One December Friday evening, DLS and I decided we should get ramen.  I’d just heard a few people talking about Ramen Misoya on St. Mark’s, so I suggested we head over there.

DLS suggested we start with an appetizer, so we ordered tofu.  I don’t think either of us expected it to look like this – a small cup full of very soft tofu, topped with a jelly of sorts and shreds of bonito.  The tofu itself was light and sweet, but the shreds of bonito mixed with the jelly to create a sort of chewy mass that DLS really didn’t like.  I just didn’t like the overall texture of slimy jelly on top of soft tofu, though I appreciated the umami from the bonito shreds… just a dish that neither of us appreciated. 

DLS went wit the char shu ramen, which looked really good.  He seemed to enjoy the char shu a lot, though I declined trying a bite. 

I chose the regular ramen, to see what was up.  While the noodles were springy and perfectly fine, I found the broth to be a little too creamy for my liking.  It is the same problem I had at Totto Ramen – very thick mouth-feel to the broth, which can be good but isn’t always my preference for ramen.  Unfortunately, since the noodles here were just perfectly fine but not super great, and the broth just wasn’t to my liking, I’ll have to keep searching for my new favorite ramen place (as my favorite actually seems to have disappeared, sigh).  

Yvo says: Overall, the ramen was sufficiently tasty, but I found no reason to rank this above any other ramen place.  If I wanted ramen and was nearby, I might wander in if there was no line (we lucked into a table immediately, but shortly after, a line began forming), but I won’t go out of my way to eat here.  It was satisfactory… that’s all. 
middle of the road

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Post tags: DLS, Ramen

As to where we which ramen shop to go to, we decided to check out the newest entrant, Tabata. (Coincidentally, Yvo also went to Tabata the same day, but for lunch.) Our FBM friends and even the NY Times recommended it highly. CT’s parents were in town and also looking for a nice, relaxing meal, so they joined us.

The restaurant is on a stretch of 9th Avenue near the Port Authority. Not exactly a foodie zone with lots of dive bars which were dives even before term came about. The space was small up front with bar seating overlooking the open kitchen, but it opened up in the back with more tables. Be prepared for the staff to give you a loud greeting upon entering.

We started with must have at any Japanese restaurant; Edamame ($4). Cooked well, lightly salted and healthy!

When I saw baby octopus as an appetizer, it was no question that we would be ordering it. I’m not sure how much it was, but it was no more than $7-8. These were very good, but also very chewy if that’s not your thing. Simple yet tasty!

CT’s Dad loves spring rolls, so we also got an order ($4). The menu noted that there were three rolls to an order, but our waiter gave us four since there were four of us. I am not sure if they charged us more for the fourth, but I think our super nice waiter just gave it to us gratis. These were pretty good rolls and not very greasy. They could have used a dipping sauce though.

We would have also gotten some gyoza, but our friends warned us away from them.

CT’s Mom wasn’t in a ramen mood, so she had the Egg Fried Rice with Roast Pork & Chicken, egg, onion, scallion ($9). It was HUGE portion for that price. I believe she enjoyed it a lot and the leftovers too!

She also got an order of sauteed veggies ($7) to be healthy.

CT’s Dad is quite the spice fiend so he ordered the Geki Kara Ramen ($9?). The name apparently means “hellish” in Japanese. He enjoyed the broth a lot, but didn’t think it was very spicy. I’m sure it is plenty spicy for “regular” folk, haha.

CT had the Sutamina Ramen ($9). The broth is based on spicy miso & soy sauce with pork. I’ll believe she liked it since her bowl was emptied.

I had the Tan Tan Men Ramen ($9). This was chicken broth flavored with sesame paste & soy sauce and spicy ground pork. I also added added pork slices for $3, why not? I never had this type of ramen before. It was very delicious and full of nut flavor. If you like cold sesame noodles at a Chinese restaurant, you will like this ramen. The ground pork had a nice lingering heat the built up as I ate. The pork slices added a lot of heft to the bowl, which ended up leaving me quite full by the end. The noodles stayed tender throughout the meal and never got mushy.

Mmmm, pork!

All in all, Tabata is a welcome addition to the ever growing ramen scene in NYC. Prices were more than reasonable, service was good and food was tasty. I also liked the fact that we were seated immediate, no two hour waits unlike some other places I know.

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Post tags: Ramen

The day before Thanksgiving, I had some business to take care of in midtown west that left me hungry afterwards.  Since DLS was “working from home”, we decided to meet up for ramen on the rather rainy day, at a place that Cheese had recommended to me more than a few times – Tabata Ramen. 

As soon as we’d ordered, small salads appeared.  Tasty enough but completely unnecessary, it was a nice touch for a lunch meal. 

