从坏孩子到好老板：大厨张大卫变形记

    不过，张大卫自己的态度也经常会招致谴责。他之所以将餐厅命名为“Momofuku”，一方面是因为它在日语中意为“幸运的桃子”，但另外一方面，也是由于它听起来很像“motherfucker”。他的脏话极富传奇色彩（他在《劫后余生》中有一句台词是：“去她妈的，把猪肉放到每一个该死的盘子里。”2009年，他嘲笑美食频道Food Network的名人盖•费尔瑞，说他带着“土鳖的眼镜和蠢到冒泡的袖章”。）接受《财富》杂志（Fortune）采访时，他也会冒出几句脏话，并且乐此不疲。而且，他自己也承认，虽然他一直在努力打磨自己的棱角，但以前他还是经常会对员工大发脾气。《福桃》杂志（Lucky Peach）主编克里斯•因格称：“很明显，张大卫的个性非常突出，而且有多重性格。”2011年，张大卫与来自麦克斯威尼出版社（McSweeney's）的克里斯•因格和彼得•米汉共同创办了美食杂志《福桃》。因格说道：“有人爱他和他的福桃餐厅，肯定就会有人因为各种各样的原因，瞧他不顺眼。”

    另外一个招致批评的原因可能是张大卫的成功完全颠覆了传统。通常情况下，人们从厨艺学校毕业后，会先找一份最底层的工作，毫无怨言地做着帮厨的工作。然后他们得按部就班往上爬，最终成为副主厨，也有可能成为厨师长。张大卫从最好的餐厅进入餐饮业，但他并没有做太长时间，便开始自立门户。他的第一家餐厅就大受欢迎，他本人也迅速打出了自己的名气，并开始创办新餐厅。与其他厨师不同，张大卫没有任何外部投资者；福桃餐厅的资金来源除了他自己的积蓄和银行贷款外，只有他从父亲和父亲的朋友那里借来的130，000美元，还有从哥哥那里借来的一小笔资金。而且，适逢数字化媒体革命的大潮，他推出了《福桃》季刊，但到目前为止，这本杂志却只有印刷版，尚无任何在线内容。如今，第一期杂志已经售罄。张大卫认为，人们想要却得不到，这是“很有趣的事情”。

    而这一切必然会让恪守传统的餐饮业人士心里很不痛快。蒙特利尔著名餐厅Joe Beef（也是张大卫最喜爱的餐厅）的大厨大卫•迈克米兰认为，对张大卫的任何指责都是源于嫉妒心。他说：“就算他在成名之前的个人履历不像大多数人那样，有令人发疯的经历。可无论如何，他做的每一样美食都非常美味，这才是最重要的。”

    张大卫的父母是韩国移民，他本人在弗吉尼亚州长大，大学就读的是美国三一大学（Trinity College），学习宗教专业。他一直钟爱面条，还说每一个韩国人都喜欢面条。从三一大学毕业后，他去了日本教英语。对于拉面的痴迷让他迅速下定决心，进入纽约法国烹饪学院（ French Culinary Institute）学习烹饪。之后，他在丹尼尔•布鲁德和汤姆•克里奇欧等多名大牌厨师手下工作过一段时间。

    26岁的时候，张大卫希望能拥有自己的餐厅。他表示，之所以会有这样的想法，很大程度上是受到911事件的影响。“在那次事件中，我失去了几位好友。所以，我当时就产生了这个想法：‘什么才是真正重要的？’当时，经历失败似乎是个好主意。”2004年，张大卫的面吧开业，他把全部精力都投入到两道最简单的主食：拉面和猪肉包。最初，他只是希望能够撑一年时间，结果他制作的这些有趣（同时也很美味的）食物大受欢迎。2006年，他又开了一家休闲餐厅Momofuku Ssam Bar。这家餐厅的价格更高，最初以一道Bo Ssam闻名。所谓Bo Ssam是指烤猪肘，配以牡蛎，主要针对大型团体消费者。两年后，即2008年，他又开设了Ko餐厅，这是他所有餐厅中价格最高的一家，餐厅仅设12个座位，只提供体验菜单，以难以预订著名。（该餐厅仅接受网络预订，而且必须提前六天预订。）第二年，Ko被评为米其林二星餐厅，并一直保持至今。

