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| - Oh, I love Noodle Bar.
Yes, I know that it's expensive for ramen. But it's not expensive for a nice restaurant (and a celebrity chef one, to boot) and it *so good.* You can have an app or maybe two and a couple of mains and still walk out of here paying less than $30/person, especially if you don't mind sticking with water. If you have a drink you will be pushed easily into $$$ range.
The place is very, very trendy and cool but Noodle Bar is casual enough that you won't feel totally out of place in normal street clothes.
A Momofuku pork bun is probably the best food you can get for $5. If they made them pizza size I would find a way to fit them in my mouth. We've tried to replicate them at home with some success but they're just never the same as they are at Noodle Bar. The wings are very good, cold smoked and pan fried rather than breaded and deep fried, and worth trying.
Noodle Bar does not take reservations, but they will text you when a table is ready for you, so you can either take off and wait somewhere nearby or head up to the (rather expensive) cocktail lounge on the second floor of the Momofuku complex (for lack of a better term).
The service is extremely friendly, professional and efficient.
I'm not sure if the cold spicy noodles change from day-to-day or if New York Noodle Bar just does theirs differently. Here I had them with a spicy black bean sauce that was dialed back quite a bit from what I experienced in NYC. It was still topped with that delightful szechuan pork sausage and candied cashews, though.
He had the congee, which was creamy and delicious, like a pork belly and scallion risotto.
We brought our beers (Hops and Robbers tall boys at $9 a pop) down from the lounge, so the whole night clocked in at just over $60. We'll certainly be back.
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