Zundo-Ya

Photo by: @thisplate.nyc

A couple of weeks ago I was graciously invited to an event at Zundo-Ya in the East Village.  It’s a Ramen shop that opened this past December, the first location outside of Japan.  There are actually already 19 Zundo-Ya shops in Japan, which almost guarantees that this international expansion will be a success among Ramen-loving New Yorkers.

Unfortunately, I was not able to make it to the event, as I was out of town and I haven’t had the opportunity to personally try Zundo-Ya.  That being said, based on reviews I have read on several reputable food websites and photographs I’ve seen by foodstagrammers like @thisplate.nyc have me feeling pretty confident that this place is delicious.

When I do finally get to eat at Zundo-Ya, I will be sure to update all of you on my personal experience there.  If you want to find out more information, such as what other food bloggers are saying about Zundo-Ya, you can click some of the links provided below.  Also, if you’ve already been to Zundo-Ya, let me know how your overall experience was by writing in the comments section!

The Village Voice

Eater

Yelp

Zundo-Ya  84 E 10th Street  New York, NY 10003  917-639-3549

I went on an adventure to Williamsburg this week.  I really still do consider going to Brooklyn an adventure.  I’m getting much more familiar with certain areas, but it also feels a little bit like another planet when I’m walking around there.  I’m convinced that everyone who passes me by can see this invisible sign across my forehead that says “I’m from Manhattan.”

Yea, so I went to Williamsburg because I wanted to try out an ice cream place that I had heard about.  It’s called -321º Ice Cream Shop.  To my knowledge, this is the only ice cream shop in NYC that makes ice cream using liquid nitrogen directly in front of the customer.  I’ve heard about this concept before and knew some ice cream shops on the west coast had opened featuring this kind of experience, so when I found out about -321º Ice Cream Shop, I had to go asap!

When I walked into -321º Ice Cream Shop the first think I noticed was the long counter with these giant colorful mixers.  The mixers looked similar to those you’d find in a bakery, except were also long and tall and pointy and if you told me they were seized from an alien aircraft, I wouldn’t be the slightest bit surprised.  There’s an electronic menu board with the basic and featured flavors offered, which I was told change pretty frequently.  Other than a couple of tables and a counter by the window, the space is pretty bare, in a good way.  The lighting is very bright and you can see how clean the whole store is kept, which for me is always important, being an anxious contamination lunatic.

I ordered the cookies and cream ice cream (no big surprise there, given my need to consumer a bag of Oreos daily) and watched the magic.  The cream was poured into the bowl of the alien mixer and smoke (not actual smoke) started to rise.  The liquid nitrogen is so cold that after only a few spins, the cream began to harden.  Next, a bunch of crushed Oreo pieces were added to the mixing bowl and the machine was turned on again.  This time, there was a whole lot of smoke coming from all over the mixer.  A few more spins around and the ice cream was done!  The mixing bowl was moved into a shallow sink pre-filled with water, I imagine in order to loosen up the ice cream from being frozen to the sides of the bowl.  My ice cream was then scooped out into a cup and got the final touches, a.k.a toppings.

There is a good chance I said, “whoa cool” an unacceptable number of times during the entire process.  But, I imagine most people who have never seen this done before have a similar reaction.  Finally, it was the moment of truth.  Time to taste the ice cream.  Delicious!  The texture was slightly thicker and creamier than a basic scoop of ice cream, which kept the ice cream from melting for a longer period of time.  The flavor was great.  It tasted just like cookies and cream should.  The ratio of cream to Oreo was perfect in that you got some Oreo pieces in each bite, but only some special spoonfuls got the large chunks.  That’s exactly how I like it!

I really had a great experience at -321º Ice Cream Shop.  When I walked in, I was the only customer there and when I was leaving, there were nine other people.  This leads me to believe that word is getting out and we will soon have a new “cult ice cream following” on our hands.  My only criticism is that I have to schlep to Brooklyn to get this awesome ice cream.  And because I liked it so much, I won’t be able to avoid the trip.  I’m actually going to have to go back there!

