The Cocodaq review doesn’t make me want to try it (at all). Fried chicken is always fun, but usually heavy.
As an aside, there’s a Korean fried chicken place near me in NJ that is excellent, and it’s corkage friendly so I can bring my own bubbles. In fact, it was reviewed nine years ago by the NYT. See link below.
Not being a frequent Wells reader, I don’t have an opinion on him.
But I found the review of Cocodaq valuable if true - big place, pushing salt and sugar to the limits and sometimes beyond - no thank you.
Yes, it is a negative review. Not sure I see it as unfair. Was the food not very salty or very sweet?
Not really relevant, but 89 points is a good score for a wine (depending on price), almost a 90. This one star wasn’t almost two stars.
The Lowlife review seemed unfair. Food seem to warrant two or maybe three stars - he seemed to talk strongly and positively about it. He was turned off by the self important airs - not a reason for a one star review (although a valid point). If you put out excellent food, you can’t be one star.
I thought the fried chicken was great. It’s fried chicken; it’s supposed to be salty.
Agreed with Robert, It’s a negative review of a good restaurant. My issue with it is he reviews the restaurant through some weird lens where he picks the lens, which has nothing to do with how the restaurant portrays itself.
I’d appreciate it if it was more factual - should you have a business dinner there? No. A romantic date? Probably not.
But the restaurant is framing itself as a lively place for fried chicken and champagne. And by the way, it is a very affordable (by most standards) champagne list.
He even complains that iced tea and beer are also pairings for chicken – sure – then go to a beer and chicken restaurant instead.
Anecdotal but interesting example. I had a group of friends visiting from San Francisco for a long weekend (we were 8 in total). They dine out often, travel well, and some have reasonable knowledge of wine. I took them to some great restaurants - Chambers, Oiji Mi, Estela, and a couple of others.
Everyone’s favorite of the trip? Coqodaq. Was it because of the food? Probably not. But it was memorable and we had a blast. And we drank a couple of champagne magnums to boot.
I said earlier in the thread that I find food critics not particularly good at critiquing buzzy, popular places. They just aren’t viewing them in the right context. Even the great Jonathan Gold failed at this sometimes, most notably in his review of Majordomo, but Wells was the absolute worst.
It is an interesting question. I would say yes and no.
Obviously the critic has to be professional and not let too many undisclosed idiosyncratic preferences or personal vendettas drive the review.
But, on a broader level, the role of a critic is to engage and support the industry, but not any one restaurant. The counterfactual is that ‘bad’ restaurants are unfairly taking space and attention from someone else who would be working better. So in the best case scenario, the critic is a part of nudging the culture towards that better space.
very smart! and i’ve been thinking about a related aspect: what’s the list of spots pete visited and didn’t review? we only get to read the reviews he publishes, not all the ones that don’t even make the cut in the first place.
Seven good friends and a few Champagne magnums might help explain why you had a blast. 
Your favorite is Popeye’s though.
Are you saying their chicken was not saltier than average? I didn’t find the fried chicken at Atoboy salty so if it’s comparable to that, then the review is incorrect.
Bojangles actually. It’s not any saltier than atoboy imo.
The food was excellent. Chef Alex Leonard was previously the CDC at Blanca and afterwards became the Head of Culinary Development at The Major Food Group. The restaurant was small and underfunded and was struggling a bit in some aspects of service. I just remember them telling me that 80% of all future reservations cancelled after the review. That is the power of NY Times. And as evidenced just by this small microcosmic thread Wells review of Cocodaq is going to cost them business. I am sure they have enough demand to overcome the review.
Wells’s takes on Korean food is pretty cynical lately – it honestly feels like he’s unhappy about a lot of modern Korean places and he just chooses to take them on even it has nothing to do with the restaurant. See his review of Noksu. I guess it’s not surprising he went after Coqodaq? I think he’s just grumpy and he feels like he is an expert on Korean food-- and trust me, anyone who complains about the chicken consumme they serve not being korean enough because they didn’t add ginseng is just someone trying to sound like an expert. Sorry food isn’t traditionally Korean enough for Pete Wells I guess.
Coqodaq is the one place where I will say that the chicken is actually fried perfectly – I’ve been a few times and it’s been horrifyingly uniform on how consistent they got it down. It’s actually incredible, although people may have preferences on whether it’s good or not, but it’s a passion project well done for sure.
The chicken, unfortunately, is quite salty and overly seasoned, especially the glazed ones – I found off dry riesling to be a better pairing than champagne. Bring some Prum with some age and you’re really in business.
