"EastVillage" news and stories

This week on "The Martha Stewart Show" (11 a.m., syndicated), "domestic diva" Martha tours some of her new favorite restaurants, all located on East 10th Street in the East Village of Manhattan. The restaurant tour seems appropriate since it falls during Restaurant Week, when many high-end restaurants, such as Mario Batali's Del Posto, offer reduced fixed price menus.

The New York Post explains that Martha's fascination for E 10th st. began this summer at Graffiti Food and Wine Bar, a tiny four table restaurant. In fact, the tour kicks off tomorrow with a tasting of 15 small dishes from Graffiti's chef Jehangir Mehta. The tour then goes to the ramen noodle counter at Rai Rai Ken, ChikaLicious dessert bar, and of course the hip and trendy Momofuku Milk Bar.

These restaurants offer a refreshing diversion from many of the larger restaurant establishments that will be offering discounted meals for Restaurant Week. In fact, the prices at some of these East Village restaurants are just as inexpensive. Check out Martha' website to find out more about the restaurant tour and to view some of chef Mehta's recipes.

Given my love of Japanese food, and my belief in the restorative powers of slurping down a steaming bowl of authentic ramen, I'm surprised that it took so long for me to happen upon Rameniac. I like to think of this site not as a resource but as the Rosetta Stone of ramen. Given that it lists 22 ramen styles ranging from the country's south all the way to Hokkaido all laid out on a map with links color-coded by soup base (miso, shoyu, shio, etc.), I don't think I'm exaggerating terribly much. There's also a section aptly titled "drooling" that reviews 15 ramenyas, some in Japan and some in the States. Add to that nine reviews of instant ramen, and all of sudden I'm craving a hot bowl of the stuff, even if it is practically August.

By the way the photo above is a bowl of shiromaru, or white sea ramen, from Hakata Ippudo, a chain with several locations in Japan as well as abroad. It's a pork bone soup with thin noodles, chopped green onion, luscious slices of pork and wood-ear mushrooms. This ramen is a specialty of Fukuoka. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll be heading out to New York City's East Village for some soup in the very near future, as in the next 30 minutes.

Source

I went to graduate school in Philadelphia, and lived only a few blocks from the famed La Colombe Torrefaction. I was a student, it was far too hip for me - but I did stop in once or twice for a croissant and what Food & Wine Magazine calls their "silky cappuccino," naming the caffeinated hotspot the top U.S. coffee "bar."

So coffee is served at bars, not shops, now? The magazine also picks Ritual Coffee Roasters in San Francisco, Ninth Street Espresso in the East Village, New York; Aloha Island in Beverly Hills and Ruta Maya in Austin. Naturally I think they're ignoring some legendary spots here in Portland (hello, aren't we coffeeville?), like Stumptown Coffee and Ristretto Roasters.

As I've only quaffed java at one of their top five spots, though, I can hardly be a judge. What do you all think: are they missing anyplace else that's truly paradise in a French Press?