Finally: Totto Ramen

I was determined: it was my final day in NYC (my plane left JFK at 10pm) and it gave me a narrow window of opportunity to attempt to eat a bowl of Totto Ramen. I don't even know what the big deal about Totto was, except that the same owners already had a successful yakitori restaurant in midtown, and there is a perpetual crush at the door. If anything the crowds can be explained by the fact that the ramen-ya barely seats 16 people.

The place opened for lunch right at 12pm and by the time I arrived there at 11:45am there was already (surprise) a crowd out front. I wrote my name on the clipboard hanging on the front door, and joined the crowd (well, not literally; no one would talk to me, lest I might steal their place in line). Luckily I was within the first 20-odd people to write their names down, as I was seated in the first wave of customers, all on their lunch breaks. I hopped up to the bar and placed my bag, hat and scarf (hey it's cold on those Manhattan streets) on the little wire rack above our heads.

Totto's ramen seems to specialize in a chicken broth shoyu ramen. I ordered the Totto Spicy Ramen ($10.25) which is basically their chicken shoyu (called Paitan) ramen with a big ball of their own chili garlic oil/paste (rayu) dolloped on top. The noodles are made in-house and are the thin straight kind. If you order the thick wavy noodles, the chef reaches below the counter and pulls out a plastic-wrapped package of noodles from a box.


The toppings are minimal: a few thin pieces of charsiu, some bean sprouts, a bunch of sliced scallions and the requisite nori square. But the rayu chili garlic blob in the middle was what elevated the basic ingredients to a thoroughly enjoyable bowl. I find that most things labelled spicy fall in to one of two categories: either it's got nice "spicy" taste but is not actually that hot, or it's so hot that you can't really taste anything but pain. The latter is far more rare in restaurants than the former (unless it's a "eat this and your meal is free" kind of attention-getting gimmick) but even more rare is the foodstuff which can combine the best of both: hot enough to really kick your ass but with enough actual flavour to make it worth the pain. Totto's rayu has this in spades, with a nutty garlicky aftertaste that lingered for longer than I would have liked were I a single man.

I have to admit that I am beginning to really like the hakata-style thinner noodles, especially when they are made just downstairs from where you are eating them, and they are cooked to perfect al dente.

In spite of the repeated failed attempts to get in to this place, once I was in, I was treated with great service both from the wait staff and the ramen chefs working directly in front of me. Friendly and efficient, the service accompanied me through the meal in less than 30 minutes without me feeling rushed. All the better for the next round of customers waiting at the door!

Jazz in NYC

I'm actually back in Vancouver now, but I haven't had a chance to relay my last few experiences in NYC so here's a little bit of catch-up. It is now dawning on me how big the Thanksgiving holiday really is for Americans. This weekend has been as close to a standstill as I've ever seen Manhattan, excepting the "black friday" sales. An additional effect of this holiday is that less music happens in town, I've learned. Which has been good and bad. So far, the Maria Schneider Orchestra has been the only show I really enjoyed.

On the final night of my visit, I had originally planned to see two shows, but strangely ran out of time (and possibly energy) and so just caught the second of the two. You may notice that I am side-stepping the naming of names, possibly to protect the innocent, or to protect myself. The show that Sharon and I did see in the end was at a club that we have both frequented before, and both seen amazing shows at. This night, however, was not one those shows. Let me be clear: it was not a bad set of music by any stretch. These were professional musicians who are obviously able to make a living in New York, and that's no mean feat. But hearing them play did put a few things into perspective. They demonstrated for example that you can play at a high level of technical proficiency and still have gaping holes in your technique. Or that you can have a masterful command of style and idiom, and still lack a personal voice or an interesting narrative in your improvisation. And that even though people paid $20 cover, you can go up on stage and look at your bandmates saying "What do you guys feel like playing" to decide on your set.

