Venturing away from my house. I'm going back into the city because
It's really cool. But Josh from "The Brothers Green" he gave me an invite to like a pop-up dining experience in Brooklyn
It's supposed to be an awesome Thai meal. So thank you so much Josh. I really appreciate that.
I'm here in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
That was the longest drive of my life because I'm so sleepy.
Anyway this dinner he holds a few times a month
The chef's name is Derrick Lucci, I think,
Lucy or Lucci, and he holds this ten seat intimate dining experience in Brooklyn
and like I said
Josh was good enough to give me a ticket
So really intimate kind of thing and it is sold out all the time.
A nice Thai meal. Oh, man
I'm so looking forward to this. Oh, by the way, Josh actually got me two tickets
So I'm meeting somebody- this is my food buddy. -Hello!
But Derrick is the chef -How are you?
Yeah, I'm good. You went to Thailand? You study Thai cooking a lot?
All the time, like every year, multiple times.
Nice, I love Thailand. Yeah, it smells great were you cooking?
Got a few things. Yeah, we got some Khanon Krok
which is a Thai cupcake
A central
old-fashioned red curry
Little pancake thingy.
Hmm oh man
That's a nice surprise, it's crunchy on the bottom but it's like like almost like a pudding, inside.
Yeah
So coconuty.
Third one.
Your third one too. -So good.
Gonna ruin our appetite.
Someone needs to me away from this stuff.
-I know, these are addictive.
You're havin' another one?
I am having another one
Alright, we're about to get started. You excited?
I am so excited and hungry.
I'm so hungry right now, I'm so weak. Can you guys see my eyes?
Literally weak.
That was like extremely citrusy.
And spicy.
It's intense right?
Very spicy salad.
It's really intense. It's strong flavor.
Really minty too.
Really peppery too.
This is a mushroom salad with like prawns. Looks great.
Let's try this eggplant.
That's smoky.
That eggplant's great.
Wow that mushroom's awesome.
It's a little sweet.
I love the sesame flavor of it.
That prawn mushroom salad is insane.
This is a great meal so far.
This is really great, this is dessert. Phandan. It's like a phandan coconut little pancake thing
-Ooh, that crunch though!
Good meal, did you like that?
I'm stuffed.
I'm not stuffed. I can still eat another pizza.
Did you like it?
I did. It was Thai-
- It was interesting right?
Yeah, it was new Thai food, definitely.
So dinner ran pretty late and of course
I don't want to drive all the way back home and then drive back tomorrow for the ramen thing
So I just got a hotel room in the city and tomorrow's gonna be really fun tomorrow
I'm going to- it's like a ramen festival and apparently there's seven
ramen stores coming from Japan from seven different
prefectures of Japan and I'm gonna try all their ramen like seriously
Seven bowls of ramen tomorrow. If I don't finish that I'm not going home.
My bedtime was like six hours ago, so I gotta go to bed. See you tomorrow
This is gonna be an awesome food day. So I got up early went and got a haircut.
Now, I know I'm supposed to eat a lot of ramen today but I just cannot resist, everytime
I'm in town to get a bagel. So I had a bagel this morning.
Also, right beside my hotel, there's a Black Burger.
Man, I want a Black Burger.
All right, I know this day is supposed to just be about ramen but I cannot walk past this burger place.
Got a chipotle burger.
Pretty good-sized burger.
Looks like
lots of beef, bacon, grilled onions, lettuce, tomatoes chipotle sauce.
That's a pretty juicy burger.
Mmm.
Wow.
Nice flavors, too.
Burger patty seasoned nicely.
I love the Chipotle sauce, love that little kick it gives me on my tongue.
I like the bun.
It's got a good chew, not falling apart, points me.
Actually the freshness of this beef is
That's pretty addictive. Actually really good burger. Wow.
Pretty impressed.
I'm gonna finish this up then we're gonna start our ramen tour.
I think if I wasn't gonna go eat ramen,
I could eat about three or four those burgers.
Okay, this is right now a huge street fair, happens all the time in New York City
But somewhere here, I think okay, I think it's over there.
So this organization called Japan Fest, they brought over
seven ramen shops
from seven different prefectures in Japan- I think I talked about this before.
and there's gonna be a competition to see which
ramen is the best.
Now, I'm not an official judge. I don't need to eat at all seven ramen places.
I just want to.
Because I lived in New York for about 15 years now
This is the first time I'm going to a street fair, like the first time ever.
Rich miso
Soba.
Champion ramen.
Chicken Paitan.
Fish, woah, never had fish ramen before.
Premium tonkotsu.
And tantanmen.
This is-this is kind of similar to what I had in Tokyo, the Michelin star ramen place.
I love tantanmen.
But I'm so excited
I just gotta wait for Herrine again because you need a food buddy, you really do.
