Hands down, some of the best ramen in the city can be found on Fourth Avenue in Manhattan at the only American outpost of Japan's Ippudo chain. But to slurp down their noodles coated in that delicious, delicious porky broth diners often have to deal with an endless wait at a crowded bar that can stretch for well over an hour. There has to be another way, right? There is. more ›

Today Frank Bruni at the Times gets around to reviewing Ippudo, the first American outpost of a popular Japanese ramen chain that opened in the East Village last year. After frequent ramen consumption at Momofuku Noodle Bar and Minca, he decides that "Ippudo’s ramen dishes—most of them, anyway—were my favorites. I appreciated Ippudo’s slender, springy house-made noodles, which manage the trick of having presence and delicacy at the same time... As the ramen slowly reveals itself, you submit completely to its spell." Bruni also compares the concessions available to the masses at Citi Field and Yankee Stadium, declaring the Mets champions of his mouth. more ›

Everyone is going apeshit over soup. Even Restaurant Girl is clamoring for chowder’s moment. Earlier this week she reviewed Bussaco, a new Park Slope spot: "Eating the crab chowder at Bussaco makes me wonder why chowder isn't more popular," she writes. "Was there a chowder trend? Did I miss it? Why don't we have one now?" Crab chowder with “Old Bay puffs" is $14 at Bussaco (dinner only).
• At 6 o'clock on the dot last Saturday night, the line at Brooklyn dumpling HQ Eton looked like the buildup outside of an Engelbert Humperdinck concert. Eton has officially put away its shaved ice (or "shave ice," according to people who have been to Hawaii) contraptions and brought on noodle soups for the winter. $12 buys you a quart of soy-laced broth filled with knobby, spätzle-like noodles and a hunk of braised short rib on top.
• For a blowout media preview the week before last that would have effectively put an end to all food restaurant blogs in NYC if everyone in the place had been kidnapped, Ippudo unveiled six seasonal ramen soups, including Tiger Tan Tan Men, which was excellent, and is seen here: a big bowl of rich, tasty pork broth stirred with sesame paste, smoky pork sausage bits, and fresh noodles. Lunch only throughout November; $12.
• Alex Ureña, he of the secret take-out lunch menu at Pamplona, is quietly offering two deluxe soups: Wild mushroom with goat cheese toast and crispy cremini mushrooms, for $15, and sopa de calabaza, a butternut squash soup with manchego foam and Serrano ham.

This week the Times’s Frank Bruni hands down his verdict on Commerce (pictured), the trendy new inhabitant of 1911 West Village carriage house formerly occupied by Blue Mill Tavern, among others. Overall, he deems the new tenant fussy and cacophonous; chef Harold Moore’s “polyglot menu and intricately wrought dishes let him strut his stuff in a way that a more archetypal bill of fare might not. In doing so he creates a rankling dissonance, his dishes beseeching a closeness of attention that the frenzied atmosphere doesn’t easily permit.” more ›

IPPUDO: Though its website says the grand opening isn’t until Monday, a call placed to Ippudo, New York City’s first taste of the hit Japanese ramen chain, confirmed that they are welcoming diners for dinner during their “soft opening.” The photo here by Cocktailian depicts “a super porky broth with excellent melt in your mouth roast pork” that the photographer “will be dreaming about for days.” Andrea Strong declares the broth “perversely porky,” and explains it’s made by cooking pork bones for over 15 hours. Ippudo’s thin ramen noodles are made on the premises and cooked almost al dente, and a full bar up front serves 25 sakes, three shochu, beer and spirits. 65 Fourth Avenue, 212-388-0088. more ›

Shigemi Kawahara, who’s known in Japan as the Ramen King, unveiled the much anticipated Ippudo last night at a press event packed with food bloggers and dozens of members of the Japanese media. The East Village ramenya is his company's first restaurant outside japan. more ›