I heard a piano player who knew what the jazz was supposed to sound like, but couldn't accurately get his fingers to make that happen. I heard a drummer play all the right notes at the right time, but all at the same volume (loud) all the way through every tune (except for his solo, which was louder). I heard a horn player calling tunes and playing them just fine, but with no real fire or energy or spontaneous interplay between accompanists and soloist. And I heard a great bass player (what can I say, he played great). It made me realize that in order to play the music I want to play, I need to address the issues in my technique (through practice and study), I need to make my instrument play music instead of just sounds, I need to put time and thought into writing and choosing repertoire, and never phone it in. At least I hope the band had fun and supported each other in their journey.

So now it's back to Vancouver and time to put those realizations to good use! Wish me luck.

Minca and another missed opportunity

I mis-timed my day and since it takes quite a while to get to midtown or below I ended up trying to get into Totto at about 8:30 tonight, and of course was greeted by the same crowd waiting for their tables. I figured it about a 1-1.5hr wait, so I hopped back on the train to the lower East side to try Kambi's sister restaurant Minca. Once I found it (a tiny bit off the beaten track) I got a seat immediately (luckily I don't really care if the place is hot/popular right now, I'm only here for a few days and I just want a good bowl of ramen). The staff here, like at Kambi, are all Korean, or at least they are all speaking Korean to each other. I decided to keep trying different types of ramen, so tonight was my first bowl of Tokyo style shoyu ramen, including a broth made from chicken and dried seafood. Apparently mixed-type broths are a big thing in Japan now. I finally got to have my thick wavy noodles, since Minca lets you mix and match your noodles, charsiu and soup.

It's actually called "Wahoo" ramen on the menu

A well constructed and presented bowl, the soup was both flavourful and light, successfully avoiding the saltiness or blandness I sometime find with Tokyo style. The pork charsiu was very tender, so much so in fact that it fell apart in the bowl, and so was a little difficult to eat. There were also generous portions of menma and wood ear mushroom on top. The noodles were fine, maybe a tiny tiny bit overcooked as I like some chewiness to my noodles.

Still not my favourite bowl, and making me set on trying Totto tomorrow for a last attempt at the perfect NYC ramen bowl.

Burger overload: Stand

I was surprised that Sharon was willing to join me for another burger mission. I realize that I've been packing a lot of the same meals (i.e. burgers and ramen, but not together) in the last few days, and you (well, most of you, but apparently not me) can only eat so much of that before you explode. After a very inspiring Shake Shack experience the other day, Sharon was game to try my next suggestion: Stand burgers near Union Square. We actually wandered down the wrong street (11th instead of 12th) until a call to information revealed that I had written the wrong address into the iPod Touch serving as my note pad (thanks to my fat fingers or the stupid iPod on-screen keyboard. Who should I blame?)

Apparently Stand is from the same guy who started Republic noodle house way back when. Some of my earliest memories of NY include visits to Republic, although it's not ramen, but (gasp) "pan-asian" noodles. Anyhoo, Sharon realized that she actually wanted salmon, and we were pleased to learn (after the waitress inquired in the kitchen for us) that the salmon burger uses wild pacific salmon. I ordered the classic burger, with blue cheese. We also split a small order fries, onion rings and (at my insistence) fried tempura-battered pickles!

The burger included a sizable patty, cooked more or less medium rare as I asked, although to be very picky, it was more medium than rare. Unfortunately the patty was just too much (and too juicy) for the poor bun to handle, and by the time I was halfway through the burger, the bun was dangerously unhelpful. The bun sure looked pretty at first though. The plate also included a little ramekin filled with a dark red paste which I mistook for ketchup, but after tasting it I guessed it was maybe barbeque sauce. Don't know why that was there like that. Not to complain too much, but I think when you want blue cheese on a burger, it's because you (me I mean) want that stinky, strong flavour to punch through the savouriness of the beef. I don't know if Stand uses a mild type of blue, or they just didn't add enough, but I just couldn't taste it in the burger. In every other way the burger was tasty, but not well constructed.

These fries were easily the best I've had on this trip, and on par with the best I've ever had. They definitely took a page from the original Belgian frite. (Aside: while touring Belgium, every time I would eat fries someone would inevitably inform me that fries are a Belgian creation, not French as we "Americans" might believe) They were at least double fried, crispy and perfectly seasoned. Served in a cone, Belgian-style too.

