Trip to NYC (September 2010)...Ramen lunch at Ippudo NY

In this trip, I was really interested in visiting at least one Japanese ramen restaurant, since I hear ramen scene is so hot in NYC right now. Many friends suggested I should go to Momofuku Noodle Bar, but my priority was a real Japanese ramen restaurant (straight from Japan) this time. When I have more time next time, I would love to go to Momofuku.


The Japanese friend I had lunch with yesterday said the very famous Hakata-style (from Fukuoka of Kyushu Island, Japan) ramen house, Hide-chan opened recently and it’s his current favorite ramen restaurant. So I went there before noon, but they were not open for lunch yet (they open at 12pm), and I didn't want to wait for 15 minutes to be the first customer to come in (I felt a little too shy for that).


So, I switched to my plan B and went down to East Village to Ippudo NY. Ippudo is also known for Fukuoka's "tonkotsu" (pork broth) style ramen and opened its first US location in Manhattan a couple of years ago. Ippudo has so many locations all over in Japan and is still growing.


Unlike what we have in Japan, Ippudo NYC has the very modern/ hip ambience. There are even nicely-dressed hostesses at the reception. I came in just around 12pm and the large dining area was already packed and I had to wait. Later on, the wait became so much bigger. The dining area is so lively and fun.


The menu prices are much more expensive than Japanese original, but they are still very affordable. I had their signature Shiromaru Hakata Classic with the side of Bakudan (homemade spicy paste). The taste was really nice and very much the same as what they do in Japan, except that I heard they shortened the noodle length for this location to cater the American audience. Japanese people are used to slurp long noodles, but American people tend to have more difficult time with the very long noodles.


The audience was mostly local American people as well as Japanese people. I was so impressed that they made this restaurant very New York style without compromising the quality of the food they serve. And it has blended in the local food culture.

Trip to NYC (September 2010)...Dinner at Tartinery

2nd evening in NYC...

I came back to the hotel room to meet up with my friend (whom I came along and she had to work full day) and her mom (she also came to stay with us from San Jose). We got ready and left for dinner.

　
We went to Tartinery in Nolita. It’s a relatively new restaurant, which specializes in French tartines. Our reservation was 7pm and the space filled up soon after. It’s a casual bistro and most dishes are good for sharing.

　
We started with “non-French” appetizers. Buffalo mozzarella with tomatoes, and Iberico jamon. Both were quite generous portions. Iberico jamon was especially nice.

　　　
Tartines were quite big. Every tartine comes with a bowl of salad. We had ratatouille, crottin (warm goat cheese and frisee), and house-made foie gras with sea salt and fig jam. Their bread is from the famous Paris bakery, Poilane. They were really good tartines.

Wines are mostly casual-style and the selection is not big. It was a good meal, and I thought it’s a nice place to stop by for a snack or meal.

Trip to NYC (September 2010)...Soba Totto to Eataly

On the second day morning of my NYC visit, I was still so full from the previous night’s shojin kaiseki dinner. It was a big meal and I ate literally everything which was served. So I worked out a little extra in the hotel’s gym (I ran about 4.5 miles), but I still wasn’t so hungry for lunch.

For lunch, I met an old friend of mine from Tokyo. In fact, we hadn’t seen each other for over 10 years! He works for a Japanese company based in Tokyo and have been assigned to work in the Manhattan office past 4 years. We met during his lunch hour near his office. I requested a light meal, so he took me to a soba restaurant called, Soba Totto in Midtown.

He said it’s a very popular restaurant in the neighborhood. We both had today’s special combination of Bara Chirashi (scattered raw seafood over rice) and cold soba. The soba was really nice and it felt just like I was in a restaurant in a busy office district in Tokyo.

We talked about food, music, life, etc., and had a fun time. He is a serious foodie (he said he’s been to more than 250 restaurants in Manhattan in the past couple of years and even made an informative list of them!), so I got some great tips about restaurants in NYC.


After I saw him off by his office building (he had to go bak to work), upon his suggestion, I went to check out EATALY, which is a brand-new gourmet market/ restaurant space, which is all about Italian food and wine. Eataly, which was originated in Torino, Italy, already has a few different locations in Japan (of course!), but Manhattan location is the first in the US. It opened about 3 weeks ago with the huge hype, especially since this huge Italian market was created by Mario Batali and others.

I was so overwhelmed by the size of the market and the selection of things sold here. There is a wine shop, a corridor with so many different take-out vendors, several different restaurants (all open areas), standing café restaurant, market space of Italian ingredients, cookware/ cook books, meat and seafood stores, etc. My friend said that the market was so crowded when he came last Sunday that they had to limit the number of people who can get inside and there was a huge waiting outside. Not to mention that every restaurant inside had a long waiting also.


