Common Ramen at Minca

Last week Eugene, Nathalie, and I needed a quick Ramen fix. My favorite Ramen spot, Ippudo isn't an option for a quick meal unless you have an open afternoon in front of you. Since I joined an insanely busy Silicon Valley startup last March, the days when I could dedicate two or more hours to lunch are only a distant but very pleasant memory. Minca, located on 5th street in the East Village, almost always can meet my one hour time requirement, including the ten minute round trip bike ride from my apartment. When my friends and I are discussing where to get Ramen downtown, Minca is almost always part of the conversation, yet somehow it's never the star. The general concensus is they are a solid B player, sometimes straying into B+ territory, yet never really making it into the big leagues. Don't get me wrong, some things are very good here, but many things are just OK.

The first thing that jumps out at me when perusing Minca's lunchtime menu are the prices, they aren't cheap. The basic spicy Miso Ramen I ordered was $13 and didn't even come as a set. For that price, I could be digging into a bowl of Akamaru Modern at Ippudo, not to mention the abundance of delicious five or six dollar bowls of noodles I can find at many Vietnamese and Chinese restaurants in Chinatown. True, they are very different, but that food is more satisfying to me and my wallet is always reassuringly heavier when I leave.This is my number one gripe about Minca, I would feel a lot better about eating these noodles if they hovered around eight dollars. Japanese food is always pricier though, maybe because of the quality of ingredients, but also because it's Japanese food, and we are conditioned to pay more for it.

At home in any noodle bar

They really do have some bouncy noodles at Minca. The standard yellow ramen noodles that came with my order of Spicy Miso Ramen were cooked to a perfect al-dente. So was the half a soy-boiled egg that came with it. I'm a big fan of hard boiled eggs with ramen, I love how the yolk soaks up the broth. I'm less enamorate of the soft or poached eggs you can add to your soup at Ippudo and other Ramen places, the yolk blends into the broth in a runny mess. The pork is very tasty at Minca, but really it's much too fatty, an in my murky broth it was difficult to discern pieces of fat that had detached themselves into the main body of soup, occasionally yielding a fatty and unappealing mouthful. The spicy miso broth was interesting. It was a deep brown that looked and tasted slightly of peanut butter and was slightly thicker than your average broth. Like a lot of things at Minca, it was serviceable, but they didn't take it to that next level, that is, the level where I pick up the bowl and slurp down every last drop of broth. It also didn't live up to it's name, this soup isn't spicy enough by half, but maybe my senses are so jaded by the Jalapenos I eat every day that I just can't tell anymore.

Spicy Miso Ramen at Minca

Eugene went for the special of the day which was a cold ramen plate served with a hot dipping sauce and a few other sundry items. Eugene really enjoyed it, but Nathalie seemed nonplussed. Even so, I was jealous when there food came out- I liked the look of the side plate that accompanied it.

Side plate from dipping Ramen

Cold Ramen, ready to be dipped in warm broth

Quite a spread

Eugene and Nathalie- pre-gaming.

In the end, it was a satisfying meal. A workaday meal. For my grandfather, such a meal might have been an onion and a liverwurst sandwich in a brown paper bag. Things have changed since he left Eastern Poland and arrived on these shores in the 1920's, and I'm sure most of what I eat on a daily basis  would be completely foreign to him. Still, a workaday meal is a good thing. It's tasty and nourishing even though an hour later you will have forgotten what you just ate, but I suppose we can't all eat herring and onions every day.

Mission Chinese NYC, welcome to the neighborhood.

On a recent slushy mess of an evening, Stefano and I braved the snow to travel a few miserable bone-soaking blocks to the NY outpost of Danny Bowien's budding San Francisco based empire, Mission Chinese Food. We were rewarded for our bravery (some may call it gluttony) by a small miracle, we were seated immediately. Mission Chinese doesn't take reservations, although you can e-mail on the day you will be dining and they may put aside a table for you. For the unprepared, be ready to wait an hour or more. This isn't the end of the world since there is free beer on tap, and the staff is genuinely friendly. We shook ourselves off in the vestibule that doubles as a take-out counter, shot a beer, and settled into our seats for what was to be a memorable meal.


