Mecha Noodle, Fairfield

Best new restaurant in Connecticut? Mecha Noodle in Fairfield is not high-end, but their amazing dishes, reminiscent of Momofuku in NYC, are consistent and delicious.

We have been there twice - this time we had a selection of appetizers. Last time we tried their ramen - which was awesome.

Their pork buns are nearly as good as Momofuku - only the quality of the bun is a little better at the latter (I think its the bacon fat they put in there).

Ssam, mushroom dumplings, duck bao, charred octopus...all good.

I will be back soon - probably for the pho or the banh mi sandwich. But pretty much everything on the menu sounds delicious, and so far nothing has not lived up to the hype.

Jonah Crab Claws

Tried some Jonah Crab Claws ala Momofuku the other day. Good, but a lot of work. I think cold is better than hot...the meat comes out more easily. I still prefer lobster to crab, I think, except that I love those summertime soft shells...

Momofuku Milk Bar

Stopped at the Momofuku Milk Bar in Williamsburgh the other day, and had their pork bun (see below), which was excellent. However, the use of shredded pork instead of pork belly definitely makes a difference. I must say I prefer the original. However, according to the servers, there is no real way to do it with belly, since these little outposts of Momofuku are really just to sell their baked goods, etc. It seems to me to be a problem with this method of franschising out, even if these outposts stay only in NYC.

I'm a huge fan of Momofuku (see this article I wrote), and I want to see it expand everywhere. It is delicious, delicious food. But I'm not sure this model is working. Sure, the cookies we had were amazing, and they have all the Christina Tosi baked goods and cereal milk, etc. But I wonder if this will harm the brand by messing with expectations like this.