Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

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January 8, 2015 By cheryl

Ramen Lab (New York): Umami in a Bowl

Ramen Lab

When it’s 20 degrees out (with a windchill of far lower), just about nothing will get me off the couch and out of the house.

Nothing, that is, besides the possibility of excellent ramen.

I’d been reading and hearing about Ramen Lab for months, a little Tokyo-style noodle joint that Sun Noodle, which has been supplying noodles to some of the country’s best ramen joints (Momofuku, Ippudo, etc.), was opening in New York. Two days ago, after much anticipation, Ramen Lab finally threw open its sliver of a door in NoLita.

Would it live up to the hype? I had to find out …

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Asian, Comfort Food, Japanese, New York, Noodles, Restaurants, Soup Tagged With: David Chang, Kenshiro Uki, Kikusui Funaguchi, New York City, NoLita, Noodles, Orion Beer, Ramen, Ramen Lab, Sake, Soup, Sun Noodles

September 15, 2009 By cheryl

At wd-50: The French, They Came


CIMG9386

Walking into wd-50 early Monday evening, you couldn’t help but notice the distinct stillness.

It felt almost like entering a temple — the air was plump with reverence, laced with frissons of anticipation.

The dinner about to happen wasn’t just any dinner, after all — Michel Bras, one of France’s most highly regarded chefs, was manning the kitchen for just one night. And New Yorkers had been working themselves up into a lather over trying to get in.

Having had the good fortune of seeing the announcement of this dinner the moment Eater.com posted it (and also being in possession of fast fingers and a cellphone nearby), there we were, quietly filing into the dining room — hungry.

The meal that lay before us was a nine-course vegetarian tasting menu. Bras, a three-star Michelin chef, has made his name on dishes with inventive treatments and combinations of ingredients — powdered fruit, crushed seeds, sprinklings of whole flowers for added flavor — that are carefully orchestrated to taste anything but pedestrian. (It’s also worth noting that Bras, who also has a restaurant in Hokkaido, is also known for dishes that are presented with a tinge of Japanese artistry.)

Now, in his little restaurant overlooking Laguiole, a picturesque town in
the mountains of Aubrac in southern France, fresh fruit and
vegetables that grow wild in the region are the stars of the dishes. In New York, Bras applied the same strategy to his menu — from the moment he arrived three days before, he’d been scouring the city’s greenmarkets to come up with this meal after seeing what produce he could find, according to our waiter. In fact, Luc Dubanchet, one of the organizers of the meal along with three others featuring other French chefs at David Chang’s Momofuku restaurants this month, told the New York Times that Bras said he is “incapable of doing it any other way.”

And so it was that we arrived with open minds and eager stomachs.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: France, New York, Restaurants Tagged With: Aldea, Aubrac, Breadcrumbs, Cardamom, Champagne, Commandaria St. John Keo NV, Cyprus, Dana Cowin, David Chang, Food & Wine, Fromage Blanc, Gargouillou, George Mendes, George Mendez, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Johnny Iuzzini, Laguiole, Licorice, Luc Dubanchet, Michel Bras, Momofuku, New York Times, Riesling Spatlese Auction 'Saarburger Raucsh' Zilliken, Sake, Tom Colicchio, wd-50, Wylie Dufresne

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