The final hours of vacation tend to make everyone feel more anxious.  There are only so many things that you have control over and the rest is left up to the competence of whatever airline you chose, presumably the one with the least expensive seats.  It makes sense that certain aspects of travel may increase ones anxiety.  It also makes sense that in order to manage those feelings, one might want to arrive at the airport on the earlier side to make sure there isn’t a problem getting through the security line or returning the rental car.  But when does making sense become senseless?

The airport is approximately twenty minutes away from my grandparents house, so having a fight at 7:18pm would really call for us to leave some time around 5pm right?  Maybe normal people would do that, you know, the recommendation is to have two hours in the airport before your flight time.  We left at 4pm and arrived at Palm Beach International around 4:20pm. 

If you’ve ever been to PBI, you know that it’s not a very “food friendly” airport.  There are a couple of places to stop in on your walk to the gate, but no food court or really anything worthwhile.  Realizing that there was nowhere to eat and three hours to kill before our flight, my parents and I decided to leave the airport and go on a mini adventure.

We ended up at City Place, which only took us about five minutes to get to.  As we walked around, it became imperative that my dad find coffee, so he went into the first Starbucks we saw.  My mom and I continued to walk around, sticking our heads in a couple of shops here and there. 

After a quick discussion, we thought it would be a good idea to celebrate today’s national food holiday, National Croissant Day.  I also knew that I really wasn’t going to be having any dinner tonight because of the fight time, so I needed to get some nourishment.  Obviously, a croissant is the most nourishing meal to eat for dinner… 

We texted my dad and asked him to get a croissant while he was at Starbucks.  He agreed and my mom and I continued to walk around.  We decided to stop in a cheese shop (after going into a French macaron store, an ice cream and candy boutique, and Panera Bread).  This place had a lot of fancy cheeses and gourmet groceries.  As we strolled around the store, my mom stopped dead in her tracks and showed me a miniature bakery case on a counter that contained literally two croissants.  At this point, we hadn’t heard any confirmation from my dad regarding whether or not he could purchase a croissant in Starbucks, so we felt like the next logical decision was to buy one.

Cut to about three minutes later.  We are about to pay for the croissant when in walks my dad with a Starbucks shopping bag in his hand.  Apparently, he was successful at Starbucks and not only purchased one croissant, but ended up buying two.  My mom and I are standing in front of the cashier while he is in the process of ringing us up for, what turns out to be, my third croissant.  We looked at each other like “what do we do?” and I just said to her, “we can’t put it back, it’s fine, he’s not paying attention.”  This comment was directed towards my dad who was busy reading the calorie count to serving size ratio on a package of Smarties. 

The three of us decided to sit down for a bit before heading back to the airport.  Not able to control our laughter, my mom and I told my dad what had happened with all of the croissants.  His response was positive, because now he would be able to eat one of them!  I, obviously, was going to have the other two. 

While waiting at the gate, I had my first croissant, the one from the cheese shop.  It was one of the best croissants I’ve ever had, seriously.  The inside was thick and soft like a popover and the outside was flaky and buttery.  So flaky in fact, that pieces got stuck in between the holes of the knit sweater I was wearing.  These croissant flakes were hiding like Frank Abagnale Jr. being chased by Agent Hanratty in “Catch Me If You Can.”  

I am in Florida.  Whoohoo!

I got here Tuesday night and went straight to dinner from the airport.  First stop, Village Tavern.  One of the greatest places in the world.  This restaurant is enormous and all of the tables can fit upwards of 8 people (Maybe 6 people.  Sometimes my memories exaggerate details a little bit).  Other than a couple of small children sitting in highchairs, I was the youngest person in there by at least twenty-five years.  I’d say the primary demographic is between seventy and ninety years of age.  How amazing is that?  If you want to be entertained by a shitload of old people, and also want to eat really good food, go to Village Tavern.

Speaking of food, the mac ‘n cheese is the ultimate.  Like, if it was the last thing I ate before I died, I would die happy.  Maybe that’s why it’s so good, because the people are so old and they want them to eat really good mac ‘n cheese as their last meal.  That’s a pretty good marketing plan.  This mac ‘n cheese is rich and buttery and creamy.  The top is layered with tons of melted cheese, so much that you can’t even see the pieces of macaroni pasta underneath it.  There is also a nice little sprinkle of breadcrumbs.

