Welcome to Food & Fashion, a project where I, along with my good friend and fellow food lover Aziz Ansari, hit up five of our favorite restaurants in NYC and dressed for the occasion. Today’s post is about our trip to Momofuku Noodle Bar. Appropriately, we both devoured a ton of ramen in clothes we purchased on respective trips to Japan. Read below for a full recap of our delicious meal and a breakdown of our looks. Photos by Noah Kalina.
171 1st. Ave. New York, New York 10003 AA At this point, we all know and love the Momofuku restaurants, but it’s still great to go back and see what new tricks they have up their sleeves. I currently dig the Noodle Bar lunch menu mainly because of these super amazing beef brisket buns. I’d never had these shiitake buns but they were dope too.
beef brisket buns
By the way- just because I like whiskey cocktails so much - you must go to Ssam Bar and have the Penicillin there. They really kill it. One of those and a mackerel sandwich? That’s a fine meal. Also, I hear amazing things about the new duck dinner. In honor of Momofuku’s delicious ramen, Anna asked me to wear something from Japan. I’ve been incredibly lucky to have went to Tokyo over the last two Christmas holidays. Its my favorite city to be in along with NYC. I love the food, the cocktails, and particularly the clothes. Why? Because not only are the suits and clothes just super sharp, but Japanese clothes are actually made with small framed men such as myself in mind. None of this, “Well sir… maybe you could try an XL in boys?” talk in Japan. On both trips, I spent an insane amount of time shopping at Isetan for Men, which is a very famous, super amazing department store in Tokyo (there is also a killer food court in the basement floor too). Trying on suits at Isetan is the most fun shopping experience ever. One, the suits are really great and even lil’ Aziz can wear it off the rack, and two, its hilarious having super nice Japanese people help you find the perfect suit even though they don’t speak any English at all. I fell in love with one lady that helped me in 2010. I don’t know her name, never understood a word she said, and I don’t know how the relationship would ever work long distance with her being in Tokyo, but I’d like to think we’ll end up together one day. This suit I’m wearing is from Isetan’s line, Creator’s Cut. At Isetan they always give you the option of getting your name monogrammed inside the jacket. I got A. Ansari in mine, but I kind of wished I put in something else like J. Statham just to make people wonder if I stole my suit from Jason Statham and then got it tailored to fit me. Next time!
momofuku ramen - pork belly, pork shoulder, poached egg
AM Momofuku is known for being a hard place for vegetarians to eat, but when we got there the chef had prepared a shiitake bun with no meat for me! Major brownie points for that move. The ginger scallion noodles reminded me of my trip to Japan three summers ago and I have to agree with Aziz, it is pretty much the coolest city ever. The food was great, but the shopping was OUT OF CONTROL!! I went crazy. Everything fit me. Nothing was weird shaped or boxy. It was a dream come true. I spent most of my money in the Harajuku district buying Little Bo Peep CosPlay outifts. Wait, no I didn’t, but I did buy that amazing dress from the photo at a store called Yellow 96. That dress might be the best purchase I ever made. I wear it all the time and I always get compliments on it. The people of Japan are so incredibly warm and I felt really cool when the sales girls gave me little gifts every time I visited the store. Yeah, I went multiple times in 10 days, but that is of no concern to you.
AA is wearing: Suit - Isetan for Men, Creator’s Cut Shirt - APC Tie - Paul Smith Shoes - Esquivel AM is wearing: Dress: I have no clue, the tag is in Japanese. Shoes: Steve Madden
AM’s Makeup: Eyeliner: MAC Blacktrack Fluid Line Eyeshadow: MAC in Lime Brows: Make Up For Ever Aqua Eye Pencil in Taupe Concealer: Make Up For Ever HD Concealer Eye lashes: Lancome Hypnose Drama Mascara and Mattesse Individual False Lashes Lips: NARS in Shanghai Express
Thank you to Momofuku for filling us with ramen and buns.
