Ippudo (west side)

September 23, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I’ve tried almost everything here except for the Hakata classic, which I definitely need to get down on at some point soon.

First off, this place has an excellent selection of Japanese beers and cocktails. I have a photo somewhere… let me see if I can find it:

Next, a great assortment of apps and small plates to get the belly ready for ramen. We had some octopus items (Tako & Eringi Karaage), some fried fish, and spicy bacon shit (Pork Teppan).

Now on to the ramen. First is spicy Karaka-men with added pork belly. This was a great bowl of food:

Akamaru. A little thin on pork meat in my opinion, but tasty.

Torishio. My wife had this; a bit thin for my liking, but had good flavor and was light.

Yup. I even tried the veggie ramen. Definitely a soy sauce base with mushroom flavor, and small portion size.

IPPUDO WEST
321 W 51st St
New York, NY 10019

Midtown East, Ramen

Menchanko-Tei

September 23, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

After having a few good bowls at Menkui-Tei, I figured I would try this other hyphenated place in midtown closer to my wife’s office. She had been here before and said it was good, but this day we both had sub-par bowls. The broth was a little bland and watery. I also saw one of the servers pull something out of a bowl with his fingers (carefully, mind you) before putting the bowl in front of a patron. Yuck. I hope those hands were clean!

Anyway, the neat thing about this place is you can get a lunch meal with a side bowl of rice and pork. A bit too much food though, as the ramen portions are large.

I had the regular pork ramen:

My wife had the Kurobuta pork, a better quality meat for an up charge, yet my slices tasted better than hers. Go figure.

MENCHANKO-TEI
131 E 45th St
New York, NY 10017

Midtown West, Ramen

Sapporo

September 23, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

UPDATE: THIS PLACE IS CLOSED

Sapporo is a small ramen joint I found on 49th Street nearby my office. I went one day after work for a quick slurp. It was not to my standards, but passable nonetheless if you are in a bind and need a fix. I had the Sapporo Special:

On the plus side, they had a decent happy hour, which I took advantage of:

On a quick lunch visit with my wife, I tried the curry ramen. It was extremely salty, and I thought maybe the broth was made by just watering down their curry sauce from the rice dishes. The other components like noodles and toppings were all pretty good, though I wasn’t blown away by the two slices of chicken.

My wife had the winning dish, which was a cold noodle version of the tan tan men ramen. The noodles had what could best be described as a nori-infused fish sauce on them. Very tasty, and this was a big dish for $15.

SAPPORO
152 W 49th St
New York, NY 10019

Midtown West, Ramen

Totto

September 23, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Totto and Totto II essentially have the exact same menu; chicken or miso based. I actually enjoyed the ramen more at Totto II than here at the original location, but I could deb going bonkers in thinking there is a difference in taste. Here’s a shot of the mega ramen from Totto, along with a little shot of the kitchen.

As you may have guessed from my review of Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop, I do not like the way these green onions are sliced (though these are still not as bad as Ivan). Aside from that, mega ramen might be one of the best bowls around.

TOTTO – HELL’S KITCHEN
464 W 51st St
New York, NY 10019

TOTTO – MIDTOWN WEST
248 E 52nd St
New York, NY 10022

Midtown West, Ramen

Terakawa (Hell’s Kitchen)

September 23, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

The Hell’s Kitchen version of this joint is slightly better, in my opinion, than the Flatiron spot. Admittedly, though, went to the Flatiron spot after eating Maialino’s “Roman Ramen,” so I may have to go back there another time, as my taste buds may have been spoiled by the awesomeness at Maialino.

There is seating only for 11 or 12 people. At times there is a short line, but nothing too insane.

The food here is very cost friendly, and the portions are generous. I haven’t had a bad bowl yet, though I still give the edge to Menkui-Tei in this ‘hood for personal preference.

Shoyu ramen:

Another bowl of Terakawa ramen:

The Ma-Yu black garlic ramen is MUCH better here than at the flatiron location. Beautiful.

