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Ippudo – Pricey but Delicious

Ippudo is a ramen spot right on 4th avenue and the corner of 10 st. A few people I know swear by Ippudo but I am usually put off by its insane wait time and sometimes less than friendly staff. My first experience at Ippudo was marred by such rude service that I couldn’t really enjoy my meal.

That being said, after about a year of not having gone to Ippudo, it was time to go back for a fresh perspective. Lucked out with a decent wait and a very friendly waitress!

I had the Akamaru Modern Ramen (pictured above) - tonkotsu soup noodles with special sauce, miso paste, garlic oil, thick slices of berkshire pork, cabbage, onions, kikurage and scallions. I sprung for the nitamago (a seasoned hard boiled egg +$2), because what is a ramen without a hard boiled egg? The broth is absolutely amazing; thick and flavorful. The pork is incredibly fatty and succulent and honestly, the ramen is amazing. You can’t go wrong with the Akamaru.

Gao Di went with Ippudo’s Miso Ramen which our waitress informed us changes seasonally. The broth here was really good and I enjoyed the fact that it was something a little different – that being said, I have to hand it to the Akamaru for just being awesome.

Since we were already blowing money we sprung for desert. We got the Matcha Brulee, a green tea flavored creme brulee with gelato. This was amazing. I had no idea Ippudo had such good deserts. The perfect texture with a really awesome green tea flavor – I will have to stop myself from getting this on subsequent visits. ($7)

With ramen at a base price of $13-14 dollars missing a key ingredient such as an egg, your general ramen bowl will come to around $16-17 dollars. This is a lot of money to pay for ramen when you can get awesome ramen at Menkui Tei. That being said, honestly, Ippudo has some of the best ramen I’ve had in NYC. I mean, the broth, it’s just so damn good. Great place to go, a bit pricey.

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aiaiai: TMA-1 headphones

As a musician, I am embarrassed to say that until recently I never owned nice audio equipment. I recently set out to change this state of affairs and here is an example of one major upgrade – high performance headphones.

AIAIAI’s TMA-1 headphones are designed by Danish design firm KiBisi, further developed in cooperation with Tartelet Records, Mannhandle and Thank You For Clapping, and tested by a plethora of amazing DJs including Matthew Dear, James Murphy, Ellen Allien and A-Trak.

The TMA-1’s have everything I enjoy in a product.  The packaging is stunning, featuring a geometric pattern of stop, pause, play, fast forward, and rewind icons.  The headphones are housed in foam that resembles studio soundproofing.  Unlike the box, the TMA-1 name and visual inspiration comes from the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey and it’s pretty easy to tell: matte black with minimal branding, only a slight AIAIAI imprint on the inside of the nylon headband. The headphones are beautifully simple.

Most importantly, the headphones sound amazing and are super comfortable with an easy to adjust click system. No frills or tacky shiny parts, these headphones are flat out bad-ass ear pleasers. The sound is incredibly well balanced and the high end treble isn’t too tinny so you can bump these things loud without feeling like your ears are exploding.

As Dr. Dre’s and other flashy cans are saturating the market, consider these as an alternative. The TMA-1 is just a set of headphones, and that’s all it needs to be. If you’re in NYC go pick them up at either Dijital Fix location, or otherwise nab them from The Ghostly Store. MSRP: $200.

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Body Language Live at Brooklyn Bowl

I managed to catch Body Language for a bumpin’ show this past Labor Day weekend at Brooklyn Bowl. I snapped this video of their new track ‘Social Studies’ and was pleasantly surprised that the sound wasn’t blown out. BK Bowl is a huge venue, and as such, I think the sound gets a little muddy and some of the vocals seemed to get lost in the mix. That being said, Body Language put on an awesome show and I can’t wait to catch them at their next one.