usa :: new york :: general

[buffalocloud7]

def koronet, know it was mentioned before but its just that good!

http://local.yahoo.com/readreviews?id=11134494

[thelion1856]

thanks for the info whats the dress code at these spots?

how about chill lounging places in NYC to go drinking at during the day light hours, like some after lunch drinking? Somewhere you would go for a chilling remaxing friday day in manhattan, soho or ect.

i fly into NY tommorow night! what about a good bar or lounge on a wensday night?

[DaBestSpoona]

theres a food festival at mitsuwa this weekend, some ramen place from tokyo will have a stall there.

[mizanation]

theres a food festival at mitsuwa this weekend, some ramen place from tokyo will have a stall there.

thanks for the tip, spoona. i'll probably head down there and check it out. do you know which ramen place? please let it be ippuudo.

[DaBestSpoona]

thanks for the tip, spoona. i'll probably head down there and check it out. do you know which ramen place? please let it be ippuudo.

chibaki ya

heres the flyer

http://www.mitsuwanj.com/dealnews/special.htm

[mizanation]

looks good!

haven't had chibaki-ya but it's supposed to be very good shina soba. will be good to have some decent shouyu ramen.

the other stuff looks awesome too!

[corporategrunt]

i can see myself being there trying to eat as much of the stuff as possible and getting extremely sick...i might jet from work early on friday and cross the river, i've ruled out the hamptons this year, might as well as give myself a consolation prize.

[mizanation]

why no hamptons this year?

[corporategrunt]

why no hamptons this year?

Several expensive purchase/activities in planning...

42" TV, DSLR, stereo upgrade, headphone, cordless headphone

trip to LA to attend wedding (plus fucking wedding gift!)

Trip to the homeland + stops at HK and Thailand in the fall

possible quickie trip to somewhere in europe around fall/winter

Gotta cut down on my ramen consumption, meal at Minca runs me 16~18 bucks! I know the weather may not be great for the upcoming weekend, but I'd wish if i had the option to get away from the noise of the city and just sit around a pool or beach and dose off.

In conclusion, I will feed myself ramen (it is comfort food after all)

[corporategrunt]

Pretty big news as fars NYC Ramen scene (if there is such thing) is concerned:

Ippu-do, a very well established chain (not micky ds type) of Hakata-style ramen restaurant is going to be opening a NYC branch in East Village, it is still in process of planning (i think they may have a spot secured). In terms of name value - this one ranks higher than yet to be opened Setaga-ya. Either way, I am appreciating the recent influx...although this means very stiff competition for current popular destinations such as Menkui-tei and Minca.

Ippudo's general menu - w/pics. (each branch has specials, variations etc...but this is the basic backbone)

http://www.ippudo.com/products/index.html

[DaBestSpoona]

I love ippudo, I sneak their ready to make packages through customs

[mizanation]

the ippudo ramen kits? not the instant kind, right?

[DaBestSpoona]

the ippudo ramen kits? not the instant kind, right?

its like fresh ramen, cha shu in vacuum sealed, some goma, broth concentrate, shichimi, etc

2 servings to a kit. I think it was like 7 bucks

[mizanation]

man, i've been wanting to get a hold of those.

[DaBestSpoona]

I wish there was more unique ramen coming to nyc.

I was watching I think vv6 and they showed a ramen place in kanagawa that made healthy ramen. They made hybrid noodles that had flour and konyaku and the broth was made regular tonkotsu style, but they froze it after it was made to scoop out alot of the fat.

I was looking through dancyu, and they showed ramen topped off with curry ice cream, seltzer broths, etc

[mizanation]

yeah, cats here ain't ready for that.

[mizanation]

btw, i went to mitsuwa and checked out that chibakiya ramen. it is really just plain tokyo-style shoyou ramen. real normal stuff.

i ended up getting my next bowl from santouka--toroniku biatch!!!!!!!! ugh, i ate myself silly.

[Chicken]

^ so both were really good?

[mizanation]

both were good. but, at this point in my ramen career, i prefer santouka. i think most other people do too since the line for santouka was always busy and the line for chibakiya was always empty (even though the big deal was that chibakiya came all the way from tokyo to be there).

when i was younger, i really preferred a good shouyu ramen. now, i'm really into tonkotsu. they say that when you become an old man, you will bin all of japan.e able to understand the subtlety of shio ramen. i guess i'm not there yet.

btw, my favorite ramen in all the world, ipuudo, will be opening a store in NYC!!!!

this was in some japanese magazine. i am very happy about this. they make the best tonkotsu i have ever tasted.

[Chicken]

never had ippudo. can't wait to try it.

coming from tokyo, shoyu ramen is the standard for me and i'm pickiest with it, too. so far, none of the shoyu ramen i've had in new york has really done it for me. some of them aren't bad, but none of them takes me to that special place.

speaking of, has anybody tried setagaya, yet?

[mizanation]

haven't tried setagaya, is it open already?

i'm with you chicken. my standards for shouyu ramen are super high. it's much easier to find a decent tonkotsu ramen than a good shouyu ramen. in seattle, we had a place called kouraku which had the best shouyu ramen i've ever had in the united states. any japanese person who lived in seattle during the 80s and early 90s knows what i'm talking about. japanese people would line up around the corner to eat there.

chibakiya just didn't do it for me. i was disappointed.

i had a great shouyu ramen at the tokyo fish market. very tasty fish-based shouyu ramen. it was great.

[polishmike]

Great info from both of you. Carry on with the conversation I'm just writing down all this so I can try even more delicious ramen. We should have a mini meetup at one of those places when it opens.

[mizanation]

^^^ hell yeah. ramen meetup is in order. i'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

[azad]

i havent had proper ramen since i went vegetarian (for nearly five years now), and i can't remember if the base is made from vegetable or animal stock. does this vary from ramen to ramen? if so, which of the aforementioned joints are veghead friendly?

props in advance

[mizanation]

^^^ traditionally, ramen is always made with some sort of animal stock.

usually, the stock is pork, but i've had very good ramen with chicken and fish stock.

at one time, my dream was to create a ramen place that would have an excellent vegetarian ramen--the reason being that i was always sad that my vegetarian, kosher and halal eating friends could not eat ramen. thanks for reminding me, perhaps i will get to work on this.

[polishmike]

It should be possible. My uncle who is an exceptional cook sometimes makes vegetarian soups. He uses a combination of vegetables and herbs for the stock but replaces them with fresh vegetables right before he serves the soup so you don't have to eat them all mushy.

[corporategrunt]

Setaga-ya isn't open yet, they seem to be getting closer to opening - I've been making it a point to walk by the general area in hopes of spotting it being open.

I think Setaga-ya's broth is based off combination of various seafood. Santouka is pork based, Minca is very heavily pork based but they do have a vegetarian option although I have never tried it. I think Menkui-tei uses either chicken or seafood.

The base can be combination of various veggie and animal stock.

[azad]

polishmike, where does your uncle work?

[polishmike]

Not in food industry but cooking is his passion.

[zimzima911]

checked out minca today...i don't know what i had, i just asked the guy making it to give me whatever he liked...it was good, well...7.9/10. i thought the broth was excellent, it had an amazingly robust pork and chili flavor (per request), but i though it definetly lacked acidity and the noodles imo weren't quite up to par. the slices of pork loin in the soup itself were outstanding, they just melted away in my mouth. i really think I lime wedge would have done it truer justice...