Where Will The Korean French Dip Rank On The Dominique Ansel Scale Of Invention?
Celebrated New York City pastry chef Dominique Ansel has been a whirlwind of invention since rising to fame with the Cronut™ — the hugely ballyhooed croissant-doughnut mash-up that even now, three years later, still draws considerable crowds to his shop in Manhattan's West Village.
Not one to rest on his sugar-dusted laurels, Ansel has continued to push the food-splicing envelope, coming out with all sorts of interesting creations: from the frozen s'more to the "magic soufflé" to the more recent "Egg-Clipse," an open-faced breakfast sandwich combining garlic mashed potatoes, mushroom béchamel and confit egg yolks atop a squid-ink brioche. None have yet to match the sheer viral majesty of his first famous fried pastry. But maybe one day.
His latest hybrid-style invention, the Korean French Dip sandwich, or "KFD," makes its debut later today. This intercontinental melding of meat on bread is a collaboration with chef Deuki Hong of NYC's popular Korean barbecue restaurant Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong. (Hong is also the coauthor, alongside former Food Republic executive editor Matt Rodbard, of the New York Times best-seller Koreatown: A Cookbook.)
Check out our original Food Republic videos featuring both chefs down below.
The new Ansel-Hong creation brings together Hong's slow-roasted prime rib, kimchi, onion and bacon marmalade with Ansel's soft potato bread smothered with garlic butter. It also comes with your choice of jus for dipping: either the shiitake mushroom or spicy serrano variety. Priced at $22, the sandwich will be available to the public beginning at 6 p.m. at Ansel's place on Seventh Avenue.
Where it will ultimately rank on the Dominique Ansel scale of invention (which basically goes from Everything Else to Cronut™) is anyone's guess.
Here's an original Food Republic video of Ansel explaining his Egg-Clipse:
And here's another one with Deuki Hong explaining Korean barbecue:
Dominique Ansel Kitchen
137 7th Avenue South
New York, NY 10014
212-242-5111