After implementing some rigid dress code and table etiquette at the Michelin 3* Le Bernardin this lunch time. For dinner, we decided to put on our jeans and sneakers, prepared to get our hands and fingers dirty by going on a super-casual, ambitious ‘fast-food‘ run.
We hit some of the most popular touristy fast food joints that happened to share a ‘common denominator‘… all the places had a long wait line outside and the wait time was at least half an hour! Well, thank God the weather was nice and it was worth the wait since they all served up some pretty darn good, value-for-money, tasty food………except one! - ICHIRAN RAMEN
Whilst in Roppongi, Tokyo, I recall paying an equivalent of US $8 for a bowl of Tonkotsu Ramen with Pork Char-Siu and Soft-Centered Egg topping. Here in the Big Apple, a similar bowl costs me a whopping US $25!!!..and for that extra salted soft boiled egg, they charged a F%^!#$ng US$ 3.50 for it!!
For me, my favorite bites of the evening were the ‘El-Cheapo’ Carne Asada Corn and Wheat Flour Tacos from Los Tacos #1 and the well crusted and juicy Smashed Burger with Bacon and Cheese from Shake Shack.
If you go to Los Tacos right before they close, they’ll serve you a plate of the meat scraps (with nice charred edges) from the trompo for something like $10 (or less depending on how persuasive you are), or gratis if you buy one of their T-shirts.
I went both to the Midtown and Chelsea Market one. I thought the food at Chelsea mkt was a bit better, plus they make excellent cocktails. Not so el cheapo in the end because we ended up ordering more and more including cocktails because it was all so good! Will definitely return end of the month when I’m back in NYC.
good stuff charles! i think of joe’s as the canonical nyc slice. if we have a vistor who hasnt had nyc pizza, joe’s is always the first stop. and it doesnt really matter which branch, they have processes in place to ensure consistency accross locations.
Yeah, I was being facetious. That pizza looks pretty terrible to me, TBH, and comparing a ramen bowl one had in Japan with one in NYC at a trendy place is like me complaining that som tam at Zaab Elee is twice the price of the same dish in Bangkok. Add the flight and I think having it here is still a better deal
The crust is thin and chewy with a nice crisp outside, and you can fold it without shattering it like a cracker. Sauce is flavorful and balanced judicially with low moisture mozz (i.e. not the fancy shit you get at sit-down places like at Keste or Rubirosa, for example).
I would put Scarr’s ahead of Joe’s, extra points for the opportunity to enjoy a cocktail with your pizza. And I have a (very) local favorite, Grand Street Pizza.
I also don’t really have a favorite kind of pizza. But I don’t like Detroit or Chicago or (good lord) Buffalo.
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