Ever since the opening of Ippudo a few years ago, NYC has had a love affair with ramen with new places opening up seemingly every week on a different corner of the city. I was particularly excited for Ivan's because it had gotten glowing reviews in many of my favorite blogs, appeared in various pop-ups across the city and has a famous version in Tokyo. Plus it was located in the brand new Gotham West Market. Gotham West is this large warehouse space all the way on 11th Ave that houses various mini restaurants (not quite stalls but not quite full sit down restaurants) that all sounded amazing and interesting and I had been dying to check it out since it opened before the holidays.
Anuja and I met at Ivan Ramen on a Saturday night and I didn't realize how quiet the place would be. I expected this large space to be buzzing with people, but I guess I could see it being a more of a daytime place to check out. There is a pretty small menu of 5 different kinds of ramen (there is a veggie version) and 3 different kinds of rice bowls. Anuja and I were both torn about what to get so we finally settled on splitting the Smoked Whitefish Donburi ($12) and the Chili Eggplant Mazemen with an egg ($13 for the dish, +$2 for the egg) and each getting a Yuzu Lemonade ($3). You pick wherever you want to sit in the place and they will call out your name and/or bring it to your seat. Both of our dishes came out around the same time (although they did call me "Jane" for about 10 minutes before we figured out that I was Jane). I didn't know what to expect with the Smoked Whitefish dish but it was fantastic. I do love a good rice bowl and this one did not disappoint. It's filled with a warm and very flavorful rice base which has sesame seeds, nori, bonito flakes, and fried onions. It's then topped with tons of slivered cucumber, scallion, smoked whitefish, and a heaping of salmon roe. I am a total sucker for salmon roe rice bowls - so this was even better with all the other delicious ingredients that came with it. The saltiness of the roe and fish was balanced out with the cucumber and the rice was seriously addictive. The best part was that there was so much whitefish - it wasn't just a bowl of rice with a sprinkling of fish. I would definitely come back for this dish and if I worked near this place for lunch, I could see myself getting it frequently. The Chili Eggplant Mazemen is a bit different from your typical ramen in that it doesn't have a broth. Instead it's got more of a light sauce base. The eggplant is slow cooked and is served with a smoked chili soy sauce. It was indeed very smoky from not just the eggplant but the chili as well. The noodles were thin and nicely coated with the sauce so that it didn't seem to miss lack of broth. The egg was a good addition to the rest of the dish and I liked the chewiness level to the ramen.
All in all, I enjoyed my meal and it was a nice change from a place like Ippudo, Totto or even Yuji where is it just a madhouse to try to get a table. The rice bowls are a great addition to the menu and I dare say, even better than the ramen dish. Even though a bunch of the other places in the market were closed, it's definitely a fun place to check out and I look forward to returning and trying out some of the other places. Total bill: $16
Photo Credit: Yelp
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