Now, let’s move on to dessert.  The menu has a huge selection, but when it came down to decision making time, I had to go for the double-decker cheesecake.  A regular slice of cheesecake is something like two inches tall right?  Okay, so the double-decker is legitimately a double-decker.  You get one giant piece of cheesecake that looks like it could be two separate normal sized pieces.  The best part is that the cheesecakes are different flavors!  Instead of getting ten pounds of regular cheesecake on a plate, you get five pounds of regular cheesecake and five pounds of chocolate cheesecake (keep in mind the weight is approximate and no where near accurate).  The plate comes decorated with drizzles of chocolate and raspberry syrup, because why not?  I’m going to be completely honest with you right now… I had three bites before I thought the elastic on my leggings was going to snap.  But don’t worry!  I took it home!  And without fail, my dad ate some last night…

I’m going to just rewind for a moment to the post-dessert debacle of 2016.  Did my mouth want dessert?  Yes.  Did my stomach want dessert?  No.  Did my mouth win?  Obviously.  My dad ordered a slice of the key-lime pie, but I don’t like that, (no, I’ve never had it, but I don’t like the flavor of lime so I assume I don’t like it, because that’s what A.P.E. does.) so I got my own.  After my three bites, my dad was not very happy with me.  There was an exchange that sort of went like this:

Dad:  “Are you done?”

A.P.E.:  “Yes, I’m so full.”

Dad:  “Then why did you order that?”

A.P.E.:  “Because it sounded really good and I wanted to take pictures of it.”

Dad:  “Do you know how much it cost?”

A.P.E.:  “No, but I think all the desserts cost the same amount on the menu.”

Dad: (steam coming out of his ears) “So you just ordered dessert that you weren’t going to eat and don’t even care about the price?”

A.P.E.:  “Nooo, I wanted to eat it, I just got really full.  I also wanted to take pictures.  Look at your plate, you didn’t even eat half of that key-lime pie.”

Dad:  “That’s not the point.”

Mom:  “It’s fine, Jamie, why don’t you take it home.”

A.P.E.:  “Okay.  I’ll take it home.  Dad, I’m going to take it home.”

Dad:  (rolls his eyes)

A.P.E.:  “What?  I’m going to take it home!”

Dad:  “And you’re going to eat it?”

A.P.E.:  “Yes!  It’s really good.  I’m just full!”

Grandparents:  (coincidentally at the same time)  “Jamie, why don’t you take it home?”

A.P.E.:  “I am taking it home!  I’m waiting for the waitress to come over and I’ll ask for a box.”  (rolling my eyes)

(Waitress walks over with a box and a bag for the cheesecake without me even needing to ask and hands my dad the check)

A.P.E.:  (to waitress) “Thank you!  I was just going to ask for that!”

A.P.E.:  (to Dad) “Let me see that check, how much was that cheesecake?”

Dad:  “Move your hands.”

A.P.E.:  “No, I want to see how much this cheesecake cost so I can pay you back.”

Dad:  “With what money?”

A.P.E.:  “I have cash in my wallet.”

Dad:  “It was $7.50”

A.P.E.: “Oooooo super expensive (being sarcastic).  And how much was your key lime pie?”

Dad:  (laughing) “$6.50”

A.P.E.:  “Wow!”  (pulls out wallet)  “Do you have change of a twenty?”

Dad:  “Jamie, put your money away.”

A.P.E.:  “No, I want to pay you for this expensive dessert that I’m taking home.”

Dad:  “Fine, I’m including tax and tip so it’s $8.50.”

A.P.E.:  “Can I Chase QuickPay you?  I’ll do that.”  (takes out phone and logs into Chase App)

Dad.:  “Oh god you’re annoying (laughs).”

(A.P.E. sends $8.50 through Chase App and shows Mom.  Both A.P.E. and Mom hysterically laugh and wait for Dad to get an e-mail…)