By Elian Zach

When a perfect meal knocks at your door wearing nothing but a plastic bag and a smile, you can’t help but be seduced, let it in and have your way with it.

I’m not a winter person. I was born and raised in Israel, where it’s sunny and snow-free almost year-round, and where people’s idea of “bad weather” is 55 degrees with an hour of rain a week. I am, however, a big soup enthusiast. Though somewhat inappropriate at 104 degrees and 100 percent humidity, we have a lot of soup in the Holy Land. When the first rain hits the ground, my mom/personal chef concocts a selection of surprising and eclectic soups; hearty mushroom, creamy sweet potato, and spicy bean soups are scarfed down by the Zach clan, as rich aromas of spices and family fill my childhood home.

My sister and co-foodie, Elinor, who moved to New York four years before I did, introduced me to the magic of Ramen, the climax of soupism. Together we scouted for the most exciting variations of the Japanese noodle dish around the city.

One chilly winter night, Elinor Skyped me from her apartment, two blocks away from mine, her eyes twinkling with the kind of passion reserved for a woman in love. “I have found the perfect Ramen,” she declared with joy. “Tt’s amazing, amazing, amazing!” Elinor is the only person whose food critique I never question. If she says something is dreamy – it must be true.

A year later, my BSF (best sister forever) made a life-altering decision to give the motherland another shot. She moved back to Tel-Aviv, and left me all alone in the concrete jungle, scared, longing, and a little hungry.

When power and Wi-Fi were restored post-Sandy, all I wanted was to stay home, take a long, hot bath, and turn the lights on and off, just for kicks. Cold and in a solitary mood, I browsed SeamlessWeb for something comforting to eat during the latest episode of Homeland, when I stumbled upon Rai Rai Ken, the ramen joint Elinor was raving about. Homesick and sentimental, I placed my order. Neither my New York winter experience, nor culinary existence, has been the same since.

Elinor’s pick:

Mabo Ramen

With soft, diced tofu, ground pork, garlic, and soy-based broth, this unconventional twist for the classic is a “bowl fulla comfort.” The supple Chinese-style wheat noodles blend beautifully with the tender pieces of pork and cubes of silky tofu. Top that hot mess with Sriracha sauce (to be purchased at your local grocery store) for an added flare, and you got yourself a truly perfect winter meal, and a great excuse to stay in.

Price: $9.50

My additions:

Menma

This combination of marinated bamboo shoots, seaweed, scallion and red peppers in soy sauce, is the ultimate accompaniment for the scorching soup. This dish serves as a pause of freshness, to be eaten as either an appetizer, or a palate cleanser, in-between slurps.

Price: $4

Mango pudding

The only way to seal the meal is with this velvety dessert, which is just the right amount of sweet. The coconut milk moistens and refines, while the tapioca adds texture.  Seamless, indeed.

 Price: $4.50

Rai Rai Ken

218 East 10th Street

Hours: Sun-Thurs 12 p.m. -12 a.m.; Fri-Sat 12 p.m. -2 a.m.

Phone: (212) 477-7030

Lazy? Cold? Both? Enjoy it at home:

http://www.seamless.com/food-delivery/rai-rai-ken-new-york-city.23252.r

]]> http://nypress.com/the-best-seamless-delivery-ive-ever-had/feed/ 0 http://nypress.com/around-the-world-on-the-upper-west-side/ http://nypress.com/around-the-world-on-the-upper-west-side/#comments Wed, 25 Apr 2012 23:04:47 +0000 Regan Hofmann http://nypress.com/?p=44906 Gastronomie 491’s curated shelves are a labor of love

Part of the cheese display at Gastronomie 491.

By all rights, Nicole Ahronee should weigh 400 pounds. Walking through the aisles of Gastronomie 491 (491 Columbus Ave., betw. 83rd & 84th Sts., www.gastronomie491.com), the marketplace she recently opened on the Upper West Side, she has something to say about every single product on the shelves—she’s tasted every one, as well as countless similar that didn’t make the cut. French chocolates? Baguettes from Soho? Italian bucatini? She’s tried it and decided it was good enough to provide for her customers.

The amount of thought and effort that went into assembling the Upper West Side shop’s inventory is staggering—and the process hasn’t come to an end just because they’ve opened for business. The refrain you hear most frequently from Ahronee is “People seem to like it.” She’s watching how shoppers respond to every item, and if something doesn’t inspire the same excitement in her customers, it can be replaced.

“This is a new company I just brought in, but I think when we’re finished with this supply we won’t bring it back,” she said, pointing to one of a number of varieties of honey on offer. “It’s part of a being new store—there’s a lot of tweaking.”

That attention to detail doesn’t end with the marketplace’s well-stocked shelves. It filters down into absolutely everything, including the coffee they serve. While Italian import Illy is by now a well-known name, Gastronomie’s version may not be as familiar.

“I’m not fussy about a lot of things, but I’m fussy about coffee,” Ahronee said. “[Illy] got me to their showroom and had their barista there from Trieste, where they roast the beans, who said he would personally make me a coffee. I felt like a princess, but when I tasted it, it just wasn’t right.” That not-right coffee was the Normale roast, which is served in most cafés around the city.

“He said, ‘Just a minute,’ and went into the back and came back and made me another one, and a smile just came over my face.” That special roast, the darker Scuro, is now the coffee of choice at Gastronomie.

For the items she doesn’t know intimately, Ahronee has hired disciples to fill the gaps. In the shop’s small, open kitchen, Steven Gutterman is developing Mediterranean-tinged meals for a quick bite at the bar or one of the back tables or to take out by the pound. While most chefs watch the seasons to alter their menus, he watches peoples’ faces as they shop and eat.

In the back of the shop, Martin Johnson has built a charcuterie empire. “I knew he was the right guy when he showed up for the interview and said, ‘Would you like some cheese?’” Ahronee said. “Out of his knapsack, he pulled a little board and a knife and started cutting me some cheese right there.”

Johnson’s wraparound counter houses salumi and cheese from around the world, a strikingly sophisticated selection where Humboldt Fog, a smoke-tinged California goat cheese coated in ash, is the most well-known variety. But there’s no time to be intimidated, as Johnson is unwrapping blocks, cutting samples and telling stories for patrons the moment they show signs of confusion. It’s impossible to walk away from the counter without a parcel or two of a new favorite, sold on the strength of his enthusiasm.

The selection on the shelves is most striking when you realize the breadth of the coverage. Almonds from a family farm in California sit alongside Spanish potato chips fried in olive oil, above Antidote chocolate bars made in Long Island City. Ahronee’s attention to detail has her literally scouring the world. “Either you go to the little artisanal producer in Brooklyn or upstate, or you have to go through these big distributors that bring in the international products. I try to maintain a balance, but it can be frustrating to deal with so many different suppliers.”

Gastronomie 491 aims to be the neighborhood’s go-to hub for any point in the day, from your coffee first thing in the morning to on your way to a friend’s house for dinner. “If you need a lemon, we’ve got it. Most people you see in the shop are only carrying one or two items, but they’ll come back two or three times during the day,” Ahronee said. “I’ll see someone in the shop and say, ‘Oh, you’re still here!’ And they’ll tell me, ‘No, I just came back!’”