Celebrity chef David Chang blasts Costco's famous $4.99 rotisserie chicken as 'inedible' and 'disgusting'

The culinary media mogul who founded Momofuku restaurant company and owns fast-casual fried chicken brand Fuku slammed the product as 'not seasoned.'

• Celebrity chef David Chang, founder of the Momofuku restaurant company, hosts a podcast.
• This week, he talked about a trip to Costco, and noted how he dislikes the chain's rotisserie chicken.
• He said the popular chicken lacks seasoning, making it "inedible" when eaten cold. 

Culinary media mogul David Chang is a fan of Domino's pizza, but when it comes to Costco's famous rotisserie chicken, it's a hard pass. 

"I think the Costco chicken is the worst rotisserie chicken," he said during his latest "The Dave Chang Show" podcast. "They're not good. They're not seasoned."

Chang, who owns the fast-casual fried chicken brand Fuku, criticized Costco's popular cooked birds during a January 9 episode titled "Dave Chang Goes to Costco and Unraveling the Truffle Conundrum." 

The Momofuku restaurant company founder spent a good chunk of the nearly 2-hour podcast ranting and raving, but mostly ranting, about Costco. He noted how the meat selections are shockingly cheap, which led to a shaming session of Costco's famed rotisserie chicken.

He said lack of seasoning makes it "inedible" when eaten cold.

"There's something about all the nitrates and all the crap they pump into the chicken that makes the chicken breast even more disgusting the next day when it's cold," he said. "It's gotta taste good cold."

Costco declined to respond to Insider's request for comment. Notably, the retailer calls its product "Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken," and "seasoning" is listed on the ingredient label.

Chang, whose media firm is Majordomo Media, also poked fun at the crowds of shoppers waiting for hot chickens to be stocked under the heat lamps. 

"It's like a Gold Rush jailbreak," he said. "It's like they're doing commodity trading in Chicago. I was like, 'What is going on?'"

The James Beard honored chef, who in the same show expressed his admiration for Domino's pizza, said, "Eighty billion chickens are processed in the world. I think every year 40 billion of them are because of Costco." 

Costco does sell a lot of chicken. In 2019 Costco opened a $450 million facility in Nebraska, which processes about 2 million chickens a week. 

"I mean, it is $4.99 or $5.99. If I were a weightlifter on Atkins, I would just be buying that nonstop."

So, which supermarket has good rotisserie chicken?

"Sprouts Alhambra has the best rotisserie chicken I've ever had in a grocery store," Chang said, referring to a city near Los Angeles, California.

The chicken wasn't the only meat scrutinized.

Chang pointed to Costco's tempting value proposition regarding meats, especially the brisket.

But he questioned how Costco could sell it at such a low price. "I bought a brisket – $49. The prime brisket. It should be $149. If you bought that at Whole Foods, it would be 150 bucks."