The onion rings were great too. What can I say, they're onion rings. Sharon observed that onions are among the cheapest ingredient you can buy, and yet onion rings are disproportionately expensive. Why is that?

The surprise hit here was the fried pickles. I'm not sure what "Bread and Butter" pickles are (although a quick googling later will sort that out I'm sure) but they were sliced and dipped in tempura batter before being deep fried and served to us on a plate with some mustard-y mayo to dip them in. It sounds wrong but it tastes so right. I wish someone would make these at a restaurant in Vancouver. I might shop the idea around and see if anyone bites (pun intended, with apologies to those with actual wit.)

My only regret was taking the suggestion to try the special shake of the day: pistachio cookie. Luckily I asked for the mini size. I think I could have enjoyed a pistachio milkshake, but this one had that foamy fake shake mouthfeel that I associate with chain restaurant shakes, and to add insult to injury they piled a heap of cookie crumbs on the top of it. Waaaaaaaay to sweet for my taste but I should have known better. The Shake Shack coffee shake ruined me for other shakes.

Overall it was an enjoyable experience, and if I returned I'd be game to try some of the special burgers on the menu.

Maria Schneider Orchestra

I'm running a little behind, but here's my run down of last night's music set. After filling our bellies with hakata style ramen, Sharon and I decided to walk it off, and headed down to 27th and Lexington to Jazz Standard where Maria Schneider's Orchestra plays every Thanksgiving weekend. We dropped the ball and did not make reservations early on, so there was only room left in the third set, starting at 11:30. Even that show was still packed, and we sat in a tiny table beside a column in between the two sections of the room. Although Sharon needed a coffee to wake up, I was pleased to see a few Belgian ales on the menu, and enjoyed a few Leffe Blonde (although I would have had the Leffe Brun if they carried it.)

After the last few nights of music, I was really hoping for a great set and I was not disappointed. Maria Schneider leads a great ensemble with strong soloists, and uses the band members in very interesting combinations to orchestrate her voicings. Now, I'll admit that my harmonic vocabulary is limited at best, but I can at least recognize the colours that her compositions utilize as unique. From what I understand she is considered the curent torch-bearer of the Gil Evans school of writing, which makes sense to me: taking his concepts of arranging and extending them into her own style.

I did notice that many of the pieces felt basically like vehicles (frameworks, maybe?) for the soloists, in that two or three band members are featured and the full ensemble playing is used as more a background and send-off rather than a full statement of a theme (head) upon which the improvisers extrapolate on.

The fine soloists included Frank Kimbrough on piano, Lage Lund on guitar, Ingrid Jensen on trumpet and Steve Wilson on soprano saxophone. However the standouts for me were Marshall Gilkes on trombone and Scott Robinson on baritone saxophone. When the trombonist stood up to play, I was very very pleasantly surprised to hear him play with a post-modern concept, which is rare (and very difficult) to do on that instrument. He executed lines and pattern-based ideas with command and accuracy, and incredible feat on trombone!

Funny coincidence: the bari player was also the leader of the band I saw at the Stone the night before. It was very interesting to hear the same musician in two very different situations. At the Stone he played a wide variety of instruments, including laser-triggered bell samples, car horns, sopranino saxophone and contrabass clarinet. At Jazz Standard he played an interesting and unique solo on bari, using timbre and altissimo range to develop the improvisation. It was certainly at odds with the other, more bebop/eighth note line-oriented approaches of his bandmates.

Another strength of the ensemble was hearing their dynamic range, especially when used as a device to shape the solo sections. Drummer Clarence Penn began the set barely touching the drums, but still grooving. I appreciated that sense of musicality in a large ensemble, where the potential for dynamics ranges from complete silence to screaming wall of sound. Most big bands stay in the loud to louder area, and rarely venture from it.

I'm happy that I got to hear at least one show that I really enjoyed while visiting NYC this time. It's been a learning experience coming hear and listening to a wide range of things, in quality and style, even within each band playing.

