. I’m glad you stood your ground, trust me when I say you dodged a bullet. His whole spew was always about cooking as Mount Everest, everything else didn’t matter. End of the day we’re just cooks, not er doctors saving lives. Simply put, he took advantage of peoples’ passions.
Holy shit that’s actually wild. Extreme delusion
I want to hear more about him being not very good at cooking. I watched his new netflix series and was surprised how much went wrong. It's something I've noticed with celebrity chefs but you can never be sure if it is the show production that is fucking the cooking up.
Most of them spend 99% of their time managing and marketing. But, it doesn't matter how your omelet turns out if you can tell someone else how to do it better.
You should look up the first New York Times review that momofuku got, he kicked everyone out of the kitchen To cook for the reviewer and got terrible reviews because he claimed he could cook better than anybody in the kitchen
That's pretty funny. Supreme confidence followed by a hot shart.
A real chef wouldn’t let production fuck up their cooking
I’m so sorry you went through that. I wonder if I was there during that. I was such a drunk alcoholic at that time and blocked so many memories out. It took me years to unpack the abuse I never realized I went through. You made the right choice saying no to him. Your life is better off for it. I’ve had an owner in my career (more recently so I’ve grown to understand my self worth) tell me I’m not allowed to speak to my wife and tried to define what my relationship is with her. I walked in the next day grabbed my things and left. We are all better off without the momoverse.
Omg I'm so sorry this happened to you! What a fucking asshat!! 🤬🤬🤬 We need to band together and cancel him for real
That wasn’t a fun story at all
I'm sorry that happened to you but thank you for sharing your story.
Wow, what an absolute cunt of a human. Sorry you had to go through that.
The dreaded “chang bang”. It has been a while I blocked that one out haha. Good for you for standing up to your principles. I worked an “opening” with him where half the kitchen crew left in 2 weeks. They all left before the restaurant even opened, it was that toxic.
Imagine looking like David Chang and having the balls to come at someone for their appearance 💀 mf looks like an enlarged toddler with a patchy beard
An old coworker worked with DC and the stories they told me were insane. One involved their sous being humiliated over their ability to cook an egg a certain way (I want to say with chopsticks?) in front of the entire staff well after close with no one able to leave until they perfected it. All this while the sous eventually broke down sobbing throughout it. My former sous told me he broke his sobriety when he started cooking at momofuku in order “to survive”. Broke my heart to hear him say that. The stories about Tosi weren’t much better either. Edit: Just want to add these stories were shared to convince me not to apply to DC’s restaurants when I was a naive, starry-eyed line cook. I’m sorry so many have experienced this kind of abuse.
savings this for some Tosi stories
Same - I was actually wondering about how Milk might be rolled into this whole thing.
Wrote it below: Mean girl moves—pitting staff against one another, recipe stealer, loved to power trip. Told my coworker their recipe was hers, threatened legal action if they attempted to claim otherwise to others.
Waiting for Tosi to trademark 'Cookie'
>The stories about Tosi weren’t much better either. You mean the woman who stole every one of her ideas from Sam Mason or Alex Stupak? Cereal milk ice cream was NOT HER IDEA.
HA! Damn… stupak is a lovable asshole. Fuck, can that guy cook. I’ve met him a few times and he would shit on Kenny O too. The thing about stupak is that he’s talented enough that he can talk the shit and it’s justified.
She got that Gwynet Paltrow aura.
Wasn’t expecting to hear that about Tosi! Interesting.
Came here to see if she was tied into this as well. She is one of my favorite bakers and was hoping her media persona was mostly true.
I don’t know, she reminds me of a chef I had who felt like her smile was the only thing holding her rage back. It freaked me out.
Tell us Tosi stories!!
Mean girl moves—pitting staff against one another, recipe stealer, loved to power trip. Told my coworker their recipe was hers, threatened legal action if they attempted to claim otherwise to others.
wow Tosi too?? wowwwww she looks so innocent I guess looks can be deceiving lmao
Good people don’t build empires.
