Back when David Chang’s delivery service, Maple, came to Greenwich Village and the West Village, we noted that the LES and East Village were prime candidates for the next phase of expansion. That moment is now upon us: the service, which delivers daily specials made in a commissary kitchen rather than a restaurant, will be available everywhere below 14th Street starting tomorrow.
fuku
Fuku Starts Delivering, Immediately Breaks Caviar
(Photo: Caviar)
We thought today’s expansion of Maple would be the most exciting delivery news in David Chang’s world (anyone who orders lunch or dinner gets one of Christina Tosi’s “Sugar Shack” cookies, gratis), but an email from Caviar managed to steal its thunder. The haute delivery service is now dispatching Fuku’s spicy fried chicken sandwich and other items from Chang’s budding fast casual chain. But much as there was a line down the block when Fuku first opened in the East Village in June, it proved hard to get our hands on some Fuku fingers this morning.
Photos: Fukuheads Lined Up For the Opening of David Chang’s Fried Chicken Joint
Call us intrepid reporters: we waited in line for 40 minutes today for a first taste of Fuku, the spicy fried chicken joint David Chang just opened in the former Momofuku Ko space at 163 First Avenue, near East 10th Street. The budding chain specializes in one thing: a crunchy, tender, magical chicken sandwich that comes on a steamed potato-bread bun with a fermented-chickpea butter spread, pickles and accompanying hot sauce. The room is a tight squeeze (hence the line twisting out the doorway and around the block this afternoon). But we managed to speak to some customers (all intense David Chang fans). Click through the slideshow to see what they had to say before and after (sometimes during) their first bites. Fuku is open Wednesday through Sunday, from 11am to 4pm.