Inside the Revamped Ssam Bar and its Duckaholic Lunch

Grid View

• Are those...backs?! on those stools?
• Ducks roasting, dripping fat onto the potatoes below.
• Rotisserie duck over rice.
• Clockwise from top: Duck dumpling soup, fingerling potatoes, chive pancakes, duck sandwich.
• Broccoli salad with smoked eel vinaigrette, duck bun.
• The menu

The latest iteration of Ssam Bar has arrived. The burrito shop that grew into a real restaurant that launched a bakery chain reopened the back room area today after two weeks of renovation. They have a whole new look, setup, and obsession.

The space, which until two weeks ago was home to Momofuku Milk Bar, is now comprised of a long ordering counter—which will double as a bar at night—an open kitchen with a rotisserie duck station, and a series of high tables, lined with stools that have backs. Service is now counter-style.

Starting today they're serving a weekday lunch there of a la carte, mostly duck-centric items, including rotisserie duck over rice with bibb lettuce and chive pancakes, an almost banh mi-like duck sandwich with three kinds of duck meat, duck dumpling soup, duck buns, broccoli salad with smoked eel vinaigrette, and ham, pickles, and potatoes. The main Ssam Bar space is used at lunch only for Bo Ssams and as spillover when the annex space fills up.

Why duck? Chef Ryan Miller says its the Ssam Bar kitchen staff's favorite protein, and that it's easier do make great food and get creative when you focus on one thing. The menu should stay in this form for at least a couple more weeks before the chefs make any new additions.
· Momofuku Ssam Adds Duck Lunch, Full Bar in Milk Bar Space [~ENY~]