DLS ordered the shoyu ramen.  I tried some of his broth and thought it was sweeter than I expected the broth to be; soy sauce based as shoyu is, I expect it to be super salty – which is ironically the reason I don’t order it. 

It’s ironic because I tend towards the shio ramen, which is what I ordered… and shio means salt based broth. 

My broth was definitely saltier than his shoyu broth, but not overly salty.  In fact, I found it perfectly satisfying on a rainy Wednesday when the city was hustling its butts around for Thanksgiving the next day, while I had not a care in the world.  The noodles were perfectly chewy and while maybe not my favorite ramen noodles, they were simply good, and that’s all I wanted on that day.  The pork slices were very good, but never my focus when I eat ramen.  I would definitely return to Tabata – and in fact want to return so I can get the tan tan mian, which I hear is incredible here. 

Yvo says: I can say with certainty that I’ll be back.  The prices in the low double digits make it about on par with my favorite places, and sometimes you just want a big steaming bowl of noodles – which isn’t always easy to find in Midtown for a reasonable price or reasonable wait (I’m looking at you, Totto).  Slurp away! 
recommended

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Post tags: DLS, noodles, Ramen

First up: hot edamame, sprinkled with sea salt, fun to squish the beans inside out and into your mouth, a nice light bite to start the meal. 

Next up: gyoza that tasted housemade as the frozen ones tend to be shaped slightly differently.  Though the one on the end was clearly a little burnt, these were crisp and very tasty.  I enjoyed them. 

The inside was a little flat but juicy and flavorful. 

Then our sushi platter arrived! We’d picked out a bunch of rolls off the menu and added some sashimi.  First of course, on the top in the left pic or on the right in the right pic, the Marilyn Mon-roll (basic California roll topped with raw scallop and chef’s sauce, and tobiko) – which they finally renamed, which made me happy (it used to be Marilyn Monroe Roll, which I shortened to Marilyn Monroll because I am HILARIOUS).  Then under that or to the left of that, the Yellowstone Roll, which is lightly fried fish, cucumber and chef’s sauce.  Toro and scallion in the rolls closest, then some sort of root (I want to say burdock, but that’s not what it was on the menu), and a piece of uni and toro each.  Given the choice between $6 or $10 toro, we chose the $10 toro. 

I’ve had the Marilyn Monroll several times now, and always enjoy the way the flavors work together.  This was DLS’s first time, but he seemed to really enjoy it as well.  The Yellowstone Roll, which I hadn’t eaten in the past, was lovely – I really enjoy crunch in my sushi, to contrast the softness of the rice – and I could definitely see ordering that again.  The two smaller rolls didn’t appeal to me much, though the toro and scallion roll was better than I’ve had in the past (I really tend to dislike ordering toro in rolls because it’s usually scraps and not very good at that, but the fattiness – to me, the sign of quality toro – definitely was still evident in each bite).  I just don’t like the seaweed on the outside because it can be tough to bite through, and this was no exception; I found the seaweed a little chewy. 

The uni was very fresh and the perfect bite for me since I love uni.  But the toro?  I mean, was it worth the $10 a piece?

OH HELL YES.  A few things: I love that they HAD the toro, which a lot of places will list on the menu but then tell you they are out if you ask for it.  And not only did they have it, they had TWO DIFFERENT KINDS.  That speaks volumes to me about the business they intend to do and the business they run.  And it was GLORIOUS.  Run through with the best possible kind of fat, it literally melted in my mouth as I fought not to moan too loudly.  My eyes rolled backwards in my head and I almost cried from how delicious it was.  So.freaking.good.  Toro like that is a gift to the world; that tuna did NOT die in vain.  It brought intense pleasure to my mouth and belly, I was so, so happy after eating that.  Joy, pure unbridled joy that not only am I blessed enough to be able to enjoy such lovely things, that I’m able to do so in my own neighborhood.  I know not everyone has that luxury! 

Surprisingly, DLS wanted to order dessert.  Fried green tea ice cream was chosen and it arrived fairly quickly.  He seemed surprised that the ice cream was still cold and hard… I mean it was rock hard.  It tasted OK – this is not one of my favorite desserts, I usually take a bite or two and then give up eating, so I’ve got very little point of comparison, but I thought it was good enough.  A little weird that the exterior wasn’t hot; I sort of expected it to be hot.  Maybe they buy it by the box – commercially made fried ice cream – and just took it out and put it on the plate?  I suppose that wouldn’t surprise me. 