Midtown ramen: east vs. west

Next up in the ramen tour was a toss up between two spots on opposite sides of 52nd Street. Apropos of this I recall my very first visit to New York and how excited I was to see W 52nd St, the location of all the classic bebop night clubs during the late 30's and early 40's. Imagine the disappointment in finding that there is absolutely no remnant of that scene in that street today (save I think a tiny placard mentioning Dizzy Gillespie). So far all the noodles have been from the East Village, so I was curious how midtown would fare (assuming they primarily cater to midtown workers' lunch).

We hopped on the subway over to the west side first, to find Totto Ramen (W52nd btwn 8th & 9th) to be greeted by this:

Literally a crush at the door!

We signed our name on the list at the front, noting that there were a good number of people ahead of us. After hemming and hawing and stalling for a few minutes, we realized that if we committed to waiting here we may not make it the Jazz Standard in time for our 11:30 reservation to see Maria Schneider (post to follow). A quick phone call to information, and an executive decision was made to jump in a cab crosstown to Hide-chan (E 52nd at 2nd ave). Within minutes we were warmly welcomed and seated. Although I've still been craving the thick wavy noodles typical of miso ramen, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try the unique sounding kuroramen (black ramen). The "kuro" comes from the black sesame and garlic oil that they top the bowl with, and it's really black.

Hide-chan's Kuroramen

The sesame garlic gave a very warm dark nuttiness to the broth, which was flavourful but otherwise light. The thin hakata style noodles were just al dente enough to give some bite, and made me forget my craving for the thick wavy kind. However, there just weren't enough noodles in my bowl (although there was generous soup) and a kaedama (second helping of noodles) was in order. With the extra noodles it was exactly the right balance. A very enjoyable meal.

I do have to mention that although we were greeted very warmly (and in Japanese, which is a good sign since it means they get mostly Japanese customers), by the time we were finishing up our meals I got a lot of strange stares from the staff as they walked by our table, as if to try and hurry us out the door. The room was barely a third full, so it's not like they needed the space. But we were a table of two without getting drinks, so maybe they wrote us off as a cheap waste of time. Just wondering.

After that, we split for Maria Schneider, I'll post about this next!

Street food interlude

Walking through Soho trying to find out what "heat-generating clothing" is, I realized I needed a nosh, and there it was: the Tribeca Taco truck sitting right on Broadway. I had thought about attacking some street food on this trip, but realized I can only eat so much and would focus on ramen and burgers for now. However, opportunity reared its ugly head and I ordered the truck's namesake ($2.50), which is a soft taco filled with carne asado and spiced chicken, topped with lettuce, onions, cilantro and sauce (I picked Chipotle cream).

With the lime and sliced radish garnish, the taco actually reminded me (especially the smell) of Vietnamese pho or banh mi. It was messy, tasty and just the right size to tide me over till the next meal. It worked out very well as I soon would face a 30min+ wait for the A train back uptown, and I would have been a grumpy gus to do it on an empty stomach.

Friday night in NYC

Ok I meant to post about music too, but so far it's been pretty a bit difficult to find good things to write about. I'll attribute it to the Thanksgiving long weekend, but I haven't really heard anything that's blown me away yet. Although no show has really got me so far, I can recall the parts of each show that did (in order to avoid casting negativity on the parts that absolutely didn't):

Tom Harrell, pretty much everything about his playing. His tone, his solos, his tunes, all very inspiring.

The drummer and electric bassist at the 55bar last night. I didn't catch their names, but they were trying some cool things that I don't hear often. They had a neat way of starting/ending/accenting lines in places that don't occur to bread-and-butter jazz players, but would to someone who is immersed in beat-driven electronic music. Very interesting.

Marshall Allen on EVI (not EWI as was listed in the program). I liked it for a while, but by the end of the set I was done with it. It does seem like an interesting interface for controlling electronic sound though. More so than the EWI I think.

I regret missing Kenny Werner play solo piano at Kitano, but I can only be in so many places at a time, and I really wanted to at least experience the Stone for once.

