NYC's 5 Best Bowls Of Warmth
With chilly temperatures, there's nothing like a hot meal to warm your insides as you remind yourself of all the other reasons you love where you live. By Jessica Allen.
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Ramen Misoya, in the East Village, offers three types of miso as its broth base for ramen: kome (intense), shiro (mild and light), and mame (smooth and sweet). In addition to an actual pat of butter, the seasonal konayuki ramen uses Parmesan cheese as powder snow. It is so rich, so creamy, so utterly decadent, you might not be able to finish.
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For $75, Torrisi Italian Specialties serves an extraordinary seven-course tasting menu at lunch and dinner. If you're lucky, you'll nab a seat in its small Lower East Side dining room (alas, the secret's out about this place, so reservations are required). But if you're luckier still, pasta e fagioli will be on the menu, a salty, savory explosion of smoked ham, beans, and kale.
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Arirang, a Korean restaurant, specializes in handmade noodles. Lubricious and luxurious, they soak up the hearty broth they're served in and warm you from the inside out. They come in two main varieties—kalguksu (knife cut) or sujebi (torn)—and, fortunately, you can get both in the same bowl, as in the chicken kar-jeabe.
Decorated to look like an Andean ski lodge, with dark wood and white accents, Urubamba puts out hearty Peruvian food. Among the specialties at this Jackson Height restaurant are various seafood preparations, including arroz con camarones, a colorful one-pot wonder. The key to its greatness? Butter. So, so, so very much butter.
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Of course, you can't talk about bowls of warmth in this town without mentioning matzo ball soup. The version at 2nd Avenue Deli gets our vote for number 1. Is it just like grandma used to make? Depends on the grandma, of course, but it is hearty and warming, rib-sticking and comforting. And while you're there, you might as well get a pastrami on rye too.