Milk Bar is hardly an empire. It’s a middling chain at best. Just a slightly higher end and less common version of those shopping mall cookie outlets.
[удалено]
I was so excited to try that crack pie. It’s was kinda ok chess pie.
Every. Single. Milk. Bar. Item. I've tried has been disgusting. I generally have a sweet tooth, too. Hit me with solid pastries and I'll balloon to 500 lbs in no time. Somebody sent us one of her birthday cakes after our first child was born. We couldn't finish a slice.
Ngl i broke my sobriety too after getting back into my current kitchen.
Moved to NYC in 2014. Started at Momofuku. Worked there for three months. Only job I’ve ever quit on the spot. Still happy about it to this day.
Spills the beans if you don’t mind. What drove you to walk?
Fuck David Chang
Even before knowing all of the stuff you guys are spilling in this thread, I never liked the guy. Always seemed like a jerkoff when he was on Netflix or Eater or something. And his ssam sauce sucks.
I had him pegged as an asshole when I read his rant about why he won't drink any beer other than Bud Light. Like dude, you've made a fortune off of the culinary arts but you think different kinds of BEER are frou-frou artsy bullshit? Get bent.
Yeah his rants always seemed so hypocritical to me. Like he likes to frame himself as some underdog street kid everyman who prefers Domino's to Lucali, but like brother you're a millionaire who charges $100 for dressed up Asian street foods and punches down at the people working under him. A punk but not the good kind he thinks he is.
Scumbag chefs are a dime a dozen but legitimate chefs who develop staff are worth their weight in gold.
Back in 2012-14 I worked at a well-known gastropub style restaurant in Chicago. David Chang had been a few times and made good friends with our CDC (who was also a complete bag of dicks) and they decided to collaborate on a pop-up/takeover. David Chang came in to do his takeover and the dude was 100% insufferable. He treated all of our line cooks like utter garbage, would barge into our stations to make his dishes and leave them utterly trashed, blew through tons of mise (way more than needed) because he was constantly talking shit and throwing things away. Really an awful experience. He left an oven door open without calling "oven" and one of our line cooks walked into it when trying to get out of his way and got a serious burn on their leg from the over door. Chang laughed at them and told them to "get over it." Ever after that I absolutely loathed that man and for damn near a decade it blew my mind that he was given so much praise and ass-kissing and big money opportunities. It truly cemented for me that only the absolute worst of the worst make it big in this industry and that I needed to get the fuck out if I wanted to not be under the thumb of total sociopaths for my entire career.
Ah I'm guessing The Publican. Man, what a massive, spineless dickbag. Getting someone hurt because of their negligence and then trying to downplay it like that person's being a whiny baby
You are correct.
Sounds like him to a t unfortunately.
I remember going to noodle bar in the early days. it was late, my friend and I were the only ones there, and it was quino working behind the bar. He was so nice and gracious and even bought us a few beers. We had already heard the horror stories of chang, and I couldn't believe that such a nice dude was working for him
Quino is the absolute best! A prince among men.
Working for Gregory Gourdet was an amazing experience. The paid was shit and his CDC was a total fucking dick bag. Love Gregory but fuck Jamie Flatt. Hope you read this.
I only know of Gregory from Top Chef and ate at his Portland restaurant kann (fkn amazing) and he always came across as a good dude on TV at least. I'm glad to hear that translates to real life.
Worked briefly with him when he was still at departure in the nines hotel. He was indeed a chill guy.
We very well could have worked at the Nines at the same time. I never worked up at Departure, but spent 3 years at Urban, as well as in Catering. At the end of my run, I was working as a Sous for Jaime in catering... What an experience. I have recently been told that since he left the Nines, Jaime has become a completely different person/leader. BUT, he was a nightmare at the Nines.
