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Q&A: Joaquin Baca

A made Momofuku man moves on with Brooklyn Star

By Matt Rodbard

Metromix
May 28, 2009

During David Chang's unprecedented empire-building over the past five years, Joaquin Baca was there for every step, taking notes and quietly planning how he would launch a project for himself—a restaurant that would be a casual nod to his native south Texas in his more recently native Williamsburg. And so, Baca's Brooklyn Star has opened in a former pizza shop, where he's keeping the massive brick oven as his main cooking source. But Baca, who also helped launch The Rusty Knot, is hardly an upstart pizzaiolo.

The oven burns hard woods, creating "hot" and "cold" spots on the ancient cooking surface, giving his Southern-kissed dishes a rustic feel. Cornbread and biscuits are freshly baked in cast iron, while whole roasted trout, baked mac-and-cheese and spare ribs are early favorites. The ribs are slow-cooked in beer, aromatics and Dr. Pepper (!), pan-seared in duck fat and finished in the oven for five minutes. A DP deglaze sweetens the deal.

We spoke with the chef about opening week, Williamsburg's need for ramen and David Chang: champion oyster shucker.

Everybody's talking about your wood-burning oven...
It's a great piece of equipment. I've worked with brick ovens before, but there's nothing quite like a wood-burning oven. It's a really organic machine. You have to time everything right—there are some really high zones and really low zones.

In the NYC restaurant scene, cooking over burning wood is mostly equated with Italian or barbecue. You're doing neither...
It's funny, I was reading a blog and somebody in the comments wrote that they were pleased an ex-Momo guy was opening a place in his neighborhood, but were disappointed that nothing on the menu made them think we would be using the wood oven. My family is cattle ranchers in south Texas, and they cook everything in these big wood grills. They'll cook all the shit on them. It's not just bread and pizza.

How did the opening weekend go?
It's been mellow. Everybody was at the beach or out of town. Which is kind of perfect. Slow and quiet, with time to iron out the kinks. We still don't have our liquor license. We have approval from the SLA, but are still waiting on the Department of Buildings. Coordinating all the acronyms is a pain in the ass. We should be a couple weeks ago. Three weeks out. A month out. Not too long.

What are some early favorite dishes?
Dr. Pepper ribs. Whole trout. Cornbread. Everybody orders the cornbread.

Mac-and-cheese is a staple of Southern cooking, a staple that's often totally botched. Why is yours special?
I poached an idea from Peter Serpico at Momofuku Ko. We were having a family meal one time and he made his mom's mac-and-cheese. She does this thing where she spreads a layer of béchamel over the mac, and then adds more cheese and bread crumbs. It creates this great creamy layer. Our oven gives it a nice crust as well.

What's up with your barbecue raw oysters?
We're serving a raw oyster with a vinegar barbecue sauce. Originally I was going to bake them, but really I prefer a nice cool, raw oyster. At Momofuku we developed a very strong pride for properly shucking oysters—every cook who has come through Noodle or Saam Bar is dragged through the wringer.

What's your relationship with David Chang?
Everything is cool with everybody. It was an amicable departure.

Did you ever think you'd beat him to Brooklyn?
I've been living in Brooklyn since I moved here, and whenever me and Chang were talking about new spots it would come up. I don't think it's a race. They like their neighborhood and like everything consolidated. So I'd be surprised if they moved to Brooklyn.

How would Momofuku work in Brooklyn?
I was always pushing for a straight-up noodle bar on Bedford—with just ramen and pork buns. We would kill it. I'm bummed that I can't find any decent ramen around here. Or any ramen at that. I would settle for bad ramen at this point.