Young Korean-American chef cooking up a storm in the Big Apple

New York City, known as the Big Apple, continues to symbolize the great American melting pot, and is full of chic restaurants and eateries that seem to mushroom continuously.

Conventional wisdom says it is not at all easy for a restaurant owner to survive in this dog-eat-dog city, where restaurants continuously come and go.

Yet there is one guy restaurateur who seems to have not only survived but thrived in the city that never sleeps.

David Chang, the Korean-American chef and owner of the three Momofuku restaurants in New York City, is one of the most celebrated young cooks in America.

The 31-year-old chef, praised by the New York Times as a "terrific cook whose integration of Asian flavors and unbound sense of what's delectable make some deliriously enjoyable meals," recently saw his much talked about Manhattan restaurant Momofuku Ssam Bar selected among the world's best by a British magazine.
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Momofuku Ssam Bar was ranked 31st in a list of the top 50 named by the UK's prestigious "Restaurant Magazine."

The list, based on a vote by 837 food critics around the world, has been published each year since 2002.

David Chang's second restaurant, Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village, offers modern, upscale spin-offs of traditional Asian cuisine, specializing in Korean ssam.

Ssam is the Korean word for “things wrapped up” and could also be thought of as Asian-style burritos.

One of the most popular dishes at his restaurant is a kind of Korean ssam -- rice, kimchi, pork and other ingredients wrapped up in lettuce.

Chang always tries to put something innovative and unique on his restaurant menus.

And his life story is no less unique than his carte du jour.

Born to Korean immigrant parents in Virginia, he won a state junior golf championship and received a football college scholarship. Later he entered Trinity Theological College in Massachusetts to study theology.

After graduation, he became a Wall Street man, following his parents' wishes, but just enough to realize that finance was not for him.

Eventually, he registered at the French Culinary Institute in New York City to study cooking. After training at the French Culinary Institute and high-end New York restaurants like Craft and Mercer Kitchen, Chang moved to Japan, where he worked in ramen and soba shops.

Finally, he managed to open his first restaurant in New York City, Momofuku Noodle Bar featuring mixed bibim noodles (vegetables mixed with noodles), soon getting rave reviews for his adventurous cuisine at low prices.

His first restaurant flourished, prompting Chang to open his second restaurant, Momofuku Ssäm Bar, in 2006 and Momofuku Ko early last year.

Coinciding with Ssam Bar's opening, Food & Wine named Chang Best New Chef in 2006.

At the age of 31, he has already been nominated three times for a James Beard Foundation Award, the food industry's highest honor. In 2007, he was named the Beard Foundation's Rising Star Chef of the Year.

David Chang says his dream is to keep making efforts to promote and commercialize Korean food in the United States and eventually around the globe.

By Han Aran