Yvo says: I’d heard that there were service problems in the new expansion, but we encountered no issues – pleasant service and fantastic food as usual.  Honestly, the place was shockingly empty, but this was a Monday night, and I think a lot of people are used to Sushi Yasu being closed on Mondays & Tuesdays.  I’m glad they’re now open every night of the week, though part of me wants them to open during the day for lunch… and I don’t think their sushi bar was open for seating yet (a few days before Thanksgiving).  I will definitely be back, over and over and over again… yum yum yum. 
highly recommended – yes, I would even say you should travel from other boroughs to check it out

A week or so after the above visit, I returned with a friend to eat more sushi.  Since we ordered all the same things I’ve ordered many times, I didn’t take photos, but at the end, we ordered the green tea flan, which our server informed us was made by a pastry chef ‘from one of the top French restaurants’ – I didn’t ask more questions though.  The green tea flan was bitter, balanced with a smooth caramelly sweetness… it was just right, and perfectly sized for sharing a few bites after a sushi dinner that more than filled me up.  Yum!

Also, this visit showed me another reason I love going to Sushi Yasu: we sat at the sushi bar, and everyone who works there is so friendly… and kept coming over to tell me how pretty I am.  How do you not like a place where people tell you you’re really pretty?!  … and has super fresh raw fish.  That’s important too. 

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Post tags: DLS, gyoza, Sushi

I recently had the pleasure of dining with my friend Melissa at Hatsuhana, a rather nice sushi restaurant in midtown that I must have walked by a few times but never noticed.  She said she’d read good things about it, and I was more than happy to accompany her there – I’d not had real sushi in a while. 

While we sat and browsed the menu, Melissa noted how cute the chopstick rest was along with the teeny tiny bud vase, and suggested I take a photo.  It was hard to snap, so here is my artsy attempt. 

We chose to order a few things to split; one of which was the sashimi dinner set.  Given the choice of soup or salad, a salad was clearly easier to split so we opted for that.  Fresh greens with a fairly standard ginger dressing, nothing special here. 

We also ordered the salmon carpaccio to start, because the description was so whimsical: raw salmon, avocado, minced onions, black pepper, chives, salmon caviar and ‘thoughtful Japanese touches’.  We were rewarded with this lovely dish. 

And honestly? each bite was very lovely.  Topped with shaved bonito, a bit of dried seaweed, and on the bottom, what I tasted to be a miso reduction of sorts… creamy avocado, salty salmon roe, and the salmon slices itself – just perfect.  I really enjoyed this dish – it was a good sign of things to come. 

The sashimi platter came with a pretty standard array of fishes – salmon, tuna, yellowtail and fluke, along with Spanish mackerel in the small bowl.  The Spanish mackerel was tossed with a sort of vinaigrette of sorts, on top of seaweed salad, and we both enjoyed this greatly.  All of the fish was very fresh, and very tasty. 

One of the reasons Melissa had picked this place, though, was this menu item: the “Box of Dreams” – described on the menu as “nine miniature bowls arranged in a lacquer box; each bowl contains one kind of raw or cooked fish fillets and sushi rice; a culinary marvel sure to please the senses.”  Funny enough, I was going to make a comment about the rice in each bowl…

Toro (fatty tuna) & scallions with a piece of seaweed over rice – fresh tasting and light, but I really dislike chopped toro (because I know it’s the scraps, haha). 

Shrimp & tamago – I didn’t eat the shrimp because I’m not a big shrimp fan, but the tamago was pretty good. 

I’m going to say yellowtail – I always confuse this fish with another fish, but both were in the box, so no big deal – again, very fresh. 

Fluke. 

Tuna. 

Salmon – I loved the lemon, emphasizing the fresh bright taste of the salmon. 

Salmon roe, which I love. 

Grilled eel. 

Uni (sea urchin gonads).  This was a little softer than I expected – I’ve had uni in the past and love it, but this one was a little… not ‘off’ but not quite what I wanted.  No big deal, still tasty. 

While I liked the idea of the box, and it was indeed very pretty, I didn’t think the rice was sushi rice – it lacked that characteristic vinegary tang that I look for in sushi rice – which was the major downfall.  Otherwise, I’d have enjoyed this box of dreams even more.  Also, $41 for that seems more than a bit overpriced… there is a section of the menu called “mini bowls” where you can choose each bowl yourself, ranging from $5.75 – $11… maybe I’ll try that next time. 

The sashimi set dinner also came with dessert – fruit or ice cream, and of course we chose ice cream.  We luckily agreed on green tea and set about taking that down, then wandered into the night, stuffed and happy. 

Yvo says: While I felt the Box of Dreams could have been improved with sushi rice (or sushi rice more suited to my tastes), overall, the experience and the food was fantastic – very fresh fish, attentive service – I don’t think either of us ever took more than 2 sips of the very good green tea before it was refilled – just a really great place.  I would definitely go back without hesitation. 
highly recommended

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: sashimi