Restaurant critic Alan Richman managed to drag David Chang to Ippudo to opine on its ramen.
Chang didn't take the bait (he doesn't consider himself the ramen king of New York, and he said he liked the ramen at Ippudo), but there are some amusing exchanges between the two. Both Richman and Chang recognized the quality of the broth and the noodles, but Richman didn't think much of the pork slices. I actually thought they were terrific.
Ippudo's Karaka-men, from Cocktailian on Flickr
For some serious eaters both here and especially in Japan, ramen noodles are a religion. They worship at the altar of firm noodles made in-house, intensely flavorful broth, and the porkiest of pork slices. I, on the other hand, am a ramen noodle agnostic. At least until now. Until this weekend, my favorite ramen noodles in New York have been the mighty tasty made-in-Chinatown noodles served with tender, delicious pork and wonderful broth at Momofuku. Ramen purists have scoffed at Momofuku's noodle preparations because the restaurant's chef-owner, David Chang, did not train as a legitimate ramen chef (though he did work briefly in a ramen shop in Tokyo).
Because I know it's not politically or culinarily correct to anoint ramen noodles not made in the restaurant they're served in, I decided to go ramen-hunting this weekend. What I found was surprising and delightful. I finally found ramen noodles made in-house served with killer broth and fantastically porky pork. In other words, I found ramen noodles worthy of worship and worth waiting for.