Hopefully I'll have more music to write about soon.

Secret Burger

After hearing about the "hidden" burger joint in the lobby of the Parker Meridien Hotel, I had to check it out. It really was exactly as it was described to me: walk through a fancy hotel lobby, until you see dark hallway behind the check-in desk, lit only by a little neon sign in the shape of a burger. At the end of the hall you're greeted by a little room completely incongruous with the building it's set in: straight up burger bar, complete with booths, stools and writing all over the wooden walls. There's a handwritten sign giving your instructions ("Know what you want to order or go the end of the line!" kind of stuff.) I joined the queue, which went from the middle of the back wall to the entranceway, and took only a few minutes to order: cheeseburger, medium rare, with everything hold the onions, and fries ($12). I stood around in a very small space for a few minutes more until the cook yells my name, and proceeded to find a stool at a little bar sandwiched between a family from San Francisco and a Korean tourist couple. I think this place is in the guide books, but who cares?

It tastes better than it looks.

Blame my photography skills.

The construction reminded me a bit of In'n'Out, and the way the condiments mixed was also reminiscent of In'n'Out's "sauce." However the patty was much more substantial, and amazingly managed to be thick without being to ball-shaped which meant that it was easy to eat. I find that some "gourmet" burger types like to do a huge thick patty but do not consider how the customer is actually supposed to eat it: in particular the middle is super thick, but tapers quickly to the outside, not to mention as a result it is too small for the bun. Not so at this burger joint. To top it off, the burger was exactly medium rare, and managed to have substantial charring on the outside, so thumbs up all around. The fries were skinny McD-type frozen fries; edible, but nothing to write home about (yet here I am).

Having just tried Shake Shack I think I'm not 100% sold on the Parker-Meridien burger joint, but I sure wouldn't discount it if I were hungry mid-town.

Setagaya revisited, kind of.

Tonight I stopped by Setagaya Ramen (34 St Mark's Place) in the East Village (where else?) for a bowl. I really like walking along St. Mark's especially at night, as it reminds me of Harajuku in Tokyo. I once again had some pretty good timing getting there as I could sit right away, although I guess it's easy when eating alone at a ramen-ya. Something about the place was eerily familiar, but I was sure that I hadn't been to this place before. Eventually it dawned on me that Setagaya used to be around the corner on 1st Ave, but that place has been replaced by Kuidouraku Ramen. There is apparently a long story behind the lineage of both places and their relationship, but I won't go into it. On to the food:

A creature of habit, I had the spicy miso ramen ($11), no sides, although they offer things like onigiri as well. It was reassuring to see two Japanese boys manning the kitchen (call me racist) as I think this was the first time since beginning the tour.

Okay first off, the real star of this show is the charsiu. Perfectly tender, the exact right meat to fat ratio (for me it's about 45/55) and very well charred around the outside. Tasty! If only I could get a bowl of Kambi's soup topped with Setagaya's charsiu and filled with the right curly chewy noodles, which I haven't yet found in this city. I remember Ippudo having very nice noodles like that in their miso ramen (where it's supposed to be) but Marie tells me that they've changed their noodles and now are all the straight thinner kind (can someone verify this in case I can't go there in the next few days?).

The last time I was in New York my daughter and I tried Setagaya at the old location for lunch. We had shio ramen (she doesn't like spicy... yet) and it was too light for my taste, but I probably just haven't found my way with shio broth... yet. The spicy miso broth at Setagaya was decent, but not the creamy experience of Kambi. The noodles were okay too, but I'm hoping to find some real in-house made noodles before I leave New York. I think next up is mid-town ramen if it works out.

Burger time - Shake Shack

So my first non-ramen attempt: Madison Square Park's Shake Shack. I checked the line up (read reports of 45min waits) on the website's Shackcam (very helpful) and saw it was a good time to go, so this afternoon we headed down to the park and lined up, waiting maybe 20 minutes between getting there and eating food. It was a bit cold to eat outside, but the real hazards were the many birds sitting the trees above the seating area. We saw a fellow diner get a guano-bomb on his noggin while trying to eat!

