Artie's 05-31-2009

Location: 2290 Bway
Time: 3pm
People: RB and myself

Feelings: After Japan Day, I had a craving for something non-Japanese. I really lusted for Popover with strawberry butter from Popover Cafe, but since I have not lived in UWS for over five years, I completely forgot where it was. (I really need you, iPhone!) So we instead went to our usual UWS deli, Arties.

Artie's brought me my first New York deli experience nine years ago, and it still is my staple for potato knish and mushroom barley soup if I am ever in the area. I thoroughly enjoy their good cup of diner coffee and complimentary pickles and coleslaw. Today, I got a mushroom egg white omelet with potato pancake/latkes and apple sauce. RB got his usual chicken Reuben, which comes with full of Sauerkraut with melted Swiss cheese and Russian dressing. He sure is a very big fan of their Reuben so much so that he never ever orders anything else. The chicken is very juicy and flavorful, but he always wishes they would use less Russian dressing.

When we took my mother here last year, she said, "Jewish food tastes so much like Osaka food." I thought she was a bit strange for saying so, but I believed her today. The omelet tasted very similar to Ikayaki, and latkes reminded me quite a lot of Japanese croquettes. I suppose it's understandable that they have culinary similarities since they both bring ancient history of tradition and culture to the table. (When I was googling, I found this: "Are Japanese People Actually Jewish?")

Japan Day 05-31-2009

Location: East Meadow, Central Park
Time: 1pm
People: A lot of people

Feelings: I heard a lot about Japan Day last year, which drew a crowd of an estimated 40,000 people to the festival. Japan Day is run by the Japanese community of NYC to promote Japanese culture and tradition. It was such a huge success last year that my parents in Osaka heard about it and asked me if I participated. Unfortunately, I didn't, so this year, I was determined to at least stop by for an hour or two.

They had a great mixture of traditional and modern Japanese activities such as Robot Sumo Battle, Shogi, YoYo Fishing, Tea Ceremony and "Take picture with Hello Kitty!" (all free.) On the main stage, various music groups were performing both traditional Japanese summer festival dance called "bonodori" and J-pop. They also had booths full of free food like gyoza, ramen, udon, gyudon and miso soup. All the lines were far too long, so we decided to just walk around and score some free tasty Ito-En Jasmine iced tea.

It was nice to see a lot of New Yorkers showing great interests in Japanese culture and cuisine. I thought the Japanese community was doing a great job promoting both modern and traditional sides of the country. That's the thing about Japanese culture. We don't have a parade or march the streets saying that we are proud of our culture. We instead give away free food and really want people to understand who we are. Through the cultural exchange, it is our hope that this will eventually bring a deeper understanding of each other. I thought the concept of Japan Day was so brilliantly Japanese that made me happy and proud that I am from Japan. Of course, expressing these sentiments out loud is totally not Japanese, so I will shut up now before my mother complains.

My Favorite Thing: Peanut Butter Bumpers 05-30-2009

Feelings: You could say that I am extremely picky with my cereal selections. Since I also eat them as snacks, they must be low in calories and not overly sugary but still fun and tasty. I first tried Mother's Peanut Butter Bumpers about a month ago after wanting a little break from Puffins cereal.

WOW! These tiny balls of corn cereal have amazing crunchy texture and full of real peanut butter flavor. It really tastes like someone put some peanut butter on cereal and accidentally left them there. As I chew, my mouth gets full of just.. peanut butter! Did I eat a spoonful of peanut butter or did I really eat cereal?

According to the box, it is made with natural peanut butter and sweetened with molasses and honey. It is low in calories, great, and with a cute name like "Bumpers," these are now my snack and breakfast of choice!

Dessert + Viking 05-28-2009

Feelings: I just read that there will be a "$20 all you can eat sweets" event at Luxee, Japanese-French dessert cafe in Lower East Side. All-you-can-eats are quite popular in Japan, and it is known oddly enough as "Viking." The name originates from the Viking Buffet, and it has no relation to Scandinavian cuisine or eighth century pirates. When I lived in Osaka, I would often go to "Dessert Viking" and overstuff myself with creamy goodness. Strange how I always got sick after wards. (that was before my lactose intolerance revelation.)

