Cheezin' it up

After getting to know the new Campo Mike, we thought we’d check in with the original. For those who joined the Columbia community after last December, Mike Wetherbee, former general manager of Campo, was a familiar face on Thursday and Saturday nights Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. This March will mark the end of his first year working in Midtown as the general manager of Má Pêche and Milk Bar, two of the über-trendy Momofuku restaurants. From celeb sightings (he wouldn’t say who) to dishes that satisfy the pickiest foodies, the Momofuku experience is a sure change from Morningside. He’s not in Kansas anymore!

Bwog: We miss you around Columbia. How does your work there compare to managing Campo?

Mike: It’s just a different dynamic. Campo is great—I’m still a partner there so I definitely still have an interest in seeing it succeed. Campo was a neighborhood restaurant near Columbia that catered toward the university as a whole—the students, faculty, sports teams came there a lot.

Campo was also a bunch of different things within the same community—a lot of people just thought it was a club, because they were only there from 1 am to 4 am, while others in the neighborhood had no idea about the nightlife going on. And my experience at Campo was so important because it allowed me to move on from this and operate at a higher level.

Bwog: How do the clienteles compare?

Mike: The clientele is definitely different – people that come to Momofuku and Má Pêche are foodies—they watch food network; they watch top chef. There are a lot of celebrities that come in.

But I still have so many connections in the Columbia community: People that used to come to Campo—some that have now graduated—come to Midtown to Momofuku. I still have a lot of friends that I made while at Campo that I’m very close to.

Bwog: Favorite dish at each?

Mike:  Má Pêche: The raw bar – oysters, stuff like that. Seafood is one of our strongest items. Campo: The linguini. I’ve lost like forty pounds since I left Campo, because I’m not eating their pasta anymore!

Bwog: What attracted you to the Momofuku restaurants?

Mike: Working for Momofuku has validated for me that you can run a restaurant in a proper way and still make money. It’s about doing things with integrity. The industry notoriously takes advantage of workers, dishwashers especially. We make sure that the lowest level kitchen staff members get full medical and dental insurance, etc. And of course, it’s one of the most “covered” restaurants in the world – it’s on the forefront of food, with a lot of smart young ambitious people reaching new things.

Bwog: Really, we miss Campo parties. Do you host many events at Má Pêche? What’s the nightlife like?

Mike: There isn’t a nightlife scene at the moment. It’s in midtown, so it’s a lot more business-oriented. In the summer, though, we’ll be doing sessions with events throughout the week. It’s all up in the air still. We’re thinking of projecting movies some nights like they do at Bryant Park. We might have a DJ late-night some nights—not like we did at Campo, though.

It won’t be that crazy.

Bwog: No, Mike, it certainly won’t.