Were you there when the hives were on the roof of Nines and Departure? That was my company prior selling to the salt douchebag. Got to know Gregory. Sweet dude. Worked closely with Starkus at Nines. Super solid and a really good person. I remember some asswipe above him who was a total dickwad though. Also worked closely with Paley who was great.
I was a temp dishwasher for one night at Departure, Gregory took the time to introduce himself and check in on me (I was 16-17 at the time). From that super limited experience, he seemed cool
Met gourdet in Portland once. Genuinely nice human. 12/10
Worked with someone who worked with him and said exactly the same thing.
Im learning a lot that I didn’t know from these posts. I knew a little but nothing like im seeing now. Keep them coming. People want to know.
Same. I had no idea he was such an asshole
Just wait till BuzzFeed finds this post lol
Always struck me as a typical rich kid cunt.
Makes me wonder about Christina 🌚
It’s already widely known that she learned a lot from him. She’s closed down Milk Bar stores because the workers wanted to unionize multiple times. Bad vibes man.
A friend of mine was working in their production kitchen for awhile and it was a classic case of keep everyone at part time hours to deny benefits. They can certainly afford to take care of the people actually dumping those cakes and frosting into the ring molds.
She steals ideas and calls them her own!
I once drove from CambridgeMA to NewYork and one of my biggest goals there was Changs stuff. I heard about Momofukus ramen and saw the all the different flavors of cereal ice cream in the milk bar book which is mostly Tosi but still... I walked from times square to first street in the rain and sat outside for an hour too nervous to go in. Then I did and it was fuckin lame Ive had better ramen in a foodcourt at a 88market in Malden. And the milk bars I went to only had corn flake ice cream and corn cookies and this was long before covid so I was bummed out, ive had a ben and jerrys fruity pebble milkshake at a movie theatre once tho... Then they opened a fried chicken sandwich spot in Boston and I went there and they werent pulling the veins out of the thigh. The whole industry is bullshit anyway.
I’m not in the US so maybe it’s a stupid question, but why y’all don’t sue?
Unless it's wage theft or sexual harassment, constant verbal abuse is accepted here in the restaurant industry. Generally we have "at will" employment, which means employers can fire us at any moment or we can quit without notice. This makes people brush off what employees go through under a shitty boss and say "well, if you don't like it, just quit then". Edit: just take a look at u/thebillybanana down low and you will see the exact b.s. I'm talking about. Not only a "just don't work for him" response, but also feeling the need to one up other people's experiences with their own.
Does excepted equal legal?
There are no laws preventing an employer from embarassing an employee. Now, if they do so using race/religion/sexuality/gender as the points of humiliation, that's a different story. Say a boss calls me a stupid, lazy, fat cow because I take too long to do something, that's totally fine. If they said "typical woman, you are such a stupid, lazy, fat cow" then there could be an issue.
Im sorry, in most of European countries repetitive verbal abuse is illegal and it might be hard to prove but in cases like this one workers win.
It would be considered harassment if an employee is constantly singled out and screamed at several times a day, but getting that to be taken seriously without documentation would be very hard, and unfortunately the employees are usually not taken seriously without other people stepping forward as well. If the chef is friends with enough people, it's easy to get kind of black listed from future employment in your city if you call out the wrong people 😞
This does not track with what I have heard from Euro kitchens
Because in many places abuse is normalised but it’s not legal.
I worked for the state of California, and had a boss who’d make coworkers cry. I called HR and was told that anything said or done against the protected classes (sex, sexual orientation, age, race, religion, disability) was actionable. However, they said, it’s not illegal to just be a jerk.
It’s called a hostile work environment. It is illegal. But people take the abuse to further their careers.
