NoMad is a rather frilly corner of Manhattan. The neighborhood is home to glittering hotels like the Ritz-Carlton and The Ned alongside temples of fine dining like Eleven Madison Park and Café Carmellini. Amidst this sea of glitz and glam, one place you won’t find any frills is Cospa, a ramen shop that opened last week on West 26th Street.
In an unfussy, convivial dining room, Cospa serves Nagahama-style ramen for $9.99—about the price of a Perrier from the minibar at the Ritz down the block. It’s about the only item on the menu besides chicken karaage for $4.99, canned sake, and Japanese beer. For an extra buck, you can get it spicy. Best of all, Cospa stays open until 2 a.m. Room service be damned!
Fukuoka Around and Find Out
Cospa
Nagahama-style ramen hails from Fukuoka, the largest city on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu. Vendors around the Nagahama Fish Market invented it as a quick, filling meal for busy market workers. Nagahama noodles are exceptionally thin and designed to cook rapidly. The broth, made from pork bones and chicken feet, is lighter than most tonkotsu you’ll find in NYC. Cospa tops the fragrant broth with chashu pork and fresh scallions. Add a spoonful of takana, pickled mustard greens, for delicious spicy funk.
A hyper-regional Japanese restaurant warms the cockles of my heart like a bubbling vat of dashi. I’ve spent many months knocking around Japan, and its culinary diversity still boggles my mind. Travel from prefecture to prefecture, city to city, or even neighborhood to neighborhood, and you’ll find endless culinary riffs and innovations.
I would aver that New York cherishes Japanese cuisine more than any city outside Japan. Much like pizza and bagels, New York-style sushi has evolved so far from its ancestor as to become a distinct species. Nigiri sprinkled with gold leaf or maki stuffed with ossetra caviar and cream cheese would be utterly bizarre to your average Tokyoite or Kyotoan. New York sushi has even spawned subspecies: kosher sushi, sushi burritos, sushi pizza. I hear even FlashDancers does a decent California roll. And that’s not even to mention the legions of ramen shops or the growing vogue for kaiseki among the culinary culturati.
For all the wondrous panoply of Japanese restaurants in our fair city, Cospa might be the only one specializing in Nagahama-style ramen. And if you happen to be reading this at 1:30 a.m. from the Ritz-Carlton NoMad—or the Ramp office—hey, you’re in luck: they’re still open.
AloJapan.com