ramen in the summertime

I had my first bowl of ramen in months last Sunday. I’m pretty sure that ramen is one of my favorite foods ever which must mean something. (Maybe ramen and french fries tie for the top spot. As I was saying to self-confessed chocolate addict, “Maybe the way you feel about chocolate is like how I feel about french fries: everytime I pass by a McDonalds I literally fight an urge to just pop in for a medium fries.”) The East Village is littered with different ramen soup noodle purveyors and I’ve done a relatively good job trying a lot of them, but each ramen craving has to be dealt with appropriately. For example, ramen can be a great sharing dish, especially when eaten in its creamiest, richest form (see Ippudo’s tonkatsu ramen) or sometimes its best expereinced solitary slurping the salt-based shio (me at Rai Rai Ken last weekend, eating alone at the bar happily shovelling ramen in my face, ignoring the 80F weather and craving fall time). 

Rai Rai Ken is by no means my favorite ramen place in New York, it’s pretty back to basics and simple. It’s an institution of sorts in New York, predating the trendy Japanese chain imports that have popped up. There are only 14 seats and one slight slim framed Japanese waitress, and a Mexican who prepares your ramen (you can see all the Japanese > Spanish translations on the wall). It’s not too heavy and the pork isn’t as melty, the noodles aren’t as firm and homemade as Ippudo’s, but the price is incredibly right (8.50 for a bowl) and eating straight up at the bar makes the entire experience feel more authentic. If I went with someone else I would have shared gyoza, but I couldn’t justify the added expense (this time). 

I finished it off with a slice of green tea pound cake at Panya Bakery then watched Eat, Pray, Love. Now I need to make some Bolognese. I accidentally bought half a fucking pound of pancetta, idiotically not realizing that the price was covered by another salami price tag and now I have no idea what to do with this italian bacon except make carbonara and bolognese. Please send hints or suggestions my way. I also do not have a food processor if that is required.