Tables for One: Ramen (Downtown)
Menkui Tei has two restaurants, but the one I’ve recently discovered is the one at 63 Cooper Sq (on 3rd Ave, next to Hair Mates. Downtown has been filling up with ramen noodle houses (which in Japan is considered fast food, or more precisely, Chinese food), probably due to all the Japanese people either coming through or moving in. To demonstrate who they’re catering to, besides you I mean, Menkui Tei features handwritten signs in Japanese taped all over the walls. For your convenience some are translated, such as the “we have garlic paste for your noodle,” my personal favorite.
Menkui Tei is all day eats, so you can drop in whenever you’re hungry or cold, and there are booths as well as a counter. But they’ll usually offer you a table for one first.
They often have specials that add a portion of protein (meat, chicken, tofu) and a side of rice to your noodle selection for a bargain of a prix fix. Their Yasai Ramen (vegetarian, but certainly not only for vegetarians) has a spicy, muddily grey-brown but surprisingly refreshing broth, which is mysterious, and wholly gratifying. There are plenty of juicy shitake mushrooms in it to make you feel like you haven’t been gypped. And the price, under 8 dollars, is also just what you need.
Japanese soft drinks that can usually only be had at Sunrise Mart (just down the block around the corner from Astor Books), such as Calpico (or Calpis as the oldtiming hardies still call it) are available, as is your average run of the mill hot sake. But there is always a sake du jour, and a fine selection of sake by the glass. I recommend Kaori, which is like fresh clear water, only better.
There are a few other places to go if you’re downtown east and dying for a bowl of ramen or a plate of “curry rice”, such as Rai Rai Ken on 10th street (between 1st and 2nd). Rai Rai Ken is great, but it only seats 14. Their Miso Ramen has chicken in it, too, which is strangely annoying, but everything there is guaranteed MSG-free. I recommend the Shoyu Ramen, a competently prepared and very satisfying classic. Their gyoza have a slightly almond-y taste to them, which is intriguing, only they’re often soggy. To redeem them, the Kim Chi is exactly how you want it, spicy, stinky and plentiful (and again, MSG-free, which is rare in Kim Chi).
Also, if you want to sit next to Uma Thurman’s nerdy little brother now and then and listen to him name-drop his sister to the poor girl he’s brought in with him, nothing beats their nice and meaty curry rice or their hours (open till 2:30 Mon-Saturdays).
There’s also that other place (I never remember its name because everything is much too salty, and its self-conscious minimalist decor is what you’re paying the extra dollar or three for) on 1st by 10th street (across from the my favorite sushi place, Sapporo East). Oh, yeah, Momofuku. The vaguely obscene and aggressive sounding name always makes me want to retort something obscene back at it. Well, it’s alright for guys who want to try their luck at picking up the east village girls sitting at the noodle bar. But girls, their noodles are limp and oily. (Of course I’m only speaking for Momofuku’s.)
