Just off a redeye flight from California this time sans ramen boy. Here to run the UA NYC Half Marathon so eating many bowls of ramen felt justified and guaranteed that I should be able to burn off the calories. I had made a lunch reservation at Ivan Ramen weeks ago and had just bought Ivan Ramen: Love, Obsession, and Recipes from Tokyo’s Most Unlikely Noodle Joint to read in anticipation of my visit. I don’t know why we never tried his ramen in Tokyo while living there. Now that he has set shop in New York and I wanted to wander around the Lower East Side it was the perfect opportunity to slurp some of his noodles at his Clinton Street restaurant. I was one of the first customers so I was promptly seated at the bar facing the open kitchen. The servers were very friendly and helpful asking me if it was my first time and giving recommendations of what to order. I ordered the shoyu ramen and a roast pork musubi (rice ball) as an appetizer. The bite sized musubi with the pork and roasted tomato on top of the rice and sour notes from the salted plum wasabi was a tasty melding of flavors and texture. However, the juice from the roast pork made the rice a big soggy and hard to pick up with the seaweed and I felt $4 was a bit steep for a very tiny musubi. The shoyu ramen was outstanding. It came piping hot the way I like it and very simply dressed with roast pork, shredded scallions and two halves of an egg with a perfectly soft yolk. The chicken and fish stock was light but still rich in flavor. The rye noodles though were excellent. I hadn’t had rye ramen noodles before and it definitely didn’t disappoint.
My waiter Jonathan, a fellow noodle enthusiast, gave me a rundown of ramen joints in the city. Too many and not enough days to tackle them all. For sure I will bring ramen boy to try Ivan Ramen when we are in New York again.
Ivan Ramen
25 Clinton Street
New York, NY 10002
(646) 678-3859
www.ivanramen.com
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