Celebrity chef David Chang’s latest contrarian take: BLTs are better with bad tomatoes

Famed chef and food celebrity David Chang is known for hot takes. On his Netflix series Ugly Delicious, he argued that Domino’s pizza was perfectly fine and—more damningly in south Louisiana—that we’ve been doing boiled crawfish all wrong.

Maybe he likes trolling people, but Chang always manages to start debates. His latest: that the traditional BLT is made for lackluster tomatoes, not the ripe and juicy summer tomatoes that are showing up at farmers markets now. He posted his take on Instagram, saying “I adore summer ? season but I think BLT’s taste better with [expletive] hothouse tomatoes than perfectly ripe summer ones. Less juicy, right acidity and texturally better in relation to iceberg lettuce and crisp bacon‬. Keep that ? out of there.”

A bold statement for sure, but it’s likely Chang is keeping up with the recent renaissance of non-fussy, old-school dishes at trendy restaurants—like a fried bologna sandwich at New Orleans’ much-raved-about Turkey & the Wolf or the popular Hot Chicken piled atop plain white bread at Overpass Merchant. Sometimes, a basic BLT is all you need, and you can let those delicious summer tomatoes shine on their own tossed in a bowl with just a little salt and vinegar. New York Magazine‘s Grub Street has more on the topic.

What’s your take? What’s the best tomato for a summer BLT? Let us know in the comments!