Tag Archives: japanese

Flash Deals, Harlem, Ramen, Upper East Side

Yasha Ramen

September 28, 2014 Johnny Prime 2 Comments

My wife and I grabbed a sweet group on deal for this place: $15 gets you $25 worth of food.

Since it was up on 106th/107th, a good hike for us, we made a little trip out of it. There were a few spots around that corner of Central Park that I always wanted to see, as well as the home of Harry Houdini.

Anyway – back to the point… we were able to try three different bowls of ramen. I had the tonkotsu, pork broth with half a seasoned egg and some cha-shu pork. Very tasty:

My wife had the signature ramen, but the spicy version. This is a chicken broth. I liked the kick of the spice, but the chicken based broth over at Totto edges this out a little.

Last was the curry ramen. This bowl came with wavy noodles (the other two were al dente straight noodles, likely alkaline as opposed to egg noodles), as well as a stew-like broth that even had potato and carrot mixed in. Very flavorful and different.

The establishment was spacious, which I liked. Lots of times at these ramen shops I feel like I am bumping elbows with nearby diners. Annoying. And it also gets way too hot in those cramped little shit boxes. This place had high ceilings, a nice big clean bathroom, and enough eating space to feel comfortable, even when fully packed out for lunch crowds, which it was…

Here’s a look at the dude slinging the goods:

YASHA
940 Amsterdam Ave
New York, NY 10025

Commentary

The Ramen Cake

September 24, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

As you may recall, my wife The Cake Dealer made me an amazing steak cake for my birthday a while back. This year, since I was on a big ramen kick, she made me a ramen cake. Pretty fucking amazing. Check out the pics below:

And it was fucking delicious. I’m the luckiest guy in the world.

Chelsea, Food Halls, Ramen

Mokbar

September 24, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Today I officially published my ramen page, and I guess it was off to a good start, because the Mokbar Twitter account responded to my tweet about it, telling me I should give their food a try. I asked for a recommendation, and they suggested the cold brisket ramen in tomato broth. It sounded very enticing, but it was ultimately no longer available (I guess it was a seasonal item). No matter though; the rest of the menu was saliva-inducing anyway, and there were several other things I wanted to try.

The joint is tucked away in a nice little corner of Chelsea Market, a great place to explore and do some food tasting. They basically have bar seating only, but it’s not too cramped. Here’s a look at the table setting and some views of the kitchen:

My wife wanted one of the alcohol slushees, but they were out of those too. Doh! We settled on these:

I ended up ordering the classic pork broth ramen. It had great depth, a strong garlic flavor, firm wavy noodles, and yummy mushrooms. I ordered a poached egg to go with it. They forgot it at first, but the problem was quickly remedied. Take a look:

As you may know, I do not like my scallions cut in this way, but these were easy enough to brush aside, so not a big deal. I wish there was a little bit more pork in the bowl, because it was so damn good!

My wife had the chicken thigh ramen with kimchi cucumber. This was a thicker broth, but the soup itself was lighter than mine.

We also grabbed an order of the kimchi trio. I thought this was a little pricey at $12 for three small dishes of stuff that is typically free at most other Korean joints:

The first was pickled daikon, which was nice and crunchy with great spicy flavor:

Next was kimchi cucumber, also very good, and also in the chicken ramen that my wife had:

Last was a bacon cabbage kimchi, which was really nice and smoky.

The damage was a bit high for a ramen joint, but we did sample a lot of stuff. I thought it was worth it to try something different and unique. I definitely recommend this place for those of you who are looking for a new twist to ramen. Everything was really tasty!

MOKBAR
Chelsea Market
75 9th Ave
New York, NY 10011

Midtown West, Ramen

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.