Mr. Taka makes some of my favorite bowls of ramen. My recommendation is the spicy miso, which always gives me the unusual feeling of being both totally stuffed full of food and ready to jump up and get moving. The “stamina” ramen is also great. Both come with a generous helping of delicious ground pork, culprit number one for the totally full feeling.

The thing I love about this place is that each individual part of the bowl of ramen is right up there with the best in its category. Particularly off-the-charts is the beautiful chasu, perfectly seasoned and perfectly charred for the quintessential melt-in-your-mouth experience.

I find it really hard to resist ordering an Orion on draft when I’m eating a bowl here—I love food that goes hand-in-hand with a particular drink and these two are hard to separate now in my mind! Particularly on a crisp New York winter day, there’s nothing in the city I crave more than that pair.

Right next door to Mr. Taka is the excellent Bluestockings Bookstore, by the way, if you feel like grabbing a book after lunch!

Mr. Taka 170 Allen St, New York, NY 10002

Try: spicy miso or stamina ramen with a frosty glass of Orion