Remember BONJIN Diner, the cute little eatery that set up shop in Greenpoint every Thursday night? Well, since closing, BONJIN proprietress Momo and hubby Yuji have been hiding out in their atelier perfecting the bowl of ramen.

The time has come to reveal the fruits of their labor- BONJIN Ramen is coming, for all nighthawking New Yorkers to enjoy, every Friday night at Dokebi in Williamsburg. Starting Friday 11/14, BONJIN Ramen will be open from 12 midnight – 4am during the cold winter months to warm your soul and send your drunk ass home in a dreamy ramen daze.

It’ll be just like a wild night out in Tokyo, where there is no better way to end (or begin) a fun night than with some ramen lovin’. Momo invited me over tonight to try the ramen, and let me be the first to tell you that Chef Yuji’s ramen ROCKS. This is the real deal!!!

Friday night after hours in Williamsburg is about to get HYPHY.

BONJIN Ramen
Every Friday night starting 11/14
12am-4am
@ Dokebi Restaurant
199 Grand Street
between Bedford and Driggs

Me man.

Me big man.

Big man want beef.

Big man want Peter Luger porterhouse with creamed spinach and fried potatoes.

Bastardized delivery “pad woon sen.” Is that even possible? Chez Sonja, Brooklyn, New York.

Oishii Eats came to town! This was a very exciting event, as it was her first time in NY. We chatted online furiously the night before she got here- where would we go for lunch? I chose Perry Street, Jean-George Vongerichten‘s Far-West Village outpost.

Seriously, it’s the best cheap fancy lunch in town. 3 courses for $24!!! All year, not just Restaurant Week. Jean-Georges Restaurant in Midtown has a $28 2-course lunch (just as exciting) but Perry Street’s decor is more sleek and casual.

In any case, I love Jean-Georges, and will eat whatever he puts in front of me. Here’s our fabulous lunch…

By now, you should know how I feel about butter: it’s the single most important factor in any fancy restaurant. This was creamy, cold and sweet. Just as it should be.
Amuse bouche of sweet potato chowder.
Arctic char sashimi with lemon and olive oil.

Peekytoe crab salad with hot mustard and slivered apples.

Hanger steak with onion tempura.

Crispy calamari with yuzu dipping sauce.

Molton chocolate cake with pistacchio ice cream.

Creamy cheesecake with simmered prunes and blackberry sorbet.
Jeni and I were literally stuffed when we came out 2 hours later- they sure don’t skimp on the portions here. I love eating with this girl and this was a fantastic meal. Plus, it’s always fun to pretend that we are ladies who lunch once in a while.

Perry Street
176 Perry Street
near West End
NYC
T: 212.352.1900

The Grand Central Oyster Bar is unquestionably my favorite restaurant in NYC. It’s my #1, totally and completely. I love everything about it- from the food to the servers, the long oyster bar counter, watching the soup guy make pan roasts and chowders, the clanking pots, the dim lighting, the white tiles, the swooping, cave-like architecture. Everything.

Platter of half-slurped Belons, Hama Hamas, Blue Points, Cherry Stones, and my favorites: Kumamotos and Totten Virginicas.

I remember being able to smoke in the Saloon when I first moved out here, even well after the smoking ban hit the city. I miss that. They still make the best martinis in the city though.

Grand Central Oyster Bar
89 E. 42nd Street
at Vanderbilt Avenue
NYC
T: 212.490.6650

Kyochon, the ultimate Korean fried chicken, in half spicy drumsticks and the rest in the recommended classic garlic soy. Eaten in Seoul, Korea, but eaten most recently in Flushing, NY.

Kyochon
156-50 Northern Blvd,
Flushing, Queens, NY 11354
718-939-9292

*Have to admit I cheated…I posted the last one at 12:20 am.

What should I do with it? That huge dildo, I mean gourd was sitting in my living room after Kayoko’s goodbye party. We had so much fun carrying around the thing, but it wasn’t one of those mini gourds you see at this time of the season at restaurants or as home decor. Way too huge, and Dawn told me that this is edible. So I felt I was using butternut squash, and started dissecting it. Just a larger version of butternut, right?

It surely looked like butternut. The color was yellow, as I expected. A little bit lighter than nice butternut, but I thought, “Oh well, since they are large, they lost some of the dark yellow/orange color”.

I placed them upside down, rubbed with EVOO, salt and pepper, and roasted them until they were fork tender.

Half became soup. squash, sauteed onion, chicken broth, blended everything together at the end. Hm, something was missing from the soup. Very bland.

The rest became ravioli. I make easy ravioli by using wanton wrappers. I mixed squash, cheese, bit of onion, salt and pepper.

Verdict: I think it grew too big. The whole thing was way too watery, and had not much flavor. It might be better off using as a party gift or new version of “partini” (have you seen the commercial on this weird thing?). We surely had a GREAT time placing it next to body parts at the party.

Sauteed my luscious porkchop from Babbo the other night with grape tomatoes, served over garlic fried rice with egg. Accompanied by a glass of red.

Nutella, sweet crackers and peach ice tea in one convenient package (refridgerate please). I thought this was in Venice, Italy, but there is German on the package so I honestly don’t know.

Every Wednesday and Saturday, Anon opens up his truck in the Brattleboro Food Co-Op parking lot and displays his colorful wares to fellow Brattleborians. It seemed like the entire community came out for this event, as people were lined up to get their pad thai on. I had an eggroll the size of my head.

The menu.

I’m reading that Anon’s is open at the parking lot from Memorial Day through October. The truck is just an extension of his restaurant, also in Brattleboro.

I remember that Portland has a booming food truck community just like this- there are parking lots dedicated to them. Not so much like in NYC where they are always on the move- these are more like stationed trucks.

Anon’s Thai Cuisine
4 Fairground Road
Brattleboro, VT
T: 802.257.1376

Brattleboro Food Co-Op Parking Lot
2 Main Street
Brattleboro, VT