I decided to come back here for lunch Wednesday before going back to LA.

The weather was so gorgeous in NYC, so I continued to take a walk and explored the city in the afternoon.

Trip to NYC (September 2010)...Shojin kaiseki dinner at Kajitsu

I'm traveling again. My friend was going to New York on business, and she generously invited me to come along. So, I came to New York on Sunday afternoon. It's been such a long time since I was here last time, so I was very excited!

I met my friend at JFK airport and we took a cab together to Manhattan. The weather in NYC was so nice on Sunday afternoon. It was, in fact, warmer than in LA. We checked in at The London NYC. Our room was so nice.

After unpacking in the room, we were ready for fun. We had aperitif at the hotel bar, then took a subway to East Village. We had a reservation at Kajitsu (嘉日), which is an authentic Kyoto-style shojin (Buddhist-style vegan) restaurant. I was so looking forward to this dinner, and as soon as we entered the restaurant, it felt like I was in a restaurant in Kyoto. It's a small restaurant with the beautiful counter. We luckily got seats in the counter right across from the chef.

They offer two course menus, so we chose the bigger 8-course menu, "Hana". We also ordered different kinds of sake (they have a nice sake list) through the dinner.

Taro Dumplings with Black Daikon. Clear Soup with Tofu Chrysanthemum, Lobster Mushroom and Chrysanthemum Pedals. Very seasonal "moon watching" dish (of September). Very elegant and I was in love with the every part of both dishes.

Matsutake Mushroom and Spinach Ohitashi, Panko Fried Matsutake Mushroom, Heats of Palm, Wasabi, Pink Pepper, Truffle Oil. House-made Soba with Hoji-Cha Leaves, Dipping Sauce, Umeboshi, Shiso, Sesame Seeds. Matsutake was so aromatic and cooked to perfection. Handmade soba was so delicate. We were suggested to dip the noodles in the seasoned salt for the first bite so that we could really taste the pure flavor of the freshly made noodles. Incredible.

Simmered Late Summer Vegetables - Egg Plant, Purple Broccoli, Orange Bell Pepper, Tomato, Zucchini, Bok Choy, Edamame, Yuba. Corn Nama-Fu with Sweet Corn Miso Sauce, Green Fig Tempura with Sesame Cream. How gorgeous the presentation was! Each vegetable was prepared separately according for the different length of time and at different temperatures. According to the chef, egg plant was first deep-fried at a high temperature and cooled down, then it was deep-fried again at a lower temperature and simmered in broth. That's real "chef" work. It was so delicious that I thought I wanted to eat this dish every day. The "nama-fu" (wheat gluten) was amazing, too. Nama-fu is one of the important ingredients in the shojin cuisin, and in fact, Kajitsu is owned by a very famous and historical nama-fu maker, Fuuka (麩嘉) in Kyoto.

Steamed Brown Rice with Julienne Nagaimo and Brown Rice Crisp. Brown rice crisp was so great with the rice and nagaimo (moutain yam). The dish was also served with the house-made pickles.

Before the dessert, the chef also served us another very special dish. It was Miso-marinated Goma-tofu with the Shaved Black Truffles, served with cold sake. The chef explained that he made the very firm-style goma-tofu (paste of sesame, arrowroot starch, sake, etc.) first, then it was marinated in the miso for 3 months. After 2 months, the very firm paste started to become softer and eventually became very creamy. The flavor was so elegantly deep and the pairing with the cold sake was just incredible.

"Ohagi" Sweet Rice Ball with Azuki Bean Paste - Nuts-infused Rice Milk, Cocoa Nibs. The chef explained that he was inspired by dulce de leche to make this sweet rice ball. The sweet rice was cooked in the almond milk, so it had the nice rich flavor.

Match Tea Served with Candies by Kyoto Suetomi. The chef's matcha service was so elegant. I was in heaven.

The dinner was so unbelievable...Chef Masato Nishihara is a real talent. He was so gracious, too. He is only 32 years old with the 10-year experience in Kyoto Kitcho's kitchen, and after leaving Kitcho, he was an executive chef at a soba kaiseki restaurant in Karuizawa, Nagano. Kitcho is one of the most highly respected kaiseki restaurants in Japan. The entire dinner was just like what you would experience at a nice shojin kaiseki restaurant in Kyoto. It was a real treat and so satisfying...each dish was not only so detail-oriented and beautifully presented, but also the flavor was so complex and complete.

I would recommend this restaurant to anyone who loves seriously good food.