Ippudo New York - Yumm!

Japanese restaurant food made by, um, Japanese is getting rarer and rarer to find in New York. As I was growing up and Japanese investors and corporations were purchasing a significant amount of New York's real estate and important businesses, authentic Japanese restaurants were a plenty, even in lower-priced (the stuff I could afford!) categories. I miss this--it seems that most lower or mid-priced Manhattan Japanese restaurants are now Chinese-owned and have lost their genuineness.

An exception is the new, New York branch of the previously Japan-only chain, Ippudo (一風堂). In Manhattan's East Village which still boasts a considerable number of Japanese/Japanese-American-owned, Japanese/Japanese-American-staffed Japanese eateries, Ippudo is a breath of fresh air. It is fun, simultaneously bright and dim, and full of energy. The focus: ramen noodles. Chewy, perfectly al dente ramen are served with a variety of broths. I've not myself yet opted for Ippudo's traditional soupy kinds of Ramen presentations because I don't eat pork and the broth is pork-based. I may make one of my rare exceptions to my non-religious, non-dietary-restriction rule to try the standard Shiomaru, Akamaru, etc. (I sometimes eat tiny bits of pork in, say, Chinese turnip cakes during dim sum, but I never consciously order it or eat large quantities of it... beef, lamb and other red meat, on the other hand, is not just out for me but verboten.) So far, I've had a wonderful summery ramen salad with a refreshing grapefruit dressing -- surprisingly good -- and many of the very (very!) tasty, beautifully-presented, yet not "stuffy" appetizers.

Most special are two aspects of the restaurant and the food. First, that you are literally in the kitchen when in the dining room. Large, transparent glass (or plexiglass?) panels show the kitchen in an almost 360-degree view inside the restaurant. Cooking and dining are seamlessly joined. Second, the freshness of the noodles; they make them on premises and they are just perfect. Ippudo is no more special to me than my beloved New York staple, Sapporo (札幌市), especially the smaller Sapporo location on 49th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues, where I've been a regular and devoted customer since I was a child. However, it is great fun, great food and a little more upscale in it's simplicity and straightforwardness (does that make sense?).

See the New York Times review (published, April 30, 2008) and do experience it. Delicious!