Luxee's "Dessert Viking" will be on June 24th and 25th, and reservation is required.
http://luxeenyc.com

Sayonara JAS Mart 23rd Street 05-27-2009

Location: 34 E 23rd st.

Feelings: I often go to my favorite Japanese grocery store, Jas Mart on 23rd Street almost every week. Today, I walked over there to get my weekly Japanese necessities (I'll leave that to your imagination) and it was closed. The place was completely empty. Closed. Shut. Gone. I stood in front of the empty storefront almost in tears. Why do you torment me, Jas Mart? Did I not shop there enough for you? Is there something I could have done more of? Please promise me that you will not close the St. Marks location. If you did, I would actually have to move to San Francisco or somewhere with more Japanese grocery stores nearby.

Menkui Tei 05-27-2009

Location: 63 Cooper Sq.
Time: 7pm
People: RB and myself

Feelings: Menkui Tei was one of the first ramen places I tried in the city. Before the ramen takeover of Momofuku and Setagaya, Menkui Tei accomodated me with their variety of Japanese tapas and noodle dishes. Most importantly, this is where RB got his first katsudon and fell in love with it. To this day, katsudon is his most favorite Japanese dish.

We usually go back there every other week for RB's katsudon fix and my love for their Jar Jar men, but today, I decided to try their new tofu and mushroom ramen. Overall, it was similar to Nagasaki area's Champon ramen except it was vegetarian. It came with tasty starchy sauce that Champon ramen is known for. Since I don't eat meat, many ramen dishes don't seem to satisfy me. This tofu and mushroom ramen dish, however, filled my belly with goodness. It was extremely filling yet did not make me feel overstuffed. I think this has become my new favorite dish from Menkui Tei!

RB's katsudon today was flavorful, but the pork was dry and overcooked, and the eggs were too well done. The flavor sadly did not connect with rice because of the eggs. Eggs on donburi, especially Katsudon should be slightly runny. Perhaps some customers enjoy their donburi with more fully cooked eggs, and the place had to re-adjust the dish? For RB's sake, I hope this is only temporary. Otherwise I will have to start cooking, and that would be the end of Ramen and Friends!

Rickshaw Dumpling Bar Truck 05-27-2009

I just saw Rickshaw Dumpling Bar Truck at 58th street and 8th ave, no lines! But it's a little pricey for my lunch plan, so I kept walking to Whole Foods.
You can follow the location of the truck on twitter. http://rickshawdumplings.com/

Ovo-Vegetarian Jambalaya! 05-24-2009

Location: Somewhere in Astoria
Time: 4pm
People: Astorians

Feelings: Since it's a Memorial Day weekend, we did a little bit of grilling and cooking. But instead of your usual Americana dishes like burgers and hot dogs, we made vegetarian jambalaya with full of ovo-vegetarian friendly protein substances such as veggie dogs, tofu and boiled white eggs mixed with whole wheat orzo. The result was a major success! It was spicy and full of delicious flavor. The key is to get the best veggie dogs, and we recommend gluten free ones from Whole Foods. We welcomed a healthy summer with this vegetarian jambalaya!
Happy Memorial Day from Ramen and Friends.

Birdbath Neighborhood Green Bakery 05-22-2009

Location: 145 7th Ave.
Time: 5pm
People: RB and myself

Feelings: We stopped at City Bakery's all organic green bakery, Birdbath West Village location. The place is very cute and cozy with small wooden benches in a comfortable but small seating area with assorted newspapers and magazines. The dainty display of all the vegan friendly baked goods were so tempting I wanted to buy them all. Of course we could not afford, nor eat 10 different cookies and muffins, so we settled with one vegan raspberry muffin and City Bakery's iced coffee.

The vegan muffin was dense and had the mixture of crunchy and fluffy texture mixed with the nice tart flavor from raspberries. It was not overly sweet at all, but the raspberry flavor burst in my mouth as I chewed, so there was really no need for extra sweetness. Since I am a bit tired of the overly-buttered sweet cookies from Milk Bar, this is a pleasant change.

I will definitely go back there, perhaps their East Village location next, but I really wish they had bathrooms for customers! (after a big iced coffee, I could really use a bathroom!) And I thought it was a little peculiar that they were not playing any music at all since it is half a cafe. Or green cafes/bakeries are not supposed to have music?

