David Chang is a d bag? Change my view

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fortheloveofmoar

fortheloveofmoar

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Just watched this thing on David Chang trade marking chili crisp. It could be some framing, but it sounds like he is being a giant D about it… on top of some of the other feedback I read here about David Chang it leads me to believe he is just a giant d bag despite what he portrays on his shows. I’m hoping someone can maybe change my mind?

Also his packaged noodles suck. Fight me.

Edit: otherwise I have nothing else to lead me to one conclusion or another. I’m posting this to hopefully get some more data to arriving at some half baked conclusion off a few things.

 
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fortheloveofmoar said:
David Chang trade marking chili crisp
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eh, i think he has it in for whitey, but he didn't trademark chili crisp, right? you probably can't even trademark that. that falls under "generic product name".

he bought the "chili crunch" trademark from someone else and only after the guy sued him. that's what i heard. and once you own a trademark, you are obligated to aggressively defend it or else you lose it.
 
Being a D-bag is like his trademark. I don't think he would consider this to be an insult. He would just be glad that you knew his brand well.

Full disclosure: I have enjoyed multiple meals at his Las Vegas outpost. They have a wonderful wine list, chosen by someone who gets wine. However, the duck dish had too much five spice in it, for drama. I enjoyed it at the time, but not when I was tasting five spice for the next 24 hours.
 
i don't really like him, but the thing i can't get over is how i keep hearing lately that his food sucks. i just think that's hilarious.

but surely he must have made some good eating experiences somewhere, right? and some of his products must be good?
 
He's a whore.
He spun out the condiment business, raising $17 million from a mediocre firm.
Now his new investors, who overpaid, want to guarantee the return on their investment by bullying smaller brands.
Sad...
 
sansho said:
eh, i think he has it in for whitey, but he didn't trademark chili crisp, right? you probably can't even trademark that. that falls under "generic product name".

he bought the "chili crunch" trademark from someone else and only after the guy sued him. that's what i heard. and once you own a trademark, you are obligated to aggressively defend it or else you lose it.
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Interesting okay, fair point. Thanks for the clarification.
 
M1k3 said:
Maybe this anecdotal evidence will help? 🤷‍♂️

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Yikes….. I mean some of that was just hear say or opinions how they didn’t like him on his show (which is fair, but imo isnt totally credible however it certainly is not a good look and I do think that there is a grain of truth if so many people watching it straight up don’t like him)

But basically all first and second hand experiances says he is a giant d bag….


I think it’s interesting all the comments about the food in his restaurants also being very subpar…. Which makes me think of what the Reddit link said about how he paid to be in a lot of the magazines and things. Not sure if that’s true, but there did seem to be a lot of buzz about David Chang and blah blah blah.

I should have prefaced some things.
1. I hate his packaged noodles they suck.
2. I didn’t really watch his shows. But I saw some in passing and felt meh? I didn’t really care or think about it past that.


I think my conclusion is that his packaged noodles still suck. And I’m not going to be buying his stuff out of personal choice but I won’t be going out of my way to try and convince anyone against buying it if that’s his stuff (other than saying I don’t like his noodles)
 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/food...id-chang-chile-crunch-chili-crisp-turnaround/

“In holding the term crunch as a trademark, Momofuku can be seen as trying to own a piece of Chinese culture and heritage, which is exactly the opposite of what we wanted to achieve,” he said on the podcast. “It can also be seen that we’re trying to squeeze people out of the space and have, you know, trying to be a monopoly and not playing nice.”



Why trademark it then? Oh, right, you're an ******* who got called out. Now you're backtracking and trying to make yourself not seem like an *******!
 
There is one member who shall remain nameless who can answer this very swiftly and accurately… that said, he is a bit of a sack. But to be clear, he has nothing to do with the operations at Momofuku at this point, though I find it extremely humorous that he’s catching all the heat for it.
 
I loved Mind of a Chef and the Momofuku cookbook. I felt like I understood restaurants better after reading Momofuku, which isn't an experience I really had prior to that cookbook. I learned a lot from him. That said, Dave is kind of an odious dude bro and I don't share most of his preferences.
 
the momofuku packaged noodles are just relabeled "a-sha" brand noodles. Asha noodles are pretty good actually IMO just not a good value at the Momofuku price.
 
btbyrd said:
I loved Mind of a Chef and the Momofuku cookbook. I felt like I understood restaurants better after reading Momofuku, which isn't an experience I really had prior to that cookbook. I learned a lot from him. That said, Dave is kind of an odious dude bro and I don't share most of his preferences.
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Alpha stage rockstar chef. Your passion is making food to garner barely intelligible food reviews on social meida / Yelp / book reviews on Amazon / get written up for your vision / and then enjoy the hype around every subsequent turd by which every other turd will be remembered. Maybe if you're lucky, Guy Ferrari shows up. If "the Mind of a Chef" isn't a collection of longform explorations into drug addled debauchery with waitresses with deviated septums, you're lying to yourself and your customers.

David Chang is a D Bag? They're all ****ing d-bags.
 
btbyrd said:
I loved Mind of a Chef and the Momofuku cookbook. I felt like I understood restaurants better after reading Momofuku, which isn't an experience I really had prior to that cookbook. I learned a lot from him. That said, Dave is kind of an odious dude bro and I don't share most of his preferences.
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https://www.amazon.com/Ivy-Restaurant-Its-Recipes/dp/0340693134

will give a better insight into the workings of a restaurant, and

https://www.amazon.com/Fat-Duck-Cookbook-Heston-Blumenthal/dp/160819020X

will give a you a brilliant insight into the mind and motivation of a chef.

Momofuku is a very average ego trip/cookbook, the noodle recipe is crap.
 
Enjoyed the episode so much where he was strolling Vancouver with seth rogen and they smoked a joint every hour or so.
It was more because of Seth (and his laughter) but found it kinda cool that David would appear stoned on tv.
 
I meant the way that the scraps for everything get used for everything else. The tightness and economy of the Noodle Bar menu was impressive to me. This was like 2010 and the world was a lot different back then. Also, Benton's dashi is f-ing delicious. I riff on that all the time. But whatever.

I'm not really looking for insight into how restaurants work. I've read everything Heston's written and have seen every show he's produced several times over. I learned more from Astrance, Alinea, and The French Laundry than I did from the Momofuku cookbook. It was just an early learning experience.
 
Nope, I think you're right.
Never got the hype about him either. Know people who've worked with him, both boh and foh and they all say he's an egotistical d-bag and terrible leader. Heard their stories and it's not pretty.

Made his salad one time at a spot I used to work at lol.
 
have you guys actually ever heard anyone call chili crisp "chili crunch"? i never have, and that's why it was able to be trademarked (not by him, mind you) in the first place.

i love to make fun of the guy, but i seriously don't see the issue.
 
jaydee said:
Enjoyed the episode so much where he was strolling Vancouver with seth rogen and they smoked a joint every hour or so.
It was more because of Seth (and his laughter) but found it kinda cool that David would appear stoned on tv.
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He's pretty notorious for being wasted a lot.

He massively fuched over a KKF chef many years ago. But on the other side of the coin, another KKF chef has a lot of good years at one or two of his places.

The one he opened in DC had a couple KKF chefs through the door. They have differing opinions.
 
parbaked said:
The issue is that their lawyers sent cease and desist letters to competitors who use the name "chili crunch" on their labels...

Anyway looks like they got the message and have decided to NOT enforce any trademark claims...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/food...id-chang-chile-crunch-chili-crisp-turnaround/
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trademarks must be defended.

my point is i don't see anything wrong with that trademark at all. chili crunch is not the generic product name for that food, right?

also, like i said, i believe he only owns the trademark because the previous owner sued him for making a "chili crunch" product, and he just ended up buying it off him.

if i understand the story correctly, i feel sorry for him for effectively not even being able to use the trademark he had to buy. if he doesn't enforce it, he'll lose it, and the money he had to pay for it is wasted.
 
sansho said:
trademarks must be defended.

my point is i don't see anything wrong with that trademark at all. chili crunch is not the generic product name for that food, right?

also, like i said, i believe he only owns the trademark because the previous owner sued him for making a "chili crunch" product, and he just ended up buying it off him.

if i understand the story correctly, i feel sorry for him for effectively not even being able to use the trademark he had to buy. if he doesn't enforce it, he'll lose it, and the money he had to pay for it is wasted.
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The trademark shouldn't have been done in the first place. And defending said trademark, is the complete opposite of what he said his intentions were on his podcast.
 
hrm

what, precisely, is your issue with the trademark? seriously, who of you out there are calling chili crisp "chili crunch"? if someone honestly does this then i'll reconsider my position lol, but i've never heard anyone say that. the trademark office felt the same way when it was trademarked, evidently.

to be clear, if you guys tell me that chlii crunch is a common synonym for chili crisp, i'm willing to accept that i'm ignorant/wrong. i've never heard someone say 'pass the chili crunch' in my life, though.

before this chang fiasco, if someone said chili crunch without context, i would have no idea what they're talking about. is that some kind of candy?
 
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and if he does let the trademark die, he will have effectively granted a favor to other people who wanted to distinguish their chili crisp product by selling under the far, far less common 'chili crunch' moniker.

sure, he's no saint. lol. he's only making it possible for them to continue operating for free after having his arm twisted by the press (for reasons i don't get), but still. he paid for it after being sued, and it sounds like he's lighting that money on fire for the benefit of others even if not by choice.
 
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