They're giving me some tickets for my ramen. Look at golden tickets. -Willy Wonka got nothing on this
Yo, I'm luckier than Charlie right now. We're gonna eat 'em all.
- I wanna eat 'em all. -7 bowls.
You're not giving up.
This is so cool, I can't believe these guys brought all these
ramen shops from Japan. This is the coolest thing in New York.
Miso ramen
From Sapporo, from this ramen master right here. What's your name, sir?
-Hideki. -Hideki? -Hideki, yeah.
The chili pepper. Never seen this- look at this beautiful rice cracker, that's rice cracker.
It's beautiful, right?
Only thing I don't love is this.
I love miso broth.
Miso broth in Japan,
it's just the best, right? Oh my god, check out these noodles by the way.
So they're the only ramen booth that shipped their noodles all the way from Japan. Look at this.
Look at that curly,
yellow, delicious, broth-grabbing ramen noodles.
This ramen, it's this right here.
It's so good!
I know it's our first ramen of the day, but still-
-Oh, great start. Great start.
I gotta try these noodles.
The chashu
Oink oink baby.
That's good bacon.
I love how well the broth just grabs onto the noodles, like every single
inch of the noodles, just it's got the broth. I mean, it's flavorful because the broth just clings onto it.
I agree.
And it's a little sweet actually.
One down.
The only sad thing about this is that it ended so fast.
It's over.
Over too soon.
Just like a shooting star.
And the movie "Forrest Gump".
So this is the second ramen place.
I'm just distracted by this- look at all the chashu.
Look at that fatty, porky chashu that's here.
This is just crazy. Are you excited?
I am in love.
Oh my, just my world is right here.
If if I went to heaven, I think it would be like, like just like plate of this and I'm just jumping into it.
Look at the tonkotsu broth. Wow, that looks creamy.
- [Cook] Tonkotsu soup.
- [Mikey] Tonkotsu right?
- [Cook] Yeah, 25 hours.
-[Mikey] 25 hours? Oh my gosh.
Tonkotsu broth and some pickle -some pickled veggies on top. A lemon slice,
which is used to I think counteract the fatty
beautiful fattiness of the broth,
and look at that
lovely chashu. Lovely.
You like?
Taste the broth, lemme know what you think.
Ooh
Yeah, yeah this might actually be thicker than the first one we tried.
Oh
Woo
That is -Pretty thick, really thick -That is fatty.
The oil on top, you guys can see, like that literally a
thick layer of oil floating on top. You had to penetrate the oil to get to the broth.
- [Herrine] The noodes are actually super thin.
You need the lemon.
That is actually very
common noodles for tonkotsu broth.
It's kind of- that, that noodle kind of reminds me of Ichiran noodles.
Really really thin noodles -It does, it does.
It's just a matter of how well does it grab on and taste.
I dunno if I'll be able to finish this. -Okay.
I'll tell you guys what,
this is the most oily bowl of ramen I've ever had in my life. Like, in my life. -Yeah, I agree.
Because when the noodles come up to the surface, it grabs on to that oil, know what I'm saying?
It is so extremely fatty.
And greasy.
It's still good, but
Never have I depended on the ginger and lemon so much.
But once you penetrate that oily layer on top,
the broth is excellent, I mean it's so-
It's rich. There's so much garlic like, like see that? That's all garlic.
Oh this this makes me feel like really happy at the same time, like-
I think, I think this might have cut ten years off my life.
It's really, ooh.
It is substantial.
And I think, I still think that it is delicious.
But that, just that oil.
Let's go for a bowl number three
Number three- no broth in this one.
This is like a tomatoes and egg ramen, with potato wedges- so interesting.
And steak.
-[Herrine] And it's thick noodles, look.
-[Mikey] Ooh.
Let me know what you think. -Ooh it's hot.
Yeah, you happy?
You look happy.
Is this is the best thing you had so far today?
Might be up top.
- Yeah?
Might be on the top.
That's all we need, all we appreciate.
That's bloody amazing.
There's so much going on.
There is a lot, just from the top it looks like some tomatoes and eggs and potatoes.
But no, man.
Wow, I just got hit by wasabi.
There's wasabi?
There's wasabi in there.
Wow.
There's like breakfast and there's lunch together -Exactly!
A mix between Western breakfast, and ramen.
Love the raw onions. Little sweet, nice and crunchy. Mmm.
Wow 52 spices- it's a Michelin star store in Kobe.
There's like two Michelin star restaurants in Japan
I know of now that's famous for tantan ramen.
Look at this. Okay, so onions fresh onions, little bok choy,
minced meat. Oh-
Cashews, look at those roasted cashews.
Oh.
- [Herrine] That looks beautiful.
Look how saucy this is.
It's like we struck gold ramen.