Taim Falafel & Smoothie Bar 05-22-2009

Location: 222 Waverly Pl... where is that anyway?!
Time: 4pm
People: RB and myself

Feelings: Ever since I saw Taim on Throwdown with Bobby Flay, I have been dying to try their authentic and healthy Israeli falafel. This quaint little place is always crowded with just counters and no tables, so we were barely able to sit there and eat. It seems more of a takeout friendly joint.

We tried their three different falafel sandwiches: Green (parsley, cilantro and mint), Red (with roasted red pepper) and Harissa (with Tunisian spices). These are probably the priciest ($5.25!) and tastiest falafel sandwich I have tasted in my life! Each sandwich is incredibly overstuffed, so I understand why it's $5.25. You think you only get three tiny falafels in the sandwich, but NO, there are six of them in there. These six made to order delicious falafel balls have amazingly crispy texture on the outside and a soft and flavorful inside. I could eat them on their own. They were intensely flavorful without greasiness - Just the way I like it.

While my favorite was Green, all of them came with crisp and fresh diced vegetables that complimented the nutty flavor of the falafel. The hummus was so smooth and fresh I could probably eat it like ice cream.

Oh that whole wheat pita! The outside was gently crispy and lightly toasted, and the inside remained fluffy and chewy and never got soggy from hummus. The earthy flavor of whole wheat was also present, and it was made to perfection.

Taim really puts all the other falafel places in the city to shame. Everything I want from falafel was there: fresh, flavorful, healthy, natural and comfortably filling. I will definitely go back there except after 10 years in NYC, I still get lost in the West Village. I am not sure if I could ever find Taim again! Perhaps I will leave a trail of delicious fallafel balls to lead my path.

Terakawa Ramen 05-21-2009

Location: 18 Lexington Ave.
Time: 6pm
People: RB and myself

Feelings: Terakawa Ramen opened two weeks ago, on the site of a former Teriyaki Boy, so RB and I decided to try right away. They have a lot of combo menus ($12) such as ramen with curry and ramen with gyoza as well as a lot of non-ramen dishes like chiken karaage and katsu curry in case your friends don't care for ramen. (I think you should dump those friends.)

RB ordered miso ramen with mini curry combo, and I got hiyashi chuka. The ramen here is quite basic, and it reminded me a lot of Men-Kui Tei dishes. It was nothing spectacular except the noodles had more egg flavor than other places. I wished the veggies on hiyashi chuka was more fresh. The curry tasted exactly like the one from Teriyaki Boy... with just one piece of carrot in it. Is it owned by the same people of Teriyaki Boy, or did they leave bunch of curry behind for Terakawa to use?

We also split gyoza, which turned out to be quite good. They were flavorful and perfectly crispy, and the dipping sauce comlimented the garlic flavor of gyoza. My father always said you cannot eat gyoza without a cold glass of beer. Unfortunately, Tarakawa did not have a liquor license yet, so we had to go with iced oolong tea instead. Hopefully, when we go back there in the future, we can obey his gyoza rule.

We had not seen any ramen shops in Gramercy or 23rd street area, so it is nice to see the ramen population increasing! Setagaya recently opened another place on University Place, so it is only a matter of time before ramen replaces pizza as New Yorkers' food of choice.... or possibly not.

BBQ Time! 05-16-2009

Location: On a huge patio, somewhere in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Time: 6pm
People: A lot of people

Feelings: We have a ramen and friends connection in Williamsburg with a huge outdoor patio. So of course, they kicked off the spring with BBQ. All the necessities of BBQ were present: burgers, hot dogs, grilled veggies, snacks, punch and various drinks. The party continued until late night with quirky and wild music like German reggae and Ultimate Dance Party '97!

Here's the recipe of watermelon punch that made everyone move to La Bouche's "Be My Lover" without shame:

-a whole bottle of Bacardi
-OJ concentrate
-a little fruit punch
-ginger ale
-watermelon

Luxee 05-15-2009

Location: 6 Clinton St.
Time: 9pm
People: RB and myself

Feelings: With a box of Lactaid in hand, we finally made it to the Japanese-French dessert cafe, Luxee in the Lower East Side. Nothing will stop me when it comes to French dessert prepared with Japanese flair such as Chikalicious and even Beard Papa's. According to their website, all of their eggs and dairy are organic as well as many of their produce. They also offer dessert classes, so it seems Luxee is more than just a cafe. It seems more of a dessert experience.

