Ippudo NY (Hakata Ippudo)

5/20/2008
East Village: 65 4th Ave (at 10th St) - (212) 388-0088
Price: Cheap Eats
Rating (1-10): 8

If you're looking to kick back, enjoy a long, leisurely meal and conversation, this isn't the best spot. But if you're ready for the 100 yard dash of eating, go to Ippudo because there's no better ramen in NYC. Chances are, if you're going out for ramen, you know what you're in for: leaning your face into the hot steam rising off of a bowl of noodles and broth, probably sweating, maybe nose running, eating as fast as you can, making slurping noises, and loving it. With ramen, it's important to eat fast because the taste changes by the minute and after 10 minutes, it won't be any good. In Japanese, it's called "nobiru" and it's basically like the noodles go stale.

Ippudo is a distinctly Japanese joint and seemingly everyone who works there is Japanese. At the same time, the decor and space are not traditional of a cramped and narrow countertop ramen joint. There's still that frenetic feel but it's also spacious and hip. The back opens up to a large eating area with communal tables, as well as private tables and booths - with open kitchens surrounding the window-less room. The design is truly impressive and they didn't cut any corners with their decor or furtniture. In short, it's cool and you feel cool sitting in the room.

The Tonkotsu ramen, the rich pork broth ramen featured at the top of their menu, is an intensely falvorful, buttery bowl of broth with perfectly cooked homemade noodles. These arent the curly, starchy, gelatinous, cook-it-till-you-kill-it college dorm-style noodles; these are thin, straight, firm, and delicious. Just like a great homemade Italian pasta, you don't realize what noodles can be until you taste it. The Tonkotsu is probably the best bowl I've had in NY (only RaiRaiken would rival). As my friend pointed out, the ramen is salty in a pleasing way, and not over-salty. I wasn't guzzling down my water as happens when food is too salty, even when it tastes good - instead I was just sweating and trying to eat more, faster. What's more, you can order a second helping of noodles to throw into the leftover broth for only $2, which basically doubles the portion (just be sure to have them bring the noodles when you're nearing the end of your first serving - otherwise, they'll sit and go bad).

The Miso Ramen broth - which is miso-based as the name suggests, is similarly balanced, salty and good. For pork lovers, it doesn't have the same depth of flavor and porkiness that you might crave after the Tonkotsu but on the other hand, if pork isn't your thing, this, and other bowls, are great alternatives and also have perfectly cooked noodles. The downside is that for non-Tokotsu bowls, you don't have the option for a second serving of noodles. In all honesty, one serving was filling for me.

As for weaknesses, the garnish was too sparse. Perhaps it allows the noodles and broth to be showcased but I'd consider it more balanced than a bowl of carbs, if there were more than just two thin slices of pork tenderloin and a forgettable portion of veggies. The Miso Ramen included a non-traditional garnish of red and yellow peppers - which didn't add flavor or substance - and cubed carrot - whose sweetness didn't match the rest of the dish. To boost the volume of the garnish, I added mo' pork - the braised pork belly side. For $3, it was was decent enough but surprisingly tough, almost as if it had been reheated in the microwave.

While the service is friendly, that's the one part that seems to lack a little of the Japanese touch. The pace of the service is so hurried that I couldn't help but get the impression that they wanted me out, and the next table in, as quickly as possible. Less than 1 minute after we were seated, the server came to take our order. When we received the bill, the same thing happened and two other servers asked if it was ok to take the bill after that, before we had even put anything in the bill. In the end, we dropped our credit cards at our own pace and lingered. In a train station ramen joint in the middle of Tokyo, this kind of fast-paced eat-and-go mentality might be appropriate but that's not acceptable here. Also a bit surprising was that the server told me to remind him of my request for second noodle helping later in the meal. I don't know if it's because Ippudo hasn't figured out a good system to time the delayed second noodle helping, but regardless, the onus should not be on the customer.

When you say ramen, a lot of people still envision the packs that contain the brick of noodle and mysterious packet of flavor. At Ippudo, you'll see what real ramen is all about. The overall experience feels like a cool, unique thing to do - something different from the well-trodden genres like Italian, French, sushi, burgers-and-beer pub food, etc. The prices for this ramen experience can approach close to $20 (food, tip, etc), which is expensive for ramen - so you should expect to get more than your average Asian noodle bowl joint. But they'll do it right and it'll be worth the extra couple of bucks.