Dale Talde’s Kimchi Fried Rice Will Blow Your Mind | GQ
Photo by Matt Martin
Chef Dale Talde prides himself on cooking defiantly inauthentic Asian-American cuisine. His recipes haven’t been passed down from generation to generation; they’re an amalgamation of who he is, and, crucially, what he likes to put in his belly. “To be honest, it’s just what I like to eat,” he says. “I mean it’s selfish, but I love burgers and nachos and chicken wings, and I also love the comfort of rice with anything.”
That’s why at his restaurant Talde in Brooklyn you’ll see bizarro menu items like pretzel dumplings, breakfast ramen, and his insanely delicious (if unholy) take on pad thai, made with fatty bacon and deep-fried oysters. A few blocks up the road at his after-work bar Pork Slope, he’s serving tater tots, cheeseburgers, and a pork chop banh mi. (Just don’t call what he’s doing “Asian Fusion.”)