We sat at a beautifully decorated cafe looking over the delicious menu pictures. Everything at the takeout section looked so radiant and delicate I could have stared at them for hours. But within a minute, I chose a yuzu cupcake and green tea roll cake with sencha, and RB ordered a layered chocolate cake with raspberry and cherry compote with genmaicha. Our pots of sencha and genmaicha were superb and mouth-watering. My late grandmother was a tea connoisseur, and she used to often make both sencha and genmaicha. The tea I had here reminded me a lot of her tea, perhaps even better. (Sorry grandma!) The sencha was perfectly grassy and subtly bitter-sweet with beautiful light golden green color. The genmaicha was fresh and had the impeccable aroma of roasted rice, which is the same exact scent that came from my grandmother's house. I had not smelt this particular aroma of well roasted tea for more than 20 years.

After such an amazing tea experience and little nostalgia, I expected even more from the cake. The dessert looked amazing, but unfortunately everything tasted a little stale. The sponge was dry and cream was not fresh. I am sure they must have tasted beyond phenomenal when they were just made, but it seems they sat at the store all day, and we might have missed the tastiest moment. We hope to go back there earlier in the afternoon and try their macarons next time.

Noodle Bar 05-15-2009

Location: 172 Orchard Street
Time: 7pm
People: RB and myself

Feelings: We were excited to try the Vietnamese noodle bar, Slurp, but it was under new management, and they were serving sushi instead but retained the same name. (I'm not sure how you slurp sushi) We instead walked half a block to Noodle Bar. RB and I slurped some noodles at Noodle Bar last summer after a visit to the Slipper Room with my friends from Denmark, and we remember it being quite decent.

I absolutely adore their exposed semi-outdoor space. It is still indoors, but you can feel the air and warm rays. You do have to worry about your napkins blowing away but it still gives you the feel of outdoor dining.

It slipped my mind that this place was BYOB, but thankfully they carried one of RB's favorites, Kirin. I got wonderfully flavored fiji iced tea (wild papaya, pineapple, green tea), which complimented and welcomed the beginning of the summer.

The appetizer, Roti with veggie dipping sauce was perfectly flakey outside and fluffy inside, and I begged for more. The sauce (red kidney beans and tomato sauce) was so tasty that we desperately scooped out with chopsticks when the roti was all gone.

I ordered Mee Goreng and RB got the Mee Siam. They reminded me a lot of Republic from Union Square. They are inexpensive and voluminous, but the flavor is average and unspectacular. If you go to more authentic, hall in the wall noodle places, the prices will be lower with better zing, but you will probably not have this pleasant summer ambience Noodle Bar will give you. It is also nice that there are vast varieties of Indian, Thai, Japanese, Chinese inspired dishes on the menu in case you can't decide what you want for dinner. If your out of towner friends are unfamiliar with Asian noodle dishes, this would be the perfect place to start as well. Afterwards, you can always take them out to the Slipper Room across the street for a little late night entertainment.

Triple Malt Chocolate Cake 05-09-2009

Location: Somewhere in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
Time: 10pm
People: A lot of lot of people.

Feelings: ALev had his "birfday" party at MGru and his nice shack in Brooklyn. MGru baked a perfectly moist and tasty birthday cake called, Triple Malt Chocolate Cake, the recipe courtesy of Chowhound. She added her spin by using Horlick's malted milk powder (instead of Ovaltine or Carnation), which she got from a British grocer, Myers of Keswick. She said it was "pretty darn expensive," but it surely was worth it. She also added less butter and more powdered sugar for the frosting, so she really made the reciper her own. Sorry Chowhound.

It was so good our vegan member, PeeWee had a slice of the cake (picture above as evidence), astounding everyone in the room. He also had JBH's buttery lemon poppyseed sugar cookies. He later blamed it on MGru's white sangria for his action.

