Eater NY
Little Mad’s young talent and modern, playful menu, criss-crossing multiple types of cuisines, is the beginning of what Hand founder Lee sees as an exploration outside of more traditional east Asian spots from the growing restaurant group. “We’re always focused on what we have in front of us, but we want to broaden our horizons,” Lee says. “Little Mad is a starting point for us to work with more chefs that bring even more diversity to our group.”
July 8, 2021
The Infatuation
At LittleMad, you can add caviar, uni, and/or truffles to every dish, sort of like how you’d add parmesan crisps to a salad at Sweetgreen. But this spot in Nomad from the team behind Atoboy and Her Name is Han is actually pretty casual. The mostly-concrete space has an industrial feel—with scuffed floors, an open kitchen, and a soundtrack that leans heavily on Outkast—and the menu is full of French and Korean-inspired small plates that are meant to be shared. Want a crispy pig ear salad with (optional) Burgundy truffle? Or how about a mandu/chou farci mashup in a silky lobster sabyon with a big dollop of caviar? The correct answer to both of these questions is yes. Bring a friend, share a bunch of things, and be sure to get the bowl of rice packed with caramelized mushrooms and big globs of bone marrow. Maybe even add some uni.
The New Yorker
Bungeo-ppang, a fish-shaped waffle, is a beloved Korean pastry that’s typically stuffed with sweet red-bean paste. At the new NoMad restaurant Little Mad, from the owners of Atomix and Her Name Is Han, the thirty-three-year-old chef Sol Han’s bungeo-ppang is an amuse-bouche made savory with a scallion-laden batter, hollowed of filling and fluffed up in texture. The reinvented fish bun arrives sitting next to a pat of rich seaweed butter, seeming cannily aware of its metamorphosis. “Is it a scallion pancake or bread or a Korean pastry?” Han asked when I spoke to him recently. “I like to say, ‘It’s just a Little Mad.’ ”
September 6, 2021
The Michelin Guide
LittleMäd is making a rather large splash on this unexpected stretch of Madison Avenue. The décor is cool and cutting edge, showcasing the likes of concrete floors and a glass case gleaming with wine bottles. This narrow, industrial space hums with energy from both the young, hard-working team as well as the chatty diners.
Chef Sol Han has created a menu that offers freedom of choice in its à la carte compositions, all of which delight with endless—even some Korean—surprises. The Mäd toast with beef tartare, or the radicchio Treviso, topped with lardo and uni, make for great apps; but barbecue eel rendered as a riff on "galbi" is clearly the shining star. Desserts are limited but the Paris Brest is properly prepared and mustn't be missed.
Time Out
There’s a lot of fun to be had at Little Mad, which opened this past June, and soon landed on our list of the best new restaurants in NYC. There’s the small but bustling open kitchen, where flames occasionally flare up like blazing ribbons, a cute amuse bouche to set the mood, and the most delightful new appetizer we’ve tried in a while.
July 20, 2021
James Beard Foundation
Join JBF Greens for an in-person celebration of our local restaurant community at LittleMad, in NYC’s NoMad neighborhood. Dinner will be an intimate indoor gathering with safety regulations strictly enforced as mandated by local governance.
Chefs Sol Han and Jonathan Culbert will offer an exciting three-course menu that redefines a new American cuisine—one that’s anchored in French techniques while drawing from chef Han’s heritage as a Korean American. Dinner will also include sparkling and still wine pairings from J Vineyards & Winery.
October 20, 2021
The New York Times
We traveled widely and ate avidly as we built the annual list of our favorite restaurants in America. From Oklahoma City to Juncos, Puerto Rico, to Orcas Island off the coast of Washington State, our food reporters, editors and critics found revelatory Ethiopian barbecue, innovative Haitian cooking and possibly the most delicious fried pork sandwich in the United States.
While we love to see a dynamic new dining room open its doors, we’re equally impressed by kitchens that are doing their best work years in. So while some of our picks debuted just this summer, others have been around for decades. The one thing they do have in common: The food is amazing.
These are the 50 restaurants we love most in 2022.
September 19, 2022
Condé Nast Traveller
Descend into one of NoMad’s best underground bars at subterranean Apotheke, a candlelit cocktail den hidden behind an unmarked door. One block up and a few steps down, Patent Pending is a speakeasy hidden behind daytime coffee shop Patent Coffee, which is used in signature cocktails like the rye and absinthe Odd Love. And there’s no reason to cross borders for neighboring flavors: You can experience the best of Koreatown at LittleMad, which offers a prix-fixe feast that starts with a smoky steak tartare, and Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group has replanted its flag with the reopening of his trattoria Maialino (vicino). If you really need that Shake Shack fix, save it for the flight home from JFK. —Adam Robb
November 29, 2022
