Mark, I’m of the mindset that even mediocre ramen makes any day better. ![[highfive.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/d/db21b9263a9105e51f6f8b11e61dd4de095611f9.gif "highfive"){kind=small}
It’s 40° and raining sideways here, bring me some ramen, please!
I’m the opposite. Mediocre ramen makes me annoyed, and bad ramen makes me angry.
Do you know of any ramen places that doesn’t have a pork (or shellfish) based broth? I’m cool with a place that serves it, just not exclusively.
Away with you…the adults are having a serious conversation here!
Faux-sher sucks.
Didn’t you learn anything from your venture to the Cantonese restaurant?
Seriously though, your best bet would be a place like Ivan ramen, which specializes in a half chicken half dashi broth. That being said, his dashi uses dried scallops. 
Ivan ramen. Chicken based broth made richer with schmaltz. Basically Jewish ramen, but really good.
Looks amazing Ryan – on my list for places to visit in May! ![[thankyou.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/d/df165fe9c1593d19166ae7e1ffe5e272089cc07b.gif "thankyou"){kind=small}
I didn’t realize that Carey had said exactly the same thing I did and seems to have more info than me. Apparently there is dried scallop in the dashi. I’m sure you could speak with them and come up with something you can eat.
Ivan Ramen has a vegetarian shoyu ramen. It’s at Gotham West Market which has some excellent other eating options as well. The chef from Tertulia has a tapas place, and Court Street Grocers has fantastic sandwiches. A bit out of the way on 44th and 11th.
Got nothing to add. Just ‘marking’ this thread for future reference
Many good recommendations above.
Menkuitei to me is one of the best (in a classic style), as is Rai Rai Ken Ramen which was mentioned in the article, and Hide Chan as well though the broth is MUCH richer. I really need to hit up Ivan and the new places. The problem is when it’s as cold as it’s been I just want to be comforted with a reliable ramen, and thus am not feeling too adventurous.
If you can make it out to Staten Island, there’s a fantastic Sri Lankan place a few minutes from the ferry. And for pho, Pho Bang on Mott is pretty damn good.
hi michel
i hit menkui tei this past weekend (along with a few other places) and if that is what classic style is i guess i’m not much of a classicist when it comes to ramen. i supose it’s that i’ve had so much ippudo and momo noodle that i didn’t really know what classic ramen was. it’s certainly not that i didn’t like it, but rather that the varieties i’ve had have had much stonger flavored broths.
Name? googling turns up a surprising number of Sri Lankan restaurants in Staten Island.
Hey Mark, sorry you didn’t like Menkuitei. It is more classic in style, the richer/stronger broths are a somewhat more Americanized (that’s not a criticism - there are days when I want that) version of ramen, though there are Japanese versions that are richer. This is all according to my Japanese mother-in-law, who is a teaching chef and who wrote Sushi for Dummies, so I take her at her word.
Jay, look for Sanrasa, there’s a huge Sri Lankan community in Staten Island: http://www.sanrasa.com/ We went there a few years ago for brunch and it was killer, we left a HUGE tip and it came out to something like $20pp. And no I did not ask about BYO.
i wouldn’t say i didn’t like it, and will go back. there were things on other tables that looked awesome but i stuck to what i thought was a basic ramen. when i return, i’ll have more reasonable expectations
of what ramen is supposed to be before it got americanized.
still can’t wait to get to ivan, and will try for next week and post if i get there.
fried chicken at ma peche… holy smokes. that chicken tasted so fresh it was almost gamey. Delicious. The crust adds
to it but this is all about that chicken.
did the fried chicken dinner at noodle recently and it’s outrageous as well.
had the fried chicken at kin shop this weekend and it was about as good albeit different form momo.