East Village Adventures: Little Tokyo

January 16, 2013

Last week, my mother and I decided to explore the East Village. Well, my mom wanted to explore the East Village and asked me to join her. Being the excellent daughter that I am, I obliged her and it actually ended up being a lot of fun! We walked a lot, saw a lot, and most importantly --- ate a lot!

The area of the EV that my mom was interested in was the St. Marks area (between 3rd & 2nd Ave) because it is essentially "little Tokyo." Literally, almost every business establishment is a Japanese restaurant! The St. Marks area also has some more exotic stores (tattoo parlors, vendors, etc...) and it is always lively in the evening, however, there is definitely a very strong Japanese presence.

interesting pet store we walked past

St. Marks (a non-Japanese section)

popular East Village cafe

One place I have walked by dozens of times, but never visited is "Japadog." What is Japadog? It's a Japanese hot dog place that sells hot dogs with Japanese toppings! Delicious! I have been wanting to try this place for ages, but somehow never did...until now! Apparently it was started in Canada by a Japanese couple who had moved to Vancouver. After much success there, they opened a branch in NYC.

Outside Japadog is a giant poster filled with pictures of famous people who have eaten here. It seems that my beloved Anthony Bourdain ate here...so it went without saying that I had to eat here too!

The interior of Japadog is like that of any other fast food joint. You have your menu, but as you can see, there is a wide variety of hot dog types. Terimayo, yakisoba, okonomiyaki, etc....so many delicious choices!

This flow chart adorns the walls. It made me laugh.

After much deliberation, my mom and I decided to each order a "Japadog Jr. dog", as it was only 11 am! My mom ordered the yakisoba dog and I ordered the terimayo --- the same as Bourdain! The terimayo is a combination of teriyaki sauce, Japanese mayonnaise, and nori. Before you judge it, you gotta taste it. It was delicious! The yakisoba dog was also really tasty!!!

After enjoying our delicious "Japadogs," mom and I wandered the streets of the east village. We strolled from street to street and avenue to avenue. We took lots of pictures. One thing that struck me that I really loved was the cultural diversity. You always hear that NYC is a melting pot, but to see it...wow. One block over from St. Marks, 7th St (between 3rd & 2nd Ave), was dominated by Ukranian establishments. The next block down, 7th St (between 2nd & 1st Ave) was all Indian! Wow. How amazing is that?!

the biggest hamentashen that I have ever seen!

now you're talking!

We wandered around for about one hour and then decided that it was time for lunch. Those Japadogs were merely an appetizer! The question was: what do we want to eat?! We agreed that it would be Japanese, but the question was what kind of Japanese cuisine! Ramen? Curry? Sushi? Robatayaki? So many choices. After consulting yelp and seeing what was nearby, we decided on a ramen shop called "Rai Rai Ken." I have never heard of it, but somehow mom knew it.

The ramen here was quite good. It's sort of a hole in the wall, but it is by no means dirty or dingy. Mom ordered regular "shoyu" (soy sauce) ramen, but I tried something a bit more creative. I love mabo-tofu (ground meat + tofu + sauce), but I had never seen in served in ramen form. INtrguied, I ordered it. It wasn't bad, but I think I will stick to mabo-tofu on rice. There was something about the consistency...it just didn't match...

mabo-tofu ramen

shoyu-ramen

After lunch, to make room for dessert, mom and I did a bit more walking. We walked past a pet store with this funny sign in the window.

We also visited a Japanese bakery located on the other side of St. Marks Place. It was wonderful!

Because mom and I had not eaten enough already, we went to "ChikaLicious" for dessert. This is a little dessert bar that is Japanese owned and operated. I have never been before, but my mom talks about it all the time. It was really delicious!

This is also a teeny tiny hole in the wall dessert place. You can eat here, however, I would estimate that Chikalicious can only hold 10 people MAXIMUM and the tables are so close together, that you feel like a sardine! Still, the confections are delicious! Sure we were full, I mean we both had a mini hot dog and a bowl of ramen, but that would not stop our culinary adventures! We are committed to our research and if that means stuffing our faces and stretching our stomachs, you better believe that we will do it!

I ordered apple crumb a la mode

(basically apple pie sundae)

Mom ordered banana pudding

Overall, mom and I had a marvelous time in the East Village. I think exploring it like we did was something we both had really wanted to do, but never had the chance to. This adventure also made me very thankful that I live so close to little Tokyo. Now that I have discovered a slew of Japanese restaurants, I guess I'll have to come back to try them out!

Some of the Japanese Restaurants we passed: