Williamsburg
Get directions | 150 Ainslie St., Brooklyn, NY 11211
Hours | Sunday 10am-4pm, Monday 9am-3pm | 6pm-11pm, Tuesday 9am-3pm | 6pm-11pm, Wednesday 9am-3pm | 6pm-11pm, Thursday 9am-3pm | 6pm-11pm, Friday 9am-3pm | 6pm-11pm, Saturday 10am-4pm
One restaurant. Two names. During the day, this tiny 12-seat house of chopstick heaven is home to Okonomi, in which they serve a traditional Japanese set meal called ‘Ichiju Sansai.’ At night, the space gets taken over by Yuji Ramen, one of the best, most unique noodle joints that exists in this fine city filled with ramen. Before we get into why you need to eat here immediately and explain the best plan of attack, let’s get into some of the backstory, because that part is important.
Chef Yuji Haraguchi had never worked in a professional kitchen before he was hired as a prep cook at Roberta’s a few years back by Tara Norvell, his eventual business partner. Yuji wound up cooking ramen for staff meal a lot, and every time he did it, people were blown away. Turns out, Yuji WAS A FREAK IN THE KITCHEN. Yuji and Tara decided to pop up with his unique brothless ramen, otherwise known as mazemen, at Smorgasburg on the regular. Yuji became the toast of Smorg, which then led to a permanent pop-up space on the second-floor food court of the Whole Foods on Bowery. Yuji Ramen served Yuji’s brothless ramen creations all day, and then at night, he offered a one-of-a kind, 16-seat, impossible to get into tasting menu. We went. It was silly. The hype was full throttle, and it was all warranted.
When you have sufficiently generated this kind of buzz and then open your first ever brick-and-mortar location, which is what Okonomi is, you’d think it’d be a food media frenzy, right? Well, that hasn’t exactly been the case. It’s been kind of quiet, which is surprising to us. We’re here today to make sure Okonomi/Yuji Ramen gets on your hit list immediately, because it’s one of the most exciting restaurants in NYC.
For breakfast and lunch at Okonomi, they take you straight to Tokyo, serving the supremely delicious, traditional ‘Ichiju Sansai’ meal, which consists of a rice bowl, a miso soup, a piece of cooked fish, and three small sides. It’s light, it’s healthy, and it’s very affordable, coming in at $12 per person. After lunch, they proceed to throw all the leftover fish and excess bones into big pots to start cooking that night’s ramen broth. Yuji Ramen is open Sunday-Thursday evenings, while on Friday and Saturday nights, they do a new version of the tasting menu for which they became famous – to get a seat, you need to book a month out. Considering there are only 12 seats, you will likely have to wait regardless of when you come, but they move quickly, and The Blind Barber is right next door, so you can go and get a coffee during the day, or a beer at night, until your table is ready.
Come for lunch, come back for dinner, and if you want to get real crazy, do the weekend tasting menu. Ramen, most certainly, is not dead.
(718) 302-0598
https://www.instagram.com/okonomibk/?hl=en
OKO BENTO
MAZEMEN
SAKE CANS
SERVED WITH 7-GRAIN RICE (CONTAINS GLUTEN)
ADD EXTRA NOODLES 1.50 (CONTAINS GLUTEN)
INDIVIDUAL SERVINGS
Breakfast Bento
23
Bacon
& Egg
18
Mutsu Otokoyama
10
roasted market fish, tsukemono,
bacon, onsen egg, bonito flakes
Aomori Prefecture
tamagoyaki, daily vegetables
clean, smooth, velvety, dry
Spicy Tuna
18
180ml cup, 15-16% abv
Hokkaido Bento
35
tuna confit, sesame oil, fresh
&
scallop
salmon sashimi, Maine uni,
greens, togarashi spicy
Yuri Masamune
12
red crab, ikura, tsukemono, shiso
Honjozo “Beautiful Lily”
lro-lro Midori
18
Akita Prefecture
Unaju
35
jalapefo-herb sauce, yuzu, white
mellow, rustic, nutty, fruity
grilled eel, kabayaki sauce,
soy, fresh greens vegan
200ml cup, 19% abv
arima sansho, salad, tsukemono,
marinated yuba
Uni Miso
23
Kikusui Funaguchi
13
Maine uni, tomato-miso, shiso
Ginjo Noma Genshu
Niigata Prefecture
fresh, vivid, flora I
OKO DONBURI
ADD-ONS
200ml can, 19% abv
SERVED WITH 7-GRAIN RICE (CONTAINS GLUTEN)
Miso Soup
3
SAKE BOTTLES
Curry Rice
19
contains gluten
Japanese curry, roasted market fish,
LARGE FORMAT (300mL CARAFE I 750mL BTL /1.8L BTL)
takuan, fried garlic
Aji Tama
+2
marinated soft-boiled egg
Joto Nigori
19 /NA/105
Tuna Shigureni
22
Junmai unfiltered
Onsen Egg
simmered tuna shigureni, fukujinzuke
+2
Hiroshima Prefecture
pickles, wasabi, scallion
slow-poached egg
creamy, luscious, dry, fruity
15% abv
Bacon
Hawaiian Bowl
+4
24
pulled pork, lomi salmon, tuna poke,
Shichi Hon Yari
21/NA/130
greens, jalapefos
no substitutions
lkura
+5
Junmai
Shiga Prefecture
rich, earthy, complex, aromatic
15-16% abv