Sharon and I both braved the Shack Stack, with fries. The Shack Stack is apparently a cheeseburger with a cheese-stuffed, deep fried portobello mushroom "hidden" inside. Marie had urged me to try the frozen custard, so in spite of the cold, I also tried a Fair Shake: custard milkshake with a shot fair trade coffee in it. The fries are a dense crinkle-cut, but they hold the ketchup very well.

I thought the stack would be an exercise in decadence, but in spite of it's appearance when served, it was actually a well-portioned, and once squished for consumption, well-proportioned burger. Not nearly as hard to eat as it looked at first. And very very tasty. The deep fried bread crumb coating on the mushroom provides some crunch and char-ish flavour to bring out the beefiness of the patty. Immediately after eating ours, Sharon and I looked at each other and said "I could eat another one these right now." The shake was tasty, no chain-restaurant fake milk shake aftertaste here. But basically frozen custard is French vanilla: ice cream made with cooked egg and cream instead of just cream. It was too cold outside to try just a cup or cone of the stuff, maybe next visit. If I go back this weekend I'll try just the regular Shackburger.

Although it seems easy to baulk at $17 for a burger, fries and drink, I felt so satisfied afterwards that I can easily say it was worth every penny.

The guy in the middle of this pic is the one who got shat on.

NYC Ramen/Burger Tour 2010 - pt 2 Kambi

After wandering downtown for a while (in the rain, on Thanksgiving) I made my way back to the East Village for Kambi, apparently from the same owners as Minca around the corner. Being a holiday, I managed to just get in before they were closing (last order!).

Had their "Basic Spicy Ramen" which looks like tonkotsu broth with spicy miso or kochhu jang. There were some pan-fried bean sprouts on top, along with the menma, some wood-ear mushroom and nori. The charsiu was very tender, and they blowtorched it a bit before serving so it had some nice char-flavour to it. But the real star was the broth: so smooth and well-balanced it tasted creamy. Any more fat and it would have been greasy, but as served it was just perfect. Too bad the noodles were run-of-the-mill packages. Stiff with no chewiness, they were fortunately not bad enough to ruin the excellent broth. I kind of feel like the differences in price from ramen-ya to ramen-ya are artibrary: $11 got me just the bowl here, no sides.

If there is time this weekend, I will try their sister restaurant Minca.

After filling my belly (and closing the restaurant) headed back to the Village to hear Tom Harrell at the Vanguard. What a sound! But the rest of the band was not to my liking, just personal taste I guess. When we got home we tried listening to that band's latest album, but it was the same: not to my liking.

NYC Ramen/Burger Tour 2010 - Rai Rai Ken

After a surprisingly sleep-filled red-eye flight (thank you Sony noise-reducing earphones!) I arrived around 6:30am at JFK. A long ride on the A train took me to Sharon's place in the Fort Washington area (very nice apartment!) and we headed out for a diner breakfast. I won't post about that here, I'll just keep to the topic at hand: ramen!

The first bowl was from Rai Rai Ken (214 E 10th Street) in the East Village (home to most of the ramen-ya in NYC). Coincidentally directly beside a Japanese curry rice place that I tried the last time i was here. It was a no-frills, non-trendy Tokyo style ramen-ya. Had the curry ramen, which was a very nice surprise. Broth was currylicious, but not too salty nor too curry-sludgy. Charsiu was a little tough though, and the noodles are servicable, but not outstanding. Not overpriced for $11 with a side of gyoza (nothing special) or seafood chahan (Sharon and I shared each).

Usually when I try and make curry ramen I add too much leftover curry sauce, and it just becomes a thick sludgy mess, so this was a nice contrast. I spent a few hours walking around the East Village, NoHo, Soho, Tribeca, Greenwich Village and Chelsea after that working up an appetite for the next bowl! It was weird wandering Manhattan on Thanksgiving night. The streets were relatively empty, and of course all the stores and restaurants were closed. I was going to have a burger for dinner, but couldn't find an open one (I forgot to to check Veselka -they were open. Next time.)