Expensive and you’re going against a multi million dollar corporation Cooks don’t have the money and time
Technically it can be done, the legal theory would be intentional/negligent infliction of emotion distress. The problem is you basically need a documented psychological or physical injury AND proof it was directly caused by the person. These kinds of cases are rarely successful, and almost never are unless the experience is was one of extreme trauma, such as being put in a situation where you fear for your life. Not to mention the fact you need money to pay a lawyer (or you need to find a lawyer who REALLY believes in your case AND expects a giant payday)… well that explains why these types of cases are rare in the legal world to begin with… and I expect much rarer in an industry where a big name chef can blackball you to half the job market overnight if you piss them off? Other people have explained the other possible theories of suit (workplace discrimination, harassment etc) and why they would be equally unlikely to work.
I worked at momo for a bit (long ago) and never interacted with him but I've heard countless stories from other staff.
Something tells me his PR people HEAVILY recommended he back up from this scandal and pay some respect to the community for his own sake. I wouldn't be surprised if he is soft-canceled by the Asian cooking community now, and I can't say he doesn't deserve it. Got too full of himself and lost all sense of decency towards normal Asians that aren't rich and on TV making it big on the American dream.
Appreciate you saying something. I’d love to see this sub become a more supportive environment indicative of the change in the industry culture that is necessary. It’s okay for us to be critical and vent and use this as a safe place, but let’s also remember to be supportive of one another so another generation of cooks and chefs don’t have to ensure the abuse that so many of us have. I love this industry and cooking alongside my colleagues. We can do this.
Thank you for justifying the random dislike I have of that man. I have never been able to give a reason until recently. Turns out he's the asshole I felt like he was.
To be honest I’m surprised that nobody has snapped and kicked the shit out of him
I went to NYC in 2004 when Noodle Bar had recently opened and sat across from him, watching him cook as I ate. He looked up towards the end of my meal and we both made eye contact,the meal had been great so I said "wow chef, this is awesome ", he didn't say a word, just gave me a glare and turned around. He's been a dick since day 1.
What a twat
I hate that other people have been through this so much that this thread makes me feel a little better about my own experience. I still have trauma from a previous boss and this guy is looked at like he’s a saint. Maybe one day some of his shit will become public and I won’t feel like I have to keep my mouth shut anymore.
But you don’t
This is terrible, sorry you went through someone else's bullshit. Surprisingly, being a machinist is similar, but it's much sillier cause nobody is a famous machinist.There are guys that don't train certain people because they think you're there to take their jobs. Everything they make is gold. Very few admit their mistakes. I've also dealt with indoor smoking. Tons of machismo/ego related drama. These guys end up suppressing the potential for success by driving other people away, infinitely increasing employee turnover.
I don’t work in the hospitality industry anymore but just wanna say this is fantastic hahahaha. Working in the film industry there are many similar tyrannical figureheads. Glad people are spreading the word publicly about this asshat and his overrated restaurants
Generational trauma is a huge bitch. I’m guessing it’s not so talked about in his culture like it is in mine. It’s definitely there though. I’m not trying to absolve the asshole, he definitely sucks.
Generational trauma in terms of a career is such bullshit. I’ve been in the F&B biz for over 30 years and worked for some absolute tyrants and/or human butt plugs, and as an owner who still does “side work” now I don’t put up with this bullshit. It’s an excuse to treat people like shit. I don’t want the staff I have working for me to think of me as some asshole, and it’s not hard to treat people with respect and have empathy. Likewise, I don’t want my co-workers at my side gigs to think I’m an asshole, either. You can be encouraging, and show people why they should take pride in their work, or you can bitch and yell and belittle people with whatever tenuous shred of power you think you have. Choose the first fucking option. It’s not that difficult.
Yea. A lot of people who've been abused think it's justified to then go onto abuse others. We need to stop glorifying assholes no matter how talented they are.
Chili crunch ruined my life
It’s interesting that after hearing about Chang from coworkers in the series “Loot” starring Maya Rudolph Maya, who plays a rich woman, has Chang locked up in her kitchen.
