Jun-Men Ramen Bar

249 Ninth Avenue

(between 25th and 26th Streets)

Winter is coming. So it’s ramen time!!

Jun-Men just recently opened and they are still working out the kinks. However, that doesn’t seem to deter customers. Wait times can be as long as 45 minutes to an hour. Knowing that, I made sure to go when it opened for dinner: 5 p.m. on a Saturday night.

Like many noodle bars, the space is small—I think it can only seat about 40 to 50. As a matter of fact, it’s easy to miss. I’ve walked past it in my travels dozens of times and I always mistaken it for a Japanese hair salon. But unlike traditional noodle bars, the décor is modern and minimalistic.

The menu is also minimalistic.

Along with the dishware.

 

For starters, we ordered the fried sweet potatoes with maple bourbon butter and umami mayo. The bourbon butter on the fries made it good enough to eat without the umami mayo condiment. It seems to be a fave, as I noticed that every other table also ordered the fries.

 

We also tried the pork bun appetizer—pork belly, pickled cucumber, and hoisin sauce. It came with a serving of two, so perfect for sharing. Must note, that I’ve had better. Perhaps I should have ordered the BBQ pork bun.
 

 

As far as the ramen, my sister ordered the kimchi ramen with roasted pork shoulder, egg, kimchi, and scallion, which came in a large bowl. She slurped up the noodles and had so much soup left that she decided to take up the waitress’s suggestion of an extra order of noodles ($2).

 

I ordered the restaurant’s signature dish. The uni mushroom mazemen. It’s uni, roasted pancetta, porcini butter, truffle oil, fried shallot, and scallion. As it’s a dry ramen, it doesn’t come with soup.

 

The taste is interesting and I am glad that I tried it, but I think a little bit of uni goes a long way, so I didn’t need a whole bowl of it.

For drinks, surprisingly Jun-Men does not offer wine or tea?!? Hopefully, that will be rectified soon??? So in the absence of wine, I ordered their lychee cucumber sake-tail.

 

Too cucumber-y for me.

 

A better option was their beer offering. Ordered the Sansho ale, which paired well with the ramen.

Pros:

Delicious ramen.

Excellent fried sweet potatoes!!

Cons:

No tea?!? Isn’t that sacrilegious for a Japanese restaurant?

No wine.

Small, tight space.

Final Thoughts

Will return to try their regular pork bone ramen.

Would also like to try sitting at their “ramen” bar, which is seating in front of the kitchen and watching the cooks prep the food.

Chef Yu

520 Eighth Avenue

(between 36th and 37th Streets)

A favorite go-to spot for quick Chinese takeout near work. It’s also a terrific option on a Sunday afternoon where most restaurants near Penn Station are closed.

 

Nice ambience, with nice pricing. They also offer lunch specials during the weekday.

 

A bowl of wonton soup is $1.95.

 

Vegetable rice noodles are $8.50.

 

And so is an order of beef chow fun.

 

It all comes with complimentary tea.

Final Thoughts

Good, decent Chinese food in a comfortable setting with friendly service.

Salinas

136 Ninth Avenue

(between 18th and 19th Streets)

One night, after having dinner in Chelsea, I was looking for a dessert spot.

Stopped in at Salinas, a beautiful Spanish restaurant known for their fresh-cut flowers and sat at their bar with its white marble counter.

 

Ordered an arroz con leche con membrillo—a basque rice pudding with quince, citrus compote, whipped sweet Manchego, PX reduction. Very light dessert that’s not too sweet.

 

Paired perfectly with the Muga rosé.

Pros:

Gorgeous restaurant.

Gorgeous bathroom.

Cons:

Actually both a pro & a con. Although not offered on their bar menu, the bartender kindly put together for me a dish of mixed olives. Not at all what I expected and was underwhelmed. I probably should have been more specific and requested martini olives.

Final Thoughts

Perfect spot for a quick drink!

Co. (aka Company)

230 Ninth Avenue

(corner of 23rd Street)

Another brick-oven pizza restaurant! This one is located in Chelsea.

I have wanted to try their pizza for a few years, but it’s never been a destination spot for me so whenever I stopped by the restaurant was too crowded and the wait was too long. So this time, I made sure to show up when the restaurant opened for lunch.

Décor is a bright, open space.

 

I particularly liked the bar set-up. Fantastic people-watching spot!

 

The paper menu was the table setting. Genius!

 

Started out with the roasted beets salad, which came with toasted pinenuts, dill, chives, and citrus-fennel yogurt vinaigrette. As a fan of red beets, I LOVED this salad especially the yogurt vinaigrette.

 

For the pizza, I ordered the Popeye pizza pie, which came with pecorino cheese, gruyère, mozzarella, spinach, black pepper and garlic. Although, they are “individual” size, I found the pie more than suitable for sharing for two.

 

And the spinach was charred! Delish!!

 

For dessert, we selected the carrot cake, which came with candied walnuts, maple mascarpone, and gingered carrot. Perfect dessert for two! And a light treat!

 

 

As it was lunch, I chose the ginger-yuzu homemade soda for my drink. Very sweet, but wish they included actual ginger. Instead, they only had the syrup.

Pros:

Helpful and friendly staff.

Charred spinach on the Popeye pie!!

Cons:

Wish they offered a lunch special.

Only offered pizza as their entrees.

Final Thoughts

Will definitely return, if just to rate their bar service!

Halloween Red

It’s Halloween.

Which means it’s officially Red Wine Season!

I’ve wanted to try an Apothic-brand wine for years now, so Halloween seemed like the perfect time to try one.

I chose the appropriately named Apothic Dark. Very cool gothic-looking label.

 

 

And very cool, black cork!!

 

 

The wine itself is dry with hints of coffee and dark chocolate. The finish is smooth and silky. Pairs wonderfully with chocolate—in particular Nestlé Crunch’s chocolate bar!

Cheers!