vip in the city

Dinner @ Momofuku

After another late-ish night at work. I got a text message from SYB around 9:00PM, inviting me out to a post-Monopoly meal at Momofuku Noodle Bar with him, EH and KR. Sounded good to me.

By the time I wrapped up things at the office and hopped a car service downtown, it was over an hour later, and the trio outside the restaurant had shrunk to a duo. (EH abandoned the cause about ten minutes into the hour-plus wait and was long gone before I arrived.) No doubt the tiny noodle bar had experienced yet another bump in its already considerable popularity after New York Magazine ranked it #2 on their list of Best Cheap Eats in New York City. (#1 was Bay Ridge’s Tanoreen, which I investigated a week ago.)

We finally settled into our spots at the end of the long bar, and ordered the house specialties: the Berkshire pork steamed buns and the eponymous ramen. At least, SYB and I did; KR opted for the Pan-roasted sweet corn and Gulf shrimp with bacon, miso and onions (and seemed ultimately a little disappointed with her choice.)

The wonderful, steamed buns arrived warm and fragrant at our table: fluffy rice flour pancake sandwiches layered with their famed fatty pork, thin slices of cool cucumber and a dollop of sweet hoisin. It’s a preparation reminiscent of peking duck – another one of my favorites. I could eat these all day.

And then the ramen: giant bowls of noodles with slabs of melt-in-your-mouth Berkshire pork belly, shreds of tender, smokey shoulder, fresh fixins and a just gelled, slow-poached egg, topped with twin sheets of nori. For me, though, the broth is what sets this dish apart. According to New York Magazine, it derives its “super-porky flavor” from long-simmered chicken legs, roasted pork bones, ham hocks, and bacon.

Mmm, bacon…!

At $14 a bowl, though, these noodles are not what I would consider “cheap.” (Thanks, SYB!) But they are quite wonderful.