Okay, I'm gonna predict right that this will be the best ramen here
I'm gonna protect it because the tantanmen was my favorite, one of my favorite ramens in Tokyo.
You never had something like this before. This is a very Chinese influenced.
Tell me that's awesome
You don't see you don't seem that that much in love
But this is like a like a three date kind of ramen for you.
Hold on. Let me give it a second shot.
Just give me a second chance
A little bok choy in there.
The bok choy is not gonna help the ramen.
I feel like it'll add a textural component.
I like the spice in the Chinese one better.
But this is really good.
Mmm.
Definitely top two for me.
Yep, top two.
Chinese peppercorn, a little sweet with the peanut sauce,
really crunchy with the bits of nuts and cashews.
This is a ramen you can explore a relationship with, and possibly marry.
Ramen number five.
Whoa, so this place won
this contest last year.
This is Masamune. This is pork broth- this a lot less thick than we've been having so far.
So this is kind of a welcoming sight.
Let's take a look at the noodles. Oh noodles are nice, thin and curly.
This is a very soupy ramen.
I mean
Chashu is beautiful.
My new favorite.
Really really?
My new favorite
Wow, okay.
High praise.
Wow, this is welcoming broth.
This is chicken and pork broth, I can taste the chicken more, and it's slowly healing me, I think.
This ramen is so much milder
And lighter than anything I've had today.
Noodles beautifully al dente- I can see why this place won last year.
The chashu at this place, though, is my favorite so far today. It is so-
I think it's because they're smoking it, I mean they're cooking it right over a grill.
This is so ridiculous.
Bowl number six.
Oh look at this. It was just put down for like a minute. It's already congealing on the top.
Look at that beautiful
big piece of chashu.
That that might be the biggest piece of chashu I've seen today.
All right, let's check out the noodles a little bit.
Look at the straight, thin noodles. The broth looks actually really clear
And it doesn't appear that heavy. It is a little oily, 'cause you can see the oil on top
The ramen is actually thicker than I thought.
But it's smooth.
Always like that.
It's a bit of a salty
Of all the ramen I've tried today.
Still good.
Like the texture of the noodles
Love the taste of the bamboo.
Number 7
Fish ramen, look at this- is that piece of fish?
No no no, that's just a piece of chashu. That's a piece of fatty chashu.
Oh that is tender,too. Look at that.
That thing is just- you can't eve be rough with it.
Gotta chew that like a little baby.
Noodles- curly, yellow ramen noodles.
Broth is very thin and very soupy.
Wow, that's really yummy.
Obviously not as thick at all as the pork broths I had before.
Very gentle, very light, very mild broth. A little a little salty.
You can taste the nice seafood flavor in this.
This is a very gentle bowl of ramen. If you are gentle to it,
It will be gentle to you.
Then, there's just this massive piece of fat.
Oh, that is a melty piece of chashu.
The fish broth is great.
-This is the 7th bowl of ramen, but that pork is still awesome. -Yeah, I agree.
That pork can put you to sleep.
-[Herrine] First I'd put the chicken and pork broth one.
The miso one, that we tried the first time.
Okay
And then the third one
the dry one with the eggs and tomato -The soba. Oh, that was good.
I think my top one is- it's so hard because honestly, everything was great like
It's so hard
Okay number was my favorite and that might be because I was most hungry while I was eating that one
May be a little biased, but number was my favorite.
And then I think it's a tie between the tantanmen and the dry noodle, the same tomatoes and egg one. I really liked the soba.
Yeah, so I think those three. But I just wanna say, like yo
obviously we're not being sponsored for this.
We're here, and they're so nice enough to give us access so we can film some of the behind the scenes.
The process of the cooking of the ramen -So much chashu.
Yeah -So much.
I mean, it's been such a fantastic ramen day. -Absolutely.
And like this is the greatest day, because these shops came from Japan.
So if you can't make it out to Japan, and you want some ramen
This is like, this is fantastic. So, I mean, this is a great, great-
I can't believe I never heard about this before.
-I haven't either, but honestly I thank you so much for inviting me to this.
Yeah, well hey, you're like my only foodie friend in the city right now.
But hey, thanks so much for coming with me yesterday to the buffet thing. And today's a ramen day.
So this has been like a crazy awesome couple of food days with this girl.
You're full right? -So full!
Thanks guys for having me. -Thank you so much. -You guys are awesome.
This guy can eat, people.
This is a great event, like, brought people from Japan here.
This is great, you guys are- I'll be back, okay?
Next fall, see you at Japan Fes.
Just got home.
What a incredible,
incredible food weekend.
Had some great Thai food.
Had some fantastic ramen.
Burgers and bagels, always good.
Now I feel like I just don't need food, you know for the rest of my life.
As always whenever I eat good food
I love to take you along. So hopefully you enjoyed it. Thank you all so much for watching. See you later.