Rockin’ Ramen

10% noodles; 90% love. Via.

To compliment today's SOLD OUT ramen discussion and tasting (featuring Masahiro Nakano from the Shinyokohama Ramen Museum and Serious Eats' J. Kenji Lopez-Alt), Japan Society staff put their hungry heads together to highlight a caboodle of the best noodles in NYC. Spoon, sip and slurp away!

Donburiya: 137 East 47th Street (212-980-7909)
Go for the tonkotsu ramen—a solid, simple rendition of the style, and all ingredients are cooked to perfection.

Hide-Chan Ramen: 248 East 52nd Street (212-813-1800)
Hide-Chan’s floating globules of glistening fat overwhelm even the most hardened rameniac; authentic, native-approved fare.

Ippudo NY: 65 4th Avenue (212-388-0088)
One of the best executions of tonkotsu style ramen in NYC. Warning: the restaurant’s popularity makes getting a bowl quite an ordeal.

Ise: 151 East 49th Street (212-319-6876)
Delicious standard Japanese dishes fill this restaurant with expats. Try their niboshi (dried fish based) ramen, but call ahead because it’s not always on the menu.

Izakaya Riki: 141 East 45th Street (212-986-5604)
The 45th St. restaurant has a wealth of great noodle dishes. Try the su-ra-tanmen (noodle in Chinese style hot & sour broth.)

Kambi Ramen House: 351 East 14th Street (212-228-1366)
At least one JS staffer says their soy tonkotsu is the best anywhere.

Menchanko-Tei Midtown East: 131 E 45th St # 2 (212-986-6805)
Great ramen, but guests can expand their noodle horizons by trying the sumo-wrestler-in-training specialty, menchanko—giant cast-iron bowls of noodles with a wide selection of add-ins.

Menkui Tei: 60 West 56th Street (212-757-1642)
A tiny, cozy restaurant with hearty, filling ramen. Great stop after a visit to nearby MoMA or the American Folk Art Museum .

Naruto Ramen: 1596 3rd Avenue (212-289-7803)
A small, bar style ramen shop like you see everywhere in Japan, with good gyoza and solid miso and tantanmen. The service is fast and presentation is simple.

Rockmeisha: 11 Barrow Street (212-675-7775)
A late-night rockabilly izakaya haunt offering much more than Chinese noodles—including a jukebox, friendly staff and a host of creative appetizers.

Ramen Sanshiro: 249 East 49th Street (212-355-7722)
Japanese businessmen, nightowls and ramen enthusiasts know that after 11pm, the upscale restaurant SEO transforms into Ramen Sanshiro. The late-night limited menu includes two ramen choices - shio (salt) and shoyu (soy sauce). Cash only.

Souen (East Village): 326 East 6th Street (212-388-1155)
Vegetarian ramen with extras like kale and yuba that win over meat-eaters. The black sesame ramen is the best, but all worth trying, including seasonal offerings such as seafood ramen.

A.M., C.J., D.S., J.N.A, R.Y., S.J.

Enlightenment Through Cooking

Kansha if you can! Via.

What is the difference between the American vegetarian and the Japanese vegetarian? In the West, people choose vegetarianism for several reasons: for health, for fad, for spirituality or for principle. But Japan has been following the vegetable path much longer than its arrival on American shores due to geography and the religious influence of Buddhism, and the concepts are more intrinsic.

In her latest book Kansha, tracing Japan’s vegan and vegetarian traditions to their Buddhist roots (and offering several mouthwatering recipes in the process), Elizabeth Andoh describes the very basics:

Japanese meals are organized around a core of three foods: rice (or noodles), soup (clear, miso enriched, or puréed), and pickles. Greater volume and complexity are usually achieved by adding small dishes to this trio to round out the menu. Classic meal planning follows guidelines associated with Japan’s native culinary culture, washoku. Such meals achieve culinary harmony by balancing colors, flavors, and preparation methods.

