Eddie Huang Shoots Down Tepid Xiao Ye Review in Time Out

Today Time Out New York filed a rather negative two star review of Eddie Huang's new Lower East Side restaurant Xiao Ye. They call him "a cocky pretender to the David Chang throne" adding that "while Chang is a genuine prodigy, Xiao Ye proves that Huang is just a kid with outsize ambitions—and a remarkable knack for grabbing the spotlight." They say there are better potstickers in Chinatown, better noodles at Grand Sichuan, and that his Hainan chicken is "alarmingly pink."

Not one to stand idly by, Huang follows in the footsteps of McNally and responds to "The Magazine for Murray Hill Tourists" on all counts. Read the point by point breakdown, but here's a highlight:

Hate me. That's fine. You don't like me, you don't like the stools, you like David Chang. Fair enough. He wants to be a chef. I just want to cook good food without the establishment. I'm more interested in the culture of eating. And if you can't see that Xiao Ye is my attempt at defining a youth cultural American Born eating experience, then you won't appreciate it...Will I ever win a James Beard Award? No. Do I care? No, I'm guessing he's just another dude who can't tell zha jiang from dan dan.