Bacon fat, on toast

A few years ago there was a public service announcement that was played on my college radio station several times a day. This PSA was meant to drum up support for programs that feed the homeless. The premise of the ad was that there are thousands of families who can only afford bacon fat on toast for dinner. How awful, I remember thinking. Images of dirty jars of rendered bacon fat spread on heater warmed toast flashed through my head. Where were the fruits and veggies? Where were the nutrients?

Flash forward to the present day.

A little (really, really little actually) restaurant in Manhattan's East Village is making waves with their culinary creations that are delighting diners and have people desperate to dine within its doors.

I am an enormous fan of the chef/owner David Chang's other restaurants, (Momofuku, Momofuku Ssam Bar) and have been very interested in seeing what he was planning to offer on his $85 prix fixe menu. Lots of bloggers have chronicled their meals here and I read one particularly thorough one that described each dish in detail.

Among the diverse and complex offerings was an amuse-bouche that sounded somewhat familiar. I'll leave it The Wandering Eater to to describe this creation.

"Soon after that, came in our second amuse of the evening, housemade English muffins with rendered pork fat and green onions. I’m not really an English muffin person. It’s awfully dry and unpalatable when it comes to the stuff my mom buys from the grocery store. But this sets the standard of how an English muffin should be. Crisp with little nooks and crannies with salty rendered pork fat permeating its tangy, thin core. I wish I have this for breakfast everyday - without getting atherosclerosis."

To sum it up: Bacon fat, on toast.