Danny Bowien, the chef and founder of Mission Chinese food, deserves to be lauded for many reasons. First and foremost, the food is truly excellent here. He has a steady hand in the kitchen, and almost universally, everything I have tasted here is lip-smackingly good. I first tasted his food in his original pop-up kitchen in San Francisco's Mission district last year. It was an eye-opening and delicious evening. When I ate at the NYC restaurant on Orchard Street last week, the meal was the equal of the first.


With the onslaught of so many truly horrible Asian fusion restaurants popping up all over the country in the last decade, it's nice to see someone approach fusion in a thoughtful and inventive manner. Not every dish here is fusion, but the ones that are succeed in a remarkable way. Brisket with Chinese broccoli in smoked oyster sauce? Of course! Why didn't I think of that? Kung Pao Pastrami? Sign me up! Even though we didn't order either of these entrees, the adventurous couple next to us had, and were more than happy to share a little bit of these dynamite dishes . We of course reciprocated. It's all part of the fun at Mission Chinese.


To kick things off, we ordered  the lamb with cumin which arrived crispy on the outside and tender, fatty, and juicy on the inside. It was served "Fajita style" with thick meaty clumps resting on a bed of onion-dominated sauteed vegetables. As we lustily dug into those crusty slabs of lamb I though to myself, this could turn a vegan.

Lamb with Cumin (stolen pic from another blog)

Other dishes, such as "Thrice cooked bacon" sauteed with rice cakes were also stellar. The bacon here has a true depth of flavor that penetrates the palate in waves. The thin slices of rice cake that accompany the bacon soak up a lot of the bacon's flavor, and so do the dried chili and scallions that share the plate. These normally bland tasting rice noodles struck a perfect counterpoint to a bacon and together they make a devilishly flavorful dish.

Thrice cooked bacon (thanks google images!)

We also tried the chicken wings. They were fried and arrived perched atop a carpet of chiles. The wings, remarkably grease-free, were also slathered with a type of powdery coating  reminiscent of five spice, They have almost an addictive flavor. I was literally licking my lips when I ate them. Literally...licking...my lips. And this is where Danny Bowien exceeds. Every dish we tried here was bursting with flavor, to the point that there was an element of guilt involved- can this much flavor be healthy? Do I deserve this? This begs comparison to another chef known for highly seasoned dishes and "flavor profiles' (whatever that means), Bobby Flay. Based on all the buzz Danny Bowien has been receiving, Danny Bowien's  star is every bit as ascendent as Bobby Flay's, and burning brighter in my book.

Wings at Mission Chinese- another pic I ripped off

A few other things are different about this restaurant. Both in SF and NY I had extremely delightful and chummy service, to the point that I wanted to join our waiter for a drink after dinner the other night. And it wasn't just our waiter, everyone we came into contact with their was extremely nice to us. It just seems like the people that work at Mission Chinese are happy to be there. This can really only mean one thing- great management. From the free tap beer on tap one is offered while waiting for the table to the 75 cents from every entree that is donated to charity, you can feel good about spending your money at Mission Chinese. The bottom line here isn't the almighty dollar, its Gross National Happiness.

And you won't spend a lot here either. The dishes are essentially half-priced. This restaurant  could easily charge much, much, more for what it is serving. At Mission Chinese, they are opening up a caliber of dining experience, based on the quality and ingenuity of the cooking, that would ordinarily be out of range for many people. Lucky for us they aren't charging more, and lucky for me they are only two blocks away from my apartment. Did I mention they deliver? Welcome to the neighborhood Mission Chinese, we are going to become very good friends.

Dinner at Samurai Mama...better than it sounds.

