The thing about foods like sandwiches, pizzas or noodles is that there's plenty of room for really good versions of it to exist all over New York City. While Totto Ramen and Ippudo seem to have the ramen scene on lockdown, there's no shortage of excellent places to slurp up some noodles. Tabata Noodle is a place to go in Midtown if you want to skip the lines and still have a good bowl.... [Continue reading]

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October 26, 2011 at 4:47 pm

Even after a couple of years of being open in New York, you can still find people on the sidewalks outside of Ippudo around dinner time because the waiting area is too full. It makes sense that this 61-chain international ramen noodle powerhouse would open a second location in New York City, and Crain's has reported that Ippudo has already finalized where this second restaurant would be. While the second location of Ippudo is not slated to open until Winter 2012, you can get your ramen at the original NY location on Fourth Ave. The best time to go is when they open for service. Even at 5:45 though, there was a ten minute wait. Most restaurants are barely open at that hour, but for Ippudo, they're already humming.... [Continue reading]

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September 6, 2011 at 2:10 pm

Some blog readers must hate this: you read about something on a blog and get excited to go, and when you go, everything changed. So this happens to blog writers too. This happened at Hide-Chan Ramen in Midtown East. The takeaway? Awesome bowl of ramen. But the awesomeness I heard about it's Mega Ton bowl, full of porky wonders was nowhere to be found on the menu. A review at SE:NY mentions how you get to choose broth intensity and noodle type. No and no. They also mentioned that they had a great pork toro appetizer for $5. No longer on the menu. Such is the perils of dining in New York City. Seasons come and go, and I bet pork prices went sky high and they can't offer those porky dish and still make money. So that's how the seasonal menu comes in and saves the day for the restaurant. For the dining public though, it's a little misleading about what you can and cannot expect from a restaurant. But having said all of that, I love the ramen here.... [Continue reading]

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October 26, 2010 at 3:06 pm

After being a hater all of last week, it would appear as if my mood turned just like the weather has. And I remembered what Chris wrote about on Midtown Lunch about Totto Ramen. So I went to Totto Ramen with James and Kwan. The thing that caught my attention on the menu was the Totto Extreme Spicy Ramen. Because anything with all those chili signs is my Victoria Secrets. It's the equivalent of food lingerie to me. Spicy? Yes. Super duper extreme spicy? Yes please.... [Continue reading]

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September 21, 2010 at 2:16 pm

The old saying goes, "You can never have too much of a good thing." Before you think about whether you generally agree with that statement, let's apply that phrase to ramen restaurants in the East Village. Ippudo remains my favorite, although I like the straight up simplicity of Rai Rai Ken. And if Minca wasn't all the way by Avenue A, I would visit much more often. With that said, I still believe that you cannot have too much of a good thing, although economic conditions would probably be the main factor determining just how many ramen shops are sustainable in New York. Since I'm open to any new ramen place, when May Chan opened up, I had to go give it a try.... [Continue reading]

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August 19, 2009 at 2:08 am