Naruto Ramen 04-26-2009

Location: 1569 3rd Ave.
Time: 6pm
People: RB and myself

Feelings: Since it was such a nice day, RB and I decided to check out the cherry blossoms. Every year we usually go to Brooklyn Botanical Garden, but this year, we:
1) were broke and too cheap to pay admission fees to see a bunch of freakin trees,
2) were still recovering from Friday's outing,
3) got up too late to go all the way down to Brooklyn.
We instead tried the Upper East Side area of the Central Park. I almost never go to Upper East Side unless I am visiting my doctor. It gave me a strange feeling. The entire time I was there I felt as if I had to rush to my appointment.

After strolling around the park with an odd feeling in my stomach, we ventured out to the one and only ramen shop in Upper East Side, Naruto Ramen. The place looked like a traditional ramen stand just like Rai Rai Ken in East Village, with a quite narrow bar in front of the kitchen with limited seating. The decor itself assured me that their ramen would be great. However, I did not sense the distinctive greasy aroma that the most traditional ramen shops would indulge you with.

RB ordered his fantasy yet sinful dish: ramen with Katsutama (twice deep fried pork loin with egg, onion and sweet sauce). Whoever thought of this dish must be the Japanese equivalent of Paula Deen. As he consumed massive chalories, he was thankful that we had spent all day walking around the park. He sure has to maintain his heroin-chic figure. He said it was quite yummy but quite heavy.

I ordered a much simpler dish: Naruto ramen, which is their house ramen dish with soy based soup. It was just average but poorly presented ramen with overly salty broth. It was so average I cannot even come up with another word to say. Their gyoza was also average with again a lot of salt. As far as I know, this is the best ramen in Upper East Side, but as far as I know, this is the only ramen in Upper East Side.