I have to admit I was reticent when I was asked to meet for dinner by my hurricane-Sandy-displaced friends near their temporary home on Williamsburg's Grand Street. "Samurai Mama" I thought? That name may work well in certain culturally challenged third tier cities, Cleveland perhaps? Columbus, Ohio? One of those localities where all the Japanese restaurants are actually run by Chinese immigrants and no-one can tell the difference? I was reminded of a time years ago when I was walking down Bedford street with my Japanese friend Yuki and we came across a Sushi restaurant called "Wasabi". She could barely contain her disdain at the stupidity of the name. In Japan she said,  they would never give a restaurant such a silly name. I suppose the American equivalent would be to name a hamburger restaurant "Catsup". So what is in a name? If the proprietors of a restaurant can't even christen their establishment with a decent name, will this extend to their taste in menu fare, decor, and flavor? I was about to find out...

Samurai Mama specializes in Udon noodles. The entire extent of my experience with Udon has been at sushi restaurants, where large bowls of noodle soups are proffered, along with a few token teriyaki dishes,  as an alternative for people less enamored with raw fish. Essentially, I thought, these are noodles for the sushi-challenged. Udon noodles are thick and long white noodles that are made from wheat that look like the ubiquitous Pho noodles, only they are about 50 times thicker. A single strand a noodle can fill your mouth completely. I usually prefer a thinner, more delicate noodle. For instance, when I make spaghetti at home, I almost always choose cappelini. But maybe it's just me. I'm sure there are legions of thick noodle lovers out there- I'm just not one of them.

Udon with Shrimp Tempura in low light

The restaurant is dominated by a long sharing table with cozy nook-like booths to either side. Eugene, Nathalie, and our friend Stefano who was visiting from Paris were lucky enough to score one of these low-lit booths which made for an intimate setting, especially after a large bottle of a mellow Saki was delivered. We started off with a few appetizers which were both inventive and tasty.

Pork Gyoza with "pickles"

Tuna with Guacamole roll

Assorted Tempura

The pork Gyoza, served on a sizzling hot frying pan, were delicious. The chef had evidently flipped the dumplings upside down before serving, so that a delicious pan-shaped crust that had formed in the frying could be broken up and eaten like peanut brittle with the dumplings. The pungent pickles that were served alongside them struck the appropriate note of tartness and we gobbled them down with enthusiasm in just a few minutes.

I suggest you try the tempura here. We ordered the seasonal special, with mushrooms, butternut squash, and a mix of zucchini and other fall vegetables, and it was fabulous. The sushi was noteworthy too. Our order of tuna with guacamole was extremely good, the tuna was fresh and clean and the salty, creamy, guacamole was more than just an interesting novelty. I would expect to see this dish popping up on more menus, it is the logical evolution of the tuna avocado roll. They also server a thicker version of soy sauce with wasabi already incorporated in,  which was appreciated, all the better to quickly deposit the tasty morsels in our eager mouths. They also make a fried chicken appetizer with garlic which looked very appetizing. If I had a little more ambition I would have added it to our order.

We loved the appetizers, but for me the Udon was just..... OK. The noodles were chewy and toothesome, but much like Udon I've tasted in other restaurants that don't actually specialize in them. Ditto the light soy broth that was served with mine. I have tasted those flavors before and I found them pleasant enough but wholly unremarkable. Nathalie and I ordered the shrimp tempura version of the Udon soup, which is quite nice when the shrimp are served crispy and hot. Unfortunately ours had been submersed in the soup, turning the crusty tempura batter into a soggy mess that made clumps in our soup, which is too bad, since the shrimp were very good and large enough to meet your daily protein requirements. Eugene and Stefano ordered the pork version, which I thought had a much tastier and darker broth that blended better with the noodles and is squarely on my radar for the next visit. They were out of a curry version, which could also be interesting to sample on a future outing. Since it was a cold night we all opted for the hot versions of the soup, cold options are available too, usually served with a warm dipping sauce.

Eugene and Nathalie in the spotlight.

Il maestro Stefano and me.

I really enjoyed our meal at Samurai Mamma, much as I hate to say the name. All of the appetizers were excellent, and I feel that with a more judicious choice, the soup can be too. I'm sure I'll be back, and maybe with a little patience I can start to appreciate the merits of the Udon noodle. I guess I'll just have to practice.