I love ramen. And who doesn’t? It’s salty, carbalicious, and one of my all-time fave comfort foods. College kids make it for a few nickels and restaurants use it as a base for some of the most amazing noodle soups around. Ippudo in the East Village is one of those places that makes you stop and rethink a food staple that you feel has reached its epicurean limits. Their soups are outrageously satisfying and inspire to the home cook (even one who eats ramen noodles for dinner!)

So it was a rainy Sunday afternoon and my boyfriend and I were starving. We knew we wanted noodle soup (it was a comfort food kind of day) and Ippudo immediately popped into my mind. Perfect idea, right?! How could we go wrong?

We get there at 3PM – totally and completely drenched. Like, out of the shower drenched. And it’s packed (who knew we were the only ones craving hot soup on a cold, rainy day?!) The wait? An hour and a half. So we decide to go somewhere else. Thirty minutes and twelve blocks later we end up back at Ippudo. (What can I say? My mind was set!) So we have an hour to go and luckily, they have a fabulous little bar to keep you entertained during the wait.

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