Not Your College Ramen...

Restaurant Rewind...

Ippudo

Neighborhood: Manhattan/East Village
654th Ave(between 2nd Ave & 8th St)

Remember those days when you were hungry and had no money? I'm talking about college not yesterday. Well, we used to eat ramen. For $1 you could buy not one, not two, but SEVERAL packages and it came in many artificial flavors. What's not to love? Take that Rachael Ray and your $40 a day challenge! Clearly one serving pretty much satisfied your weeks worth of sodium intake. But that's besides the point I digress.

Apparently ramen is Japanese soul food. No really, check the ippudo website. Ramen in NYC however is soon becoming the new black, the new cupcake, or last year's skinny jeans. Not yet, but soon. I'm pulling out the "soon to be trendy" card. So sign me up.

And maybe because I've only had "fresh" ramen at Ippudo but I get it. It's amazing. Apparently one of the best places to get ramen in the city. I've now been there twice- once with Mr. Broad for lunch and another time when our friends J + T and my cousin went to dinner. Mr. Broad out-ramens me by going there also with his brother. Yeah we like this place.

If you can deal with the wait (hell yeah! who's got stamina at 2 hours??) you're in for a real treat. And may I also suggest the pork buns?? Ah.mazing.

Pictures for your enjoyment:

Pork Buns (They look similar to tacos but ohso much better.)

Ramen- There are a couple of different types- we went for the Ramen Modern which had a much longer name that wasn't all English but let's just call it the Modern for this post. It's also their most popular. Mr. Broad got his with extra pork belly. Of course he did. Basically, freshly made noodles in a meat sauce with something about garlic oil, cabbage, scallions, pork...

Review: There is a lot already written praising Ippudo of which I would be repeating. Mr. Broad said things like, "Aah that's right!" And lots of slurping. (Sidenote. If people advise not to have soup on a first date in the US, I wonder if they say the same about ramen in Japan? Ponder... ) Okay. So the ramen was great. Mine had one piece of pork in it while Mr. Broad smiled smugly at his "extra pork belly" request. Oh and the pork buns? Wow. Best I've ever had but some of that may be due to the 2 hour and the I WANT FOOD NOW wait. Still. Awesome. And the cost? The bowl of ramen was $13 and the pork buns $8 for 2. Pretty good by NYC standards for dinner, however, perhaps a bit more than the ramen conessiur would pay? Eh, did I mention it's right near my office. Two hour lunch anyone?

Rating: A