Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Chorizo challah is not kosher.

Leave it to David Chang to pair Jewish bread with pork sausage and not provide a swine-free alternative.

Welcome to Manhattan’s Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar, the latest in Chang’s East Village empire, which now comprises the rustic Noodle Bar, the more ambitious Ssam Bar and the Michelin two-starred Ko. All serve porky, Asian-spiked American fare at reasonable prices.

Milk Bar, a small annex to Ssam Bar, specializes in my-way- or-the-highway breakfast.

Can you get an egg muffin without bacon? Nope.

Christina Tosi, a 27-year-old pastry chef, is the resident enforcer, and if you do eat hog, you’ll want these stellar creations every day.

Most everything’s under $10.

That bacon muffin makes a mockery of the McDonald’s version. A slow-poached egg is deep-fried, resulting in firm whites and a creamy, pudding-like yolk. The bacon is extra smoky; the onions are caramelized and salty. The bread is covered in black-pepper butter.

You build meals out of small plates at most Momofukus. Here, you only need one dish. That’s how rich the food is.

Ever try Chang’s famous swine-belly buns? At Milk Bar, it gets that deep fried egg. The fatty yolk takes the edge off the sweet hoisin sauce, bringing this dish even closer to perfection.

No Seats

Chang is famous for his minimal seating. At Milk Bar, he outdoes himself: It’s standing room only. Bring comfortable shoes and try the cereal milk. It looks like milk; it tastes like salty Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. Yellow cookies are a dead ringer for Corn Pops. A Volcano is a refined Hot Pocket -- a dense, doughy bread filled with bacon, onions and potato gratin. Tosi is reinventing American fast food for the gourmet set.

Nothing is too sweet. Crack Pie tastes like pecan pie without the cloying finish. Cinnamon buns, drowning in brown butter, skip the saccharine icing that usually defines this dish.

Cookies are crispy on the outside, soft and chewy within. Try the Compost made with kitchen scraps like coffee grounds (for depth of flavor) and potato chips (for crunch). My French-pastry snob mother, who spent 10 years working at a city patisserie, called Tosi’s cookies the best she’s had.

And those sweets are vegetarian. How rare for Momofuku.

Momofuku Bakery & Milk Bar is at 207 Second Ave. at 13th St. Information: http://www.momofuku.com.

Cheap Pizza

Great pizza makers have attitude.

Mathieu Palombino, the chef and owner of Brooklyn’s newly opened Motorino in Williamsburg, says he’s “at the level” of Una Pizza Napoletana, regarded by some as the maker of the city’s best Neapolitan pies.

That’s a big statement, considering Palombino used to work at BLT Fish and Bouley. Neither fancy venue serves pizza.

And based on my analysis, 31-year-old Palombino is dead wrong.

His pizza is much better than Una’s. A recent trip to Una yielded a uniformly soggy Margherita, with almost no discernible tomato.

Try Motorino’s version ($10): house-made mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, basil. The pie’s center is gently soupy. Things get crispier closer toward the crust, which is bubbly and soft. The tomatoes are pink, with just a hint of acid. It passes the heartburn test -- you can drink red wine with it and not risk indigestion. Flakes of pecorino add stinkiness.

For something crunchier, try the prosciutto pie. No sauce weighs down the crust. Just Italian ham cut so thin you can see through it. Olive oil adds a fresh vibrancy.

Real Deal

For something meatier, try the spicy sopressata pie. It tastes like pepperoni. Still need more meat? Get a skewer of creamy sweetbreads, heady lamb, spicy sausage and bacon.

The 65-seat venue is crowded. Pizza this good will attract Manhattanites. It’s just a few stops from Union Square off the L train. A wood-fired oven warms the room. It crisps pies in minutes. Hickory fills the room with sweet smoke.

It may be Brooklyn, but it smells like Vermont.

Motorino is at 319 Graham Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Information: +1-718-599-8899; http://www.motorinopizza.com.

(Ryan Sutton writes about New York City restaurants for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this column: Ryan Sutton in New York at rsutton1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 2, 2008 00:01 EST