Here's the "evil" white sangria recipe that converted PeeWee to a non vegan for the night.
Tired of your spouse being strict vegan all the time? Sneak in a little of this sangria:

20 oranges (10 juiced, 10 sliced and thrown in)
10 lemons (sliced and thrown in)
1 cup sugar
20 Tbsp Triple Sec
1 case of TJ's Chardonnay

My Favorite Thing: Vanilla Stick from Cafe Zaiya 05-14-2009

Feelings: I have mentioned several times that I am severely lactose intolerant. I don't, however, get sick from this creamy pastry called, "Vanilla Stick" from Cafe Zaiya. What is this questionably named product, Vanilla Stick? It is a mini french bread pastry filled with whipped vanilla butter cream. It is subtly sweet and extremely creamy yet light, and it surely tastes like tons of lactose. I wonder why I am so Vanilla Stick tolerant.

Thank you Serious Eats & Congrats Ramen Pimps! 05-14-2009

These are glorious times for Ramen and Friends. Our Burger Creations post was featured on Serious Eats! Thank you again, Serious Eats!










Also congratulations to our ramen pimps, RB and JLam from MeSoHungry! RB's video for Justice of the Unicorns, "Dragon's Claw" is now available on Pitchfork, the #1 independent internet music magazine! Wow, you guys are officially famous now. Don't forget about our social eating club, Ramen and Friends!

Burger Creations 05-13-2009

Location: 44 E. 8th St
Time: 7pm
People: RB and myself

Feelings: RB is an burger hunter (his all time favorite is NY Burger in Chelsea), and he found yet another burger place to try called Burger Creations. Since I don't eat meat, I usually kindly ask him to have his burger fix during lunch at work. After checking their menu, I noticed they have vegetarian options, so we decided to head down to the NYU area to try their burgers.

I have many food weaknesses: Noodles, hazelnut flavored anything, coffee, pesto, macarons, okonomiyaki AND brioche. When I found out they serve their burgers with brioche buns, I was ecstatic. I ordered a salmon mushroom burger with wasabi mayo on a much anticipated brioche bun and a small house salad. The salmon smelled a little fishy, but it was crispy on the outside and quite tasty inside. Unfortunately the brioche bun was not as good and fluffy as I had expected, but I enjoyed it much more than a usual burger bun. I did not expect much from the house salad of Mescrun greens and walnuts with blue cheese, but it ended up being fresh with subtle flavor of homemade sherry vinegarette dressing. I should learn to stop expecting so much from my food weaknesses.

RB ordered a turkey cordon bleu with fries. The turkey cordon bleu, turkey burger with sliced ham and swiss, was a little bland, but it had a good texture and was lighter than expected and quite decent. He thought the brioche was buttery and complimented the turkey quite well. I see he is not as obsessive and particular about brioche as I am.

Perhaps the best thing from Burger Creations is their fries. They were extremely crisp and well seasoned. They were fresh too and tasted of good oil, so we did not get an after-fry heartburn.

This NYU friendly burger joint offers a quick and easy casual burger dining experience with healthy options and addictively crisp fries. The price is about what you would expect from a mid-tier burger joint. It is always nice to find more than one option of non meat dishes besides just veggie burger at a burger joint.

Save the Bunnies! 05-13-2009

RB's video for Justice of the Unicorns, "Dragon's Claw" now reached over 4000 hits! To celebrate this wonderful news, you can now have your very own "Mutant PMP Bunny" FOR FREE. Click here now!!

Omusoba from Cafe Zaiya 05-11-2009

Location: 18 East 41st St.
Time: 6pm

Feelings: I went back to Cafe Zaiya after work to pick up some Omusoba with much anticipation. Omusoba is omelet with yakisoba noodles, which is basically fried noodles with thinly wrapped egg wrapping. I have had Omurice (omelet with rice) several times throughout the city, last time at Tokyo Bar, but I completely forgot about the existence of Omusoba until now.

As soon as I had a bite, it gave me the nostalgia of my hometown, Osaka. This Omusoba is surely not the best one I have tried, but the combination of Japanese mayo, tonkatsu sauce, mushy yakisoba, aonori (green seaweed flakes), and thin omelet was the pure flavor of Osaka. Osaka's well known dishes, takoyaki and okonomiyaki both come with Japanese mayo, tonkatsu sauce and little sprinkles of aonori. You could say that the combination the toppings is what Osaka food is all about. It is nice to see a Japanese grocery store carrying a little heaven of my hometown.