从坏孩子到好老板：大厨张大卫变形记

    张大卫（音译：David Chang）是纽约最受欢迎的拉面大厨，但讨厌他的人也不在少数。

    在大众美食网站Eater上，一位不愿署名的评论者如此评论张大卫：“我们还在关注那个家伙吗？他的厨艺跟他的口味和脾气一样糟糕。”网络美食杂志Star Chefs颇具影响力的负责人安托瓦内特•布鲁诺称张大卫“被高估了”。美国掴客网（Gawker）说他是一名“说大话的厨师”，而且“对家人并不友好”。在美食家网站Grub Street上，另外一位评论者则把张大卫称作“黑武士”。

    但张大卫的粉丝们自然不会接受这样的评论。这位35岁的韩裔美国大厨凭借其福桃餐饮集团获得了巨大成功。早在2004年，他在纽约市东村开办了一家无电梯的休闲拉面馆福桃面吧（Momufuku Noodle Bar）。如今他的旗下已有八家餐厅（其中四家开设在海外），另有五家福桃奶品点心铺（Momofuku Milk Bar）。此外，公司还有两家酒吧，分别是多伦多的Nikai酒吧和纽约的Booker & Dax高级酒吧。

    今年秋天，张大卫在多伦多的福桃大楼开业，里面有三家不同的餐厅和一家酒吧，算是他到目前为止的最大手笔。张大卫的产业已经从当初纽约东村一家只有27个座位的拉面馆，发展成拥有500多名员工、出版过两本烹饪图书、一本季刊和一个研发实验室的庞然大物。换句话说，它已经成为一个名符其实的餐饮帝国。如今，张大卫正在全力投入公司运营。然而，对于公司的扩张，他的感受却非常复杂。此外，随着他的餐饮帝国不断发展，这位大厨自身也在经历蜕变，努力接受作为一名美食艺术家和一名商人的双重身份。

    毫无疑问，对于张大卫的批评绝大多数都源自他所取得的成功。每一个行业都存在竞争，但餐饮行业的竞争尤为激烈。凡是住在纽约并且关心美食的人，对于张大卫所带来的刺激肯定记忆犹新。他似乎无处不在：去年，在美国有线电视联播网HBO制作的新奥尔良电视剧《劫后余生》（Treme）中，有他的身影。来自哥本哈根知名餐厅Noma的名厨安东尼•伯尔顿和雷内•雷哲皮与张大卫称兄道弟。玛莎•斯图尔特对他的食物赞不绝口（她在张大卫烹饪图书的封底简介中写道：“有一天，我竟然尝到了张大卫的猪肉包，我感到非常荣幸。”）为了向张大卫致敬，纽约超酷的鸡尾酒餐厅PDT甚至专门推出了一款“张氏热狗”。这是一款经过油炸，包裹培根肉，使用大量韩国泡菜的改良版热狗。

    New York's favorite ramen chef has earned a healthy share of haters.

    "Are we still paying attention to this guy?" asks an anonymous commenter about David Chang on the popular food site Eater. "His cooking is as sloppy as his palate and composition." Antoinette Bruno, the influential head of the online food magazine Star Chefs, has called Chang "overrated." Gawker calls him a "mouthy chef" who "isn't exactly family friendly." Another commenter, on the foodie website Grub Street, calls Chang "Darth Vader."

    Chang's legions of fans, though, appear to disagree. The Korean American chef, 35, has had wild success with Momofuku restaurant group, which he began in 2004 with Momufuku Noodle Bar, a casual walk-up ramen bar in New York City's East Village, and has grown to eight restaurants (four of them outside the U.S.) and five locations of his bakery, Momofuku Milk Bar. The company also has two bars, Nikai in Toronto and the posh Booker and Dax in New York.

    This fall, Chang makes what is perhaps his biggest move yet, opening an all-Momofuku building in Toronto that houses three different restaurants and a bar. What started as a 27-seat East Village ramen joint now boasts more than 500 employees, two cookbooks, a quarterly magazine, and an R&D lab. It is, in other words, a bona fide culinary empire. Chang has mixed feelings about this expansion, even as he bores full-steam ahead—and as his empire grows, the chef is undergoing his own evolution, reconciling his identity as a food artist with his responsibilities as a businessman.

    Much of Chang's criticism comes, no doubt, from his success. Every industry has competition, but the culinary world can be especially vicious. And anyone that lives in New York and cares at all about food has probably suffered from Chang overload at some point. He seems to be everywhere: He appeared on HBO's New Orleans drama Treme last year. He pals around with Anthony Bourdain and Rene Redzepi of the renowned Noma in Copenhagen. Martha Stewart raves about his food ("It was with great pleasure that one day I tasted David Chang's pork buns," she says in a blurb on the back of his cookbook). The über-cool New York cocktail lounge PDT offers the Chang Dog, a deep-fried, bacon-wrapped, kimchi-slathered ode to His Changness.

    But Chang also has an attitude that can invite rebukes. He named his restaurant Momofuku because it means "lucky peach" in Japanese, but also in part because it sounds like "motherfucker." His profanity is the stuff of legend ("fuck her, man … let's put pork in every fucking dish," he says in the appearance on Treme; in 2009 he ridiculed Food Network personality Guy Fieri's "fuckin' sunglasses and that stupid fuckin' armband.") In interviews withFortune he dropped F-bombs with gusto. And by his acknowledgment, Chang has a temper that in the past led him to "explode" at employees, though he is working to soften his edge. "Dave is a big personality, obviously, and a divisive character," says Chris Ying, editor-in-chief of Lucky Peach, the food magazine Chang launched in late 2011 with Ying and Peter Meehan, both of publishing house McSweeney's. "There are people who love him and Momofuku," Ying says, "and then there are people who, for whatever reason, have a problem with him."