Of course, the ideology and practice goes much deeper. Traditionally Japanese rarely ate or completely abstained from eating meat, stemming from adherence to the Five Virtues and the principle of ahimsa (non-violence).  For some, eating animal meat is akin to cannibalism because all sentient life is instilled with the same dhutu (spiritual essence) that resides in people. Also, much Japanese cuisine follows the rules of shojin-ryori (devotion cuisine): avoid killing plant life like root vegetables (potatoes, carrots and onions) and strong-smelling plants, and use seitan (mock meat made from wheat gluten and soy).

The Western vegetarian is catching up on how the East wines and dines. Those who still think vegetarian cuisine is bland, boring and unappealing should heed Andoh and Masato Nishihara , executive chef at Kajitsu  restaurant , which just received another Michelin star.

Both appear in the Japan Society sponsored discussion, Field to Table: The Role of Vegetable in Japanese Diet, taking place Monday, October 25. In addition to history and practice, they highlight a surprising twofold sustainability within practicing shojin: preserving the environment and preventing unnecessary waste in preparation and consummation.  Using all parts of the vegetable, it turns out, can create not only a soundly nutritious meal but bold artful complexities in flavor and texture. We can't wait to learn how!

S.H.

Get Chopping With Those Chopsticks: It’s Restaurant Week!

Great news, food-lovers: Restaurant Week is here. Hundreds of the best restaurants in NYC serving a variety of cuisines extend affordable prix-fixe options through July 25!

Asia Society put together a drool-worthy list of Asian and Asian-Fusion Restaurants. If it's Japanese food you’ve got an appetite for, there are 15 participating restaurants all over the city. We especially recommend Matsuri, whose executive chef, Tadashi Ono, participated in Japan Society’s Hot Pots to Warm the Soul workshop last December, and Megu, whose chefs have also participated in past workshops. Morimoto, the restaurant spearheaded by Iron Chef (and one-time Japan Society panel participant) Masaharu Morimoto, has tasty bento boxes on the menu. And in addition, Nobu chef Nobu Matsuhisa who received the Japan Society Award last year for his contribution to U.S.-Japan relations, always serves up a tasty feast.

EN is always worth a visit, with master mixologist Gen Yamamoto (who participated in our Shochu tasting event last February) and taste-tacular tofu. SushiSamba 7 is a Japanese-Latin fusion joint, which has especially funky cocktails and worldwide notoriety from "Sex and the City". While it does get a little crazy on weekends, it has a rooftop terrace with great views of the West Village. And last but not least, if you find yourself at Japan Society to take in one of the final films in JAPAN CUTS (closing July 16!), check out Megu Midtown next door for classy twists on traditional Japanese cuisine.

Takoyaki: Image via Here

Tables for participating Restaurant Week eateries fill up quickly, so if you find yourself shut out from your first choice, there are many other options for Japanese delicacies. Check out the East Village’s Japantown with Sunrise Mart, where you can buy ingredients to make your own favorites at home. There are izakaya like Kenka and Go. Izakaya are often referred to as Japanese pubs that serve tasty, unpretentious food, like okonomiyaki (cabbage pancakes with bacon, scallions, kimchi and other veggies), takoyaki (grilled octopus dumplings), and lots of beer and sake drinks. My personal favorite is Otafuku, a street stand nearby. There’s nothing quite like munching on takoyaki al fresco!

If your interest in food goes beyond the culinary to the socially responsible and entrepreneurial, then make a reservation for Japan Society’s Table for Two: Connecting the World by Sharing a Meal Wednesday, July 21. Masahisa Kogure, director of the Japanese charity Table for Two, speaks about his organization’s rationale and the motivations for expanding it to the U.S. And don't forget only four weeks until our Japanese Cuisine 101 summer workshop for high school students.

Bon appetite! Or "Itadakimasu!" as they say in Japan!

N.O.