East Village Eats if someone asked me what my favorite neighborhood in NYC is, i'd have to say East Village. i often find myself around this area whenever i'm downtown on the weekends. Ippudo 
raved that it is the most authentic japanese food, Ippudo is said to have the best ramen ever. unfortunately for me, Ippudo cannot accomodate to make a vegetarian version of ramen and so i did not have the privilege of tasting such wonderful ramen. 
Jessica's miso ramen with tonkatsu based broth. their food is a bit on the pricey side, but i'm told that it's worth every penny. what actually makes it more worth it is that you can pay an extra 2 dollars for the larger serving, which is pretty much twice the smaller size. 
my agedashi tofu for $8 though it was really yummy, i just don't think it's worth paying $8 for 4 pieces of tofu sitting in broth. i left feeling not very full... perhaps if i was willing to fork out $30 or so, my stomach could've been a little happier. but East Village offers so many good foods at cheap prices, why would i want to pay more at Ippudo? Dumpling Man 
dumpling man on St. Marks Street between 1st Ave and Ave A. 
you sit at a bar and you can watch the Chinese women construct all the assortments of dumplings behind the glass window. 
i ordered the surprise veggie dumplings. and by surprise, they probably just mean "special" of the month. this had leeks, shiitake mushrooms, and hoisin sauce. the dumplings were... okay. they weren't like wonderfully to die for. but.. i'm not ready to give up on them just yet. they had so many other vegetarian options that i want to try out so i'd like to come back and see. i really wanted to try their Cassava Crepe but didn't because they listed eggs as an ingredient. but after ordering, i saw on their menu inside that they offered a vegan variety of the crepe! bah! although i just realized that they offer special sauces, such as concoctions named Hot Monster, Cool Monster, Asian Tahini, and Green Curry. i will return to try them again! Chikalicious  chikalicious has 2 shops: a dessert/restaurant type of shop that is more expensive and a bit more pompous, i think; and the other side which i call "express". i've been to the dessert bar and although the dessert was good, it was expensive and basically something to "ooh" and "aah" your eyes while you watch Chik or some other dessert chef put your dessert together on a plate. i went to the express side for the first time yesterday and it was absolutely wonderful! the employees behind the counter are so friendly and joked with me as i pulled out my enormous SLR camera to take photos of their shop (normally, i get ridiculed or condemned for taking indoor restaurant photos). 
warm apple crisp with ice cream and vanilla custard pudding their dessert was super yummy. not bad on the prices -- a bit expensive, but reasonable when you compare them to the dessert bar. the warm apple crisp was not really anything extraordinary, but in general was a good dessert. the vanilla custard pudding surprised me, as their pudding wasn't really a pudding but more like a warm vanilla-laiden sauce soaking a cake. i couldn't put my finger on what flavor the cake was... tasted almost carroty, but it wasn't. and the sauce had such a strong vanilla taste, but not so sweet that it was a delightful culinary experience. Saint's Alp Teahouse 
and as usual, when i'm in East Village with Jessica, we go to Saint's Alp Teahouse for boba. i could've sworn their name was Saint Alp's cuz that makes more sense to me and that's what i've been calling it all this time. but according to the mug, i guess it is Saint's Alp Teahouse. | 
