About starting a new restaurant, Dave Chang explains: "Trying not to use Italian ingredients to make Italian food is sort of the unwritten rule." Here is one opening dishes to feast one's eyes until one can get to Momofuku Nishi: (pictured above)
Cacio e pepe is one of Italy's most classic pastas, preceding the arrival of tomatoes in Europe and deriving its power from its simplicity. Nishi's ceci e pepe is an ingenious take that forgoes the essential cheese, Pecorino Romano, substituting instead Momofuku's proprietary hozon, a miso alternative made from fermented chickpeas. “You cannot make cacio e pepe better,” says Chang. "We have too much respect for Italian food to do that dish. We wanted a dish no one else can make.”