Minca

Minca serves big bowls of comfort, just what we needed after a few recent rough weeks. We sat at the counter of this East Village establishment, watching the chefs stir fry, squirt sauce, sprinkle chives, chop egg, boil noodles, and assemble minca sio ramen (porky and beefy, top) and vegetable miso ramen (filled with tofu, mushrooms, corn, and cabbage, bottom). The restaurant calls itself a Ramen Factory, and there was something hypnotic and almost mechanical in the practiced moves of those in the kitchen. At any rate, we slurped some of the sadness away.