Ramen Snob

Recently, I've found myself craving Ramen pretty much all the time. Not the stuff that comes in a styrofoam cup and is full of all sorts of preservatives that assures it'll still be good in the year 2172. Nope, I've actually never even tasted that stuff. I want the good stuff. The soup that chefs perfect over many, many years of practice and recipe-tweaking.

A really good bowl of Ramen is deceptively difficult to make. It looks fairly simple - noodles, broth, protein and some veggies. However, the broth - like most broths - is most important. If you don't have good broth, then the Ramen will be just as bad. And a good broth can have dozens of ingredients simmered and boiled to perfection. It's no wonder that few chefs go into the Ramen shop business.

However, a few cooks out there have perfected the technique and choose to serve this unbelievably delicious food to the masses. One such shop is Ivan Ramen in the East Village of Manhattan. I first had this particular Ramen at the Slurp Shop in Gotham Market. Ramen-lovers in the city enjoy Ivan Ramen so much, that demand brought the owners to open to small stall at the market to feed people up town too.

But as we were told by those manning the stall, while the Slurp Shop is good, the flagship is best. We decided to test that theory this past weekend, and we were not disappointed.

We started with 3 appetizers - the Miso corn, Japanese Chicken, and Crispy Eggplant. The Miso corn wasn't my choice, but I actually enjoyed it more than my dining partner. I thought it was savory and buttery - everything you want corn on the cob to be. Of the three appetizers, the Japanese Chicken was my favorite. It was sweet, spicy and garlicky. The miso ranch the tender pieces of chicken are served with is perfect to cool the peppery flavor. I could have eaten a few more plates of the to die for chicken! On the other hand, the eggplant wasn't great. It had a strange texture, that was only crispy on one side. The other sides were soft. And though I couldn't tell you what was in the sauce it was slathered in, I can tell you that it just tasted like butter. I could have skipped it in favor of more chicken.

Then there was the main event. Of the few flavors, we chose to share the Chicken Paitan (did I mention we ate 3 appetizers?!) The bowl was full of diced chicken, green onions, noodles and an egg yolk. We were instructed to break the egg yolk and mix it in, then sprinkle lime juice over the top before eating. It's hard to argue with something that tasted that delicious! It was perfectly seasoned and practically perfect, even without the lime juice (why mess with perfection!?) I was pretty stuffed already, but I just kept eating. Definitely at the top of my list of Ramens!

Now, were the Slurp Shop workers correct in their assumptions? It's complicated. On one hand, Ivan Ramen served me the best bowl of Ramen I've ever had and also some killer chicken. On the other hand, at Gotham Market there's Ample Hills Creamery across from the Slurp Shop for dessert. It's hard to choose, so I'll say it's a tie. Whether I go uptown or downtown, I'm still eating Ramen, so it's a win-win!