ramen dish from Momofuku Noodle Bar Chang started attending the French Culinary Institute (FCI)—now known as the
International Culinary Center—in
New York City in 2000. While he was training, he also worked part-time at Mercer Kitchen in
Manhattan and got a job answering phones at Tom Colicchio's Craft restaurant. Chang stayed at Craft for two years and then moved to Japan to work at a small
soba shop, followed by a restaurant in
Tokyo's
Park Hyatt Hotel. Upon returning to the U.S., Chang worked at
Café Boulud, where his idol, Alex Lee, had worked. But Chang soon grew "completely dissatisfied with the whole fine dining scene". In 2004, Chang opened his first restaurant, Momofuku Noodle Bar in the
East Village. Chang's website states
momofuku means "lucky peach", but the restaurant also shares a name with
Momofuku Ando—the inventor of
instant noodles. In August 2006, Chang's second restaurant, Momofuku Ssäm Bar, opened a few blocks away.
The Infatuation rated it a high 8.4/10, calling the menu "inventive, exciting, and different." In March 2008, Chang opened Momofuku Ko, a 12-seat restaurant that takes reservations ten days in advance, online only, on a first-come-first-served basis. Later that year, Chang expanded Momofuku Ssäm Bar into an adjacent space with his colleague
Christina Tosi, whom he had hired to run Momofuku's pastry program. They named the new space Momofuku Milk Bar, serving soft serve, along with cookies, pies, cakes and other treats, many of these inspired by foods Tosi had as a child. In May 2009, it was reported that Momofuku Milk Bar's
Crack Pie,
Cereal Milk, and Compost Cookies were in the process of being trademarked. In October 2009, Chang and former
New York Times food writer Peter Meehan published
Momofuku, a highly anticipated cookbook containing detailed recipes from Chang's restaurants. In May 2010, Chang opened Má Pêche in midtown Manhattan. In November 2010, Chang announced the opening of his first restaurant outside the US in
Sydney, Australia. Momofuku Seiōbo opened in October 2011 at the redeveloped
Star City Casino in
Pyrmont, New South Wales. In an article with the Sydney Morning Herald, Chang was quoted as saying: "I've just fallen in love with Australia. I'm just fascinated by the food scene in Sydney and
Melbourne. People are excited about food in Australia. It's fresh and it's energetic." The restaurant was awarded three hats from the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide in its first year and was named Best New Restaurant. In March 2011, Chang announced that he would be bringing Momofuku to
Toronto, and opened it in late 2012. The restaurant is located in a three-story glass cube in the heart of downtown Toronto. Momofuku Toronto is made up of three restaurants, Noodle Bar, Daishō and Shōtō, as well as a bar, Nikai. Daishō and Shōtō closed in late 2017, and the space was refurbished. A new Momofuku restaurant, Kojin, opened in the space in 2018. Chang launched Fuku, a chain of fast food restaurants specializing in fried chicken sandwiches, in June 2015. In 2016, Chang launched his first digital-only restaurant, which offers a menu only for delivery in Midtown East and takes orders taken via an app named
Ando. Later in 2016, Chang participated in a project hosted by a Silicon Valley startup named Impossible Foods. He prepared food that was later added on the menu of one of his restaurants, Momofuku Nishi, as a partnership between Impossible Foods and David Chang. In July 2017, Chang announced the opening of his first West Coast restaurant in
Los Angeles. The restaurant, Majordomo, opened in January 2018. In May 2017, Chang announced the opening of a new restaurant at the
Hudson Yards development in New York. In June 2018, Má Pêche closed after operating for 8 years. On December 30, 2019, Chang opened the 250-seat Majordomo Meat & Fish restaurant in
The Palazzo tower of
The Venetian Las Vegas. In March 2020, in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic, Momofuku restaurant group made the decision to temporarily close its restaurants. Later that year, they decided to consolidate some restaurants, and permanently close Momofuku Nishi in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, and Momofuku CCDC in
Washington, D.C. In 2021 they also closed Momofuku Seiōbo in
Sydney. Chang's Majordomo and Moon Palace closed at Palazzo on June 6, 2022. Momofuku Ssäm Bar closed September 30, 2023. Chang's two-Michelin starred restaurant Momofuku Ko, located in New York, New York, closed on November 4, 2023. ==Media career==