Momofuku Is Opening a New Manhattan Restaurant

Over the last several months, there has been movement at the space that once housed Momofuku Ko in the East Village, with lights on and bustling inside, despite that David Chang’s restaurant closed last October. While it has been serving as a test kitchen, according to Ryan Healey, VP of brand and marketing for Momofuku, it will eventually transition to a new Momofuku restaurant, run by Paul Carmichael, the company’s Australia-based chef, who’s headed back to New York mid-June, according to the New York Times.

Momofuku CEO Marguerite Zabar Mariscal told the Times, “There’s only two reasons to open a new restaurant. One is having a really great concept. The other, which is much rarer, is a talent like Paul that you can build around.” Healey told Eater that Carmichael is going to be focused on the new restaurant in the Ko space and then he’ll lead culinary development across Momofuku. He could not confirm whether the new restaurant will open this year.

As the Times reported, “The food will be Caribbean, but exactly what form that will take is still in flux.” Carmichael said to the Times he wants to do something representative of the West Indies — something “extremely fun” and “super-tasty.”

Carmichael is the former chef at Momofuku Seiobo in Sydney, Australia, where he cooked Caribbean food celebrated by critics and diners. He took over as Seibo’s chef in 2015; the restaurant, which is located inside a casino, opened in 2011. Seiobo closed in 2021, after which Carmichael began “overseeing operations of the casino’s food venues,” the Times reported.

Carmichael was named Gourmet Traveller magazine’s 2020 Chef of the Year. In an earlier review, Besha Rodell called dining at Seiobo, a “profoundly pleasurable experience.” Her review notes that when the Barbados-native was a teenager, he “spent his free time writing letters to New York City restaurants” before attending the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. It was there that he began his life’s work, digging into the history of African dishes, “tracing the heritage of flavors and the people who brought them to the Caribbean, and focused on how those flavors were melded and reshaped by new ingredients and new generations of cooks.”

Before he took over Seiobo, Carmichael led the kitchen at Momofuku’s Má Pêche, and prior to that, he cooked for Marcus Samuelsson and Wylie Dufresne. Of his cooking at David Chang’s New York-based restaurant, Eater critic Ryan Sutton wrote, “Chef Paul Carmichael’s refined-global fare … is as good as or better than what Momofuku’s more popular Ssäm Bar has been putting out as of late.”

Chang says he hopes Carmichael will mentor a new generation of chefs in his new role at the former Ko space and across the company. “Having him back in the States means more than just being closer to Paul’s food; we want him to build a legacy through mentorship,” he told the Times.

Momofuku has been restructuring as of late, having closed the two-Michelin-starred Ko and Ssäm Bar last year. The closings were part of a reorganization that began when Mariscal became CEO in 2019, which includes shifts in Momofuku’s restaurant concepts and upcoming locations, along with an expansion of its pantry products in stores like Whole Foods and Target. Healey said when Ko closed, “We are pausing Ko as it currently operates and we hope to have something in the new year in this space.”

The transitions have brought their share of challenges. In April, the Guardian and Eater reported the company was embroiled in the chili crunch controversy in which the company had trademarked the name “chili crunch” and sent cease-and-desist letters to small independent companies, provoking an uproar. Some thought Momofuku’s actions were proof that Chang was using his success to box out other Asian entrepreneurs. “Chili crunch has a history that long predates Momofuku’s product,” Homiah’s founder Michelle Tew said after receiving a letter in response to her own chili crunch product. Following the backlash, Chang apologized and responded by announcing that Momofuku would no longer enforce the trademark.

Both Chang and Mariscal have noted in past interviews that Chang is no longer part of the day-to-day of the Momofuku restaurants. This year marks Momofuku’s 20th anniversary: The plan is for Carmichael to play a leading role in shaping the company’s future.