Award-winning chef to open Momofuku Noodle Bar at Cosmopolitan this winter

David Chang loves the freedom of Las Vegas.

“Wow, there’s space,” said Chang, whose Momofuku Noodle Bar opened in New York in 2004. “It’s really liberating.”

Chang, whose plaudits include four James Beard Awards and who now has 14 restaurants with various concepts and names, also appreciates that the city’s newer buildings — such as The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, where a Momofuku is expected to open “winter-ish” — don’t have built-in logistical challenges.

“We’re not fighting against the building” in Las Vegas, he said.

The chef, who was chatty and gregarious during a recent interview in a Cosmopolitan penthouse, is a self-professed fan of Las Vegas, for years visiting three to four times a year with a group of friends. Here, he said, they can pursue their own interests.

“They all want to do different things,” Chang said. “I can’t name a city that can account for all specialties. You can do whatever you want here.”

He said his relationship with The Cosmopolitan is promising, in part because both are growing organizations.

“It’s a partner that will see us through to the duration,” he said. “I don’t like doing anything short-term.”

The Las Vegas Momofuku (which means “lucky peach”) won’t be a clone of the New York original, he noted. It’s not Chang’s first restaurant outside New York — he has spots in Washington, D.C., Toronto and Sydney, Australia — and he said he’s learned to export only that which makes sense.

“I’ve learned a lot in Australia, Toronto, anywhere I’ve been,” he said.

The Las Vegas restaurant will likely have some whimsy, such as fried chicken and caviar, a pairing Chang said he was introduced to by renowned chef Wylie Dufresne.

“I think it makes more sense here” than in New York, he said. “When people are here, they can celebrate.”

Two things he said will characterize the restaurant are a dedication to excellence and value.

“If I want to spend 25 bucks, I can have a great meal,” he said.

Chang added his goal for each of his restaurants is to make people happy. No doubt mindful of the tweeting and Snapchatting generation, he said he wants customers to feel like they can’t talk about anything else.

The Cosmopolitan Momofuku will, he said, have an open kitchen and accents of wood, plus a view of the Strip. It’s to be in part of a retail space that was reduced in size.

A Milk Bar restaurant, also under the Momofuku umbrella, also is planned.

“It saves us the trouble of making too much of a dessert program,” Chang quipped.

He said Milk Bar is expected to open at about the same time as Momofuku, but that date remains uncertain.

“It’s up to the gods at this point,” he said. “Right now is the exciting time, because anything seems possible.”

Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at www.reviewjournal.com, and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.