ZuZu Ramen

Hokay! Here we are, Monday again, and this is a relatively timely post (naturally, I have drafts of many more posts that are much less timely waiting for me to finish them), since I was just at Zuzu Ramen on Wednesday. A little background here--I've "met" a bunch of neat people who are just as food-crazy as I am on Flickr, and over time, I've had the pleasure of meeting some of them in person. And last week, a couple of us went over to check out Zuzu Ramen in Park Slope (I have been following the chef's photostream for a while, and had met him at Choice Eats! It was not quite as stalkery as it sounds, heh.) And the man fed us like royalty--we didn't even order!

Disclaimer time! Some of this stuff is off the menu (but might be available as a special.)


We started with the tray in the top photo. From left to right: malpeque oysters with tosazu gelee and radishes, dashi marinated deviled egg with uni, and you can just barely see the prosciutto wrapped shrimp on the right. Uni on deviled eggs is pure genius. The photo above is some homemade apple, mint and lemongrass infused sake. It turns out my two dining companions are not big drinkers, so I got to drink more than my fair share, woohoo!


This was followed by a spicy and refreshing octopus, grapefruit, and radish salad. Sinus clearing! Loved the little bits of grapefruit.


And then, this arrived: the salmon BLT (sans the T; apparently the green tomatoes ripened and were no longer suitable for this!) I think C said it best, when she said "I don't want this to end." Yes, those are chicharrones topping the salmon. Yes, it is every bit as delicious as you are imagining right now. (There is a pork belly version on the regular menu. I will definitely have to try this next time.)


A close second in deliciousness were these (on the menu!) chili-cumin glazed ribs. Dude, check out the ENORMOUS RIB I picked up. Falling off the bone tender. Mmm. I was pretty ready to wave the white flag of defeat at this point, but then Scratchy came out to ask if we wanted some ramen. How could we say no? (Although I did ask for a small portion.)


Here's my green curry ramen, with the most meltingly soft charshu ever. And who doesn't love a soft-cooked egg?


C's hot and sour ramen (also a small portion).


And P's regular sized slow-braised beef curry. I only had a sip of the broth, but it was yummy, and it turns out the beef is tongue. Will definitely have to try this one next time, too. And after that, we really did have to throw in the towel. I don't know about the other two, but I definitely waddled to the subway. (And because we really are food-nuts, we talked about a future outing to eat our way around Flushing. Wheee!) Can't wait to go back to Zuzu! So hey, if you find yourself over in those parts and in need of a dining companion....give me a shout!

 ZuZu Ramen
173 4th Ave. (nearest train stop is the R at Union St.)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
718-398-ZUZU
Cash only