    朋友们称，张大卫首次得到媒体关注，并赢得赞誉之后，他感到非常不安。过快成名给他带来了巨大压力，因此，他试图转移外界的注意力。克里斯缇娜•托西在纽约下东区的WD-50餐厅工作时与张大卫相识，并且最终加入福桃餐厅，成为奶品点心铺的主厨兼共有人。她说：“我觉得，在某个时刻，肯定有一位德高望重的人，跟他进行过坦诚交流，并告诉他：‘停止抱怨；做好你的本分。如果人们认为你就是如此不可思议，那就坦然接受。’”之后，张大卫接受了忠告，于是他的成功之路又开始延续：2010年，他开设了Ma Peche餐厅，最初仅提供融合了法国与越南风味的菜品。之后又在悉尼开设了Momofuku Seiobo餐厅。不过，他在多伦多开办的餐厅才是去年最大的成就，可能也是他迄今为止的最大手笔。两年前，新香格里拉酒店（Shangri-La Hotel）的开发商联系张大卫，问他是否愿意在香格里拉旁边建一家餐厅。虽然华盛顿特区、洛杉矶和香港均向他提出过邀请，但他还是选择了多伦多。张大卫称，这笔买卖太划算了，根本不可能拒绝：紧邻一家豪华酒店的一整栋建筑，每一层都有不同风格的餐厅（一层为面吧，二层为Nikai酒吧，三层则是两家餐厅：家常风格的Daisho餐厅和类似于Ko，仅提供体验菜谱的Shoto餐厅。）这样的空间，可以让他在一个场所，分层展示他的餐饮帝国的多样性。他说：“在纽约，甚至整个美国都不会有这样的好机会。”面吧最先开业，在营业第三天便招待了1,000人。（不过，纽约的福桃面吧依然是他最赚钱的餐厅。）

    It could also be Chang's unconventional path to success that rattles critics. Typically, when people finish culinary school they take a bottom-rung job toiling away as a line cook somewhere. They work through the ranks, eventually becoming a sous-chef and then perhaps a chef de cuisine. Chang got right in at the best places and didn't stay for very long before setting out on his own. His rise has been meteoric; as soon as his first restaurant was a hit, he began opening new ones. And unlike other chefs, he has no outside investors; Momofuku has always used its own funds or bank loans, with the exception of a $130,000 loan from his father and his father's friends and a small amount of money Chang borrowed from his brother. And in the midst of the digital media revolution he launched a quarterly magazine, Lucky Peach, which for now exists only in print, none of its content online. The first issue has sold out, and Chang thinks it's "sort of fun" that people cannot get their hands on a copy.

    All of this somewhat expectedly irks culinary traditionalists. David McMillan, co-chef of the noted Joe Beef in Montreal—one of Chang's favorite restaurants—says any Chang backlash is just jealousy. "Okay, his CV from before his rise is not like most guys who have insane records," he says. "But at the end of the day, everything he makes is delicious."

    The son of Korean immigrants, Chang grew up in Virginia and majored in religion at Trinity College. He had always loved noodles, which he says is true of any Korean, and after Trinity he went to Japan to teach English. Once an obsession with ramen hit him full-force, he moved quickly, entering the French Culinary Institute in New York and then doing relatively brief stints at the restaurants of big-deal chefs like Daniel Boulud and Tom Colicchio.

    By the time Chang was 26 he wanted his own place. He says 9/11 had a lot to do with it: "I had some friends who had passed away, so it was like, 'Does anything really matter?' Failing just seemed like a good idea at the time." In 2004, Chang opened Noodle Bar, where he poured himself into two simple staples: ramen bowls and pork buns. His initial hope was just to make it to one year, but the interesting (and delicious) things he was doing caught on. In 2006 he opened Momofuku Ssam Bar, a casual setting with higher prices that initially was known for the Bo Ssam, a whole roasted pork shoulder with oysters, designed for a big group. Only two years later, in 2008, Chang open Ko, his most expensive location, which has 12 seats, serves only a tasting menu, and is a famously difficult destination. (Reservations can only be made online, six days in advance.) Ko received two Michelin stars the following year, which it has kept ever since.

    Friends say that when Chang first began getting press and winning accolades, he was intensely uncomfortable. He stressed over his quick rise and tried to deflect attention. Christina Tosi, who met Chang when she was working at Lower East Side restaurant WD-50 and eventually joined Momofuku and became chef and co-owner of Milk Bar, says, "I think at some point, someone high enough must have real-talked him and said, 'Stop complaining; just do the work. If people think you are this amazing, own it.' " Chang began doing just that, and the march continued: In 2010 he opened Ma Peche, which initially served French-Vietnamese fusion. Then came Momofuku Seiobo in Sydney.

    But it is the Toronto venture that has been his biggest undertaking of the past year and probably his most ambitious project to date. Two years ago the developers of the new Shangri-La Hotel there approached Chang and asked if he'd want to set up a restaurant adjoining their building. Despite having offers in D.C., Los Angeles, and Hong Kong, he went for it. Chang says the deal was too good to pass up: an entire building, next door to a posh hotel, that boasts a different style of restaurant on each floor (first a Noodle Bar, then the bar Nikai above it, and on the third floor the two new restaurants: Daisho, a family-style place, and Shoto, which, like Ko, is tasting-menu-only). The space allows him to put the tiered, multi-faceted approach of his empire under one roof. "You don't get those kinds of offers in New York or the U.S.," he says. Noodle Bar opened first and on its third day served 1,000 people. (Noodle Bar in New York is still Momofuku's highest-earning restaurant.)