Anyway, really fun vibe and space and a great place to drink Champagne, although it might be a better place to drink Riesling honestly, scarily enough. Their Champagne list seems a bit thin last time I went – so hopefully they’ll restock soon?
His grumpiness might spawn from the fact that past 10 years has seen Korean food blow up in popularity and often forget its roots. So he might have a point…
Drop of gochujang and pickled cabbage does not Korean food make.
Perhaps he needs a visit to Korea in that case, food like Coqodaq is extremely common, and haven’t seen something on that level. Although usually not that salty.
He has been trying to drop a lot of “it’s not Korean enough” while totally missing the point on quite a number of reviews it is distressing. For example, chicken and champagne is a thing amongst Koreans – chicken/beer being more popular doesn’t make the idea suddenly not a thing Koreans do, but Pete Wells attempts to implicate Coqodaq with that. And things like this is all over his Korean hit piece articles. It literally feels like he asks one Korean who is behind the times “is this Korean?” and that is the extent of the research.
It is quite distressing to see a non Korean try to tell the world what is Korean and not Korean like he has the full context. I personally think it is inappropriate. He can be grumpy all he wants, just don’t be too dismissive and mischaracterize things, like he often does in the reviews.
Unless your argument is that Korean fried chicken isn’t Korean, then I don’t know what to tell you…
Chicken and Champagne really is not a thing in Korea, unless you are talking about something in the past 10 years, and that is a neo-Korean thing. I think that’s what Wells is going for.
10 years ago you could not find a joint in Seoul that serves Champagne/Chicken. It is a relatively new invention. And it wasn’t invented in Seoul.
It really feels like he is trying to be Jonathan Gold and with shades of his Majordomo review.
Are you sure you can tell me what is Korean and not and then say “ok maybe its neo-Korean since it must be a recent thing”? Wanna talk about how much of Korean food is “neo-Korean”? Or how “authentic” any countries cuisine is and then mock them if they do anything modern that defies your understanding of the culture?
Why are you telling an entire culture to stay in their lane and they cannot innovate or bring in new things? Do you realize how offensive this can come off and where your perspective of this comes from? I will draw the line here on the assumption, but this is exactly how Pete Wells comes off too.
It has nothing to do with who invented what, it just has to do with how its enjoyed. Didn’t know that was being gatekept too and Korean things need to stay “Korean” and only do things invented in Korea. Give me a break.
No, you’re absolutely right.
I only have two things to add to this discussion;
1: @Robert_Dentice is spot on in his review on this thread — this is about fun, food and some good wines. You can have fun with your friends and it’s simply about that. Pete Wells seems to have an issue with a food that is otherwise served as a no fuss, beautiful leftover of the otherwise ugly korean war, being served with caviar and champagne. And i see no issue with that — even being painfully aware of what the past conflicts have cost koreans. The young nouveau riche in seoul are doing it, so as WJ_Lee points out, what is the issue? Young koreans are turning it up with caviar on their chicken too.
2: As i’ve added somewhere on the board here earlier, when it came to Noksu, i really do believe that many of these high end michelin aiming and awarded restaurants are somewhat off, and i agree with the review to a certain extent. The korean kitchen is complex for foreigners to understand and it can be full of contradictions once you’re on the inside of it. It’s even hard for me to start a writing on where it becomes complicated. Will happily explain if asked.
3: These just all seem to be poorly aimed reviews. There’s no real reason for why you’d take on restaurants like these, besides taking them down to the level of what they are “supposed to be”, and aren’t you then keeping stereotypes in check all of a sudden? Seems a little off to me. Shouldn’t any kitchen be allowed to push the limits as to how expensive they can sell a chicken thigh, and then either be glorified or rolled in tar and feather for what they’ve done? And fine if Pete Wells though he was the man to do that, but i’d have a little more respect for a diverse reviewer team who could take that on, so to me this is on the editors of the NYT…
I think his review somewhat screams “oh come on, this place isn’t that good!”, which is an odd way to write a review. Coqodaq is a fun casual place and Pete really should have reviewed it as such. It was always meant to be a more casual part of that empire (like a fun fried chicken version of Shake Shack) with a good Champagne list. I don’t necessarily disagree with some of his conclusions, but he should have taken a better angle on the review.
This isn’t his best work, though I think calls of “Pete Wells is garbage” (not yours, obviously!) are rather bizarre - he’s a critic, not all of his reviews are winners. The memorable reviews are the takedowns*, and not everyone likes their sacred cow slaughtered.
*Luger, Per Se, Guy FIeri
I mean, they were fun but they weren’t Ninja by Frank Bruni
or my favorite Le Cinq by Jay Rayner