The “whopper” bowl is amazingly huge. It comes with tons of wavy egg noodles, all the fixings from the Terakawa ramen (ginger, mushrooms, LOTS of sliced pork, scallions, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts), the black garlic oil seasonings from the Ma-Yu ramen, a full boiled egg and fresh cabbage. This is a fuckload of food to eat for only $14!!! The shit was mounded high like a mountain peak, and nearly overflowing.

On a subsequent visit, I was happy to see that the restaurant switched from the circular pork roll style meat to legit slab pork belly. They also swapped the noodles in the massive “whopper” bowl to a larger, thicker noodle that was a nice, welcome change!

TERAKAWA
885C 9th Ave
New York, NY 10019

Ramen, West Village

Ramen-Ya

September 23, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My buddy and I came here on a whim one night to give their ramen a try. I had the miso tonkatsu. I typically don’t get miso based broth, but I felt like mixing it up a little. It was pretty good. Nice and rich.

My buddy had the shio black tonkatsu. Definitely more earthy due to the black garlic and more pungent aroma.

We also split an order of gyoza:

I’d definitely head back there to try the chicken paitan ramen and maybe the shoyu tonkatsu as well.

RAMEN-YA
181 West 4th St
New York, NY 10014

Midtown West, Ramen

Ajisen Ramen

September 23, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I don’t often review any restaurants besides steak joints, so this is something special. I like this joint even though it doesn’t score high marks. I ate here twice, with my second time being yesterday. The noodle bowls are great, tasty and filling. My wife and I tried the miso ramen, the Ajisen Deluxe + spicy (with sliced pork and tender rib), and the seafood ramen (the least tasty one of the three). The tender rib was the best part of the meal – very juicy. We also had some bubble tea, squid balls (yummy!) for an app, and the crispy tofu app (not very crispy at all). The sliced soft boiled egg served with each bowl is delicious. The bills came in under $30 each time.

AJISEN
136 W 28th St
New York, NY 10001

Midtown West, Ramen

Menkui-Tei

September 23, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Ise Menkui-Tei is one of my top ramen spots at the moment, and the reason is pretty simple: you can order very specifically: meaning you can designate the firmness or softness of your noodles, and the strength or thickness of your broth. I have been getting the Hakata ramen (pork bone broth) with firm noodles and strong broth. This seems to produce the best tasting of the pork tonkotsu varietals.

My wife tried a seafood ramen here (Chan Pon) that sounded awesome on paper, but the cabbage ultimately made the broth too watery and bland.

Best bet: stick to my ordering instructions above and you’ll be happy. At under $9 per bowl, this place is a keeper. Also, the add-ons are pretty cheap too, like extra noodles or egg. By the way – stick to the regular egg. The seasoned egg has a sweet pickle flavor that doesn’t match well with the ramen broth.

Here’s a shot of the pan fried dumplings. Pretty good!

But remember: you are here for the ramen. STAY FOCUSED!

And FYI, you may want to try the unique black sesame ramen:

MENKUI-TEI
58 W 56th St
New York, NY 10019

Food Halls, Midtown West, Ramen

Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop

September 22, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This shop is in the Gotham West Market food hall.

My wife and I tried the Shio and Shoyu styles. They were both good, but they contained green onion cut in such a way that it became overbearing and difficult to pluck off of the noodles. I like a standard cross cut to my scallions. This “long ways” cut sucks. The soup base was good, on the other hand, and the rye noodles were delicious.

One interesting item added recently is the 8am Breakfast Ramen. The broth is a cheese fondue. The rye noodles are topped with crispy ham, scallions and strips of cooked scrambled egg.

The fondue is thick, and the flavor profile is definitely “American breakfast,” so it has familiarity.

IVAN RAMEN SLURP SHOP
Gotham West Market
600 11th Ave
New York, NY 10036

Lower East Side/Chinatown, Ramen

Bassanova Ramen

September 22, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

NOTE: THIS PLACE IS NOW CLOSED

Tondaku Green Curry Ramen at Bassanova in Chinatown (Mott Street). Different, but really good. More greenery than you would normally expect but it really works. $15. Egg was extra.