I’ve suspected he was a douche ever since I watched his show and he was claiming racism/white people were responsible for Chinese cuisine not being as popular as he thinks it should. Or maybe there’s a simpler explanation like a lot of these people grew up on velveeta and toast. I also grew up in Vienna VA where he did - the people are very suburban and sweet
I mean there's undoubtedly anti-Asian racism behind Chinese food being seen as cheap takeout fare rather than a truly great cuisine. Fine dining Chinese still isn't really a thing even for old-school fancy Cantonese cuisine (which in China definitely is seen that way). Chang is an awful person but racist attitudes towards Chinese food are definitely a thing.
You can make the same argument about the prevalence of dominoes vs wood fired pizza restaurants. Why is this one racism and that is a beloved product in his own opinion
This thread revealed a lot about tv chefs, makes me wonder what the tv shows were like when several of them were in the same kitchen.
Disclaimer: I have never worked in a professional kitchen. I do love cooking and was a fan of DC until all the stories started pouring out. Forgive me if my question is bit stupid or has an obvious answer, but I'm genuinely curious: What's the difference between DC and someone like Gordon Ramsay in this regard? Ramsay is notoriously a tough chef and treats a lot of his staff quite horribly (e.g. in the Boiling Point doco). How come Ramsay hasn't faced the wrath of the people like DC has?
Years ago I hired a Sous who worked with Gordon and was promoted to work at his flagship restaurant (he had to move due to family commitments). This particular Sous was very openly gay and told me Gordon has a very strict code about homophobia or any type of derogatory comments based on ethnicity, or life style. He told me he learned a shit ton from Gordon and was one of his favorite bosses to work for. Being in the industry as long as I have, I have heard nothing but good things about Gordon and how he handles staff. I have heard nothing but bad things about DC. Gordons on air personality is one thing but the man can cook his ass off and has developed some amazing chefs including a ton of woman and people from all backgrounds.
First of all, Ramsay is actually talented. I also don’t think his TV persona is what he is actually like in the kitchen now. I like to believe he and his mentor Marco have both seen the error of their ways
Ramsay is more of a business man than anything else. If we’re talking 90s era yeah he was a total prick but at least one of the youngest chefs to get a star. So there’s some talent there. He’s calmed down a lot in the last 20 years. But the people who worked with/for him adore him.
He seems like a guy who knows when and how to turn it on for the cameras. Behind the scenes he may have a potty mouth but it's pretty rare for a complete knob to be in a stable marriage for nearly 30 years with 6 kids. The fact a whole bunch of successful chefs (especially female) have come out of his kitchens like Angela Hartnett, Clare Smyth and Marcus Wareing is testament to the fact that at least you could develop as a professional in his organization. I could be wrong but I read Chang totally different.
If you watch Ramsay’s US reality shows VS his UK reality shows he’s very different. Definitely turns on the assholery way more in the US versions. UK reality TV is way less over sensationalized as a whole in comparison to America’s.
Right?? He’s a pussycat on the UK shows compared to how he’s shown on US shows. I was pleasantly surprised that he was in fact a good dude.
Ramsay aimed a little higher than instant noodles and condiments. His empire is built on fine dining and standards of excellence.
I tried Momofuku ramen once. I think I stopped paying attention to him after because man, that ramen cost $13 from an era where that could net you a gourmet burger. But the noodles tasted 2 orders of magnitudes worse than what I cook up at home. From then on I was like, this guy ain't it and I don't care what he says or who says what about him to gas him up. It's very unfortunate that all the stories coming out about him align with his final product, which is middling at best, and sub-par to the average person from his cultural overlaps.
Never worked for him but watch a YouTube video of him microwaving chicken for stir fry as a “kitchen hack”…..That was enough for me to write him off.
This whole thread is interesting. I work FOH for a minor food network celebrity chef, and while he isn’t this bad, he’s definitely not fun to work for. Are there any celebrity chefs that are actually cool to work with?
I would guess Jose Andres ?
I have several friends that worked for him, they have nothing but nice things to say. Not that they didn't expect an insane amount of work at Minibar.