Gotham West Market: Ivan's Slurp Shop, Genuine Roadside and Jeni's

Gotham West Market is a newish foodie mecca open to lure the likes of those who get hungry after they tour the Intrepid (it is a big boat!).

There's more than a handful of eateries and drinkeries housed in the airy, upscale warehouse.  The layout is simple, shops along the edges, cafeteria style seating in the middles, restrooms downstairs and free, bountiful water (nice touch!).

Every place looks popular, but Ivan's Slurp Shop is probably one of the top, serving a handful of different types of extravagantly priced ramen bowls - which isn't quite fair to say, because everything is pretty extravagant in Gotham West.

The 5 second story of Ivan is that he was a white guy who majored in Japanese, got a degree from the Culinary Institute, moved to Japan for a period of time, learned the tricks of the ramen trade, opened up a ramen shop in Tokyo, and now has brought his noodle-making expertise here to New York where he has set up a couple slurp shops.

One of the intriguing ramen options is the roasted garlic mazemen which comes with a couple slices of pork chashu, a nice handful of julienned scallions, black sesame and option to add egg, more chashu and spicy oil to your heart's delight.  The options are what puts the extra in extravagant.

The noodles are springy, and the thick sauce full of so much garlicky love, you won't want to make out with someone for at least a week.  It's comforting, but quite decadent - half a bowl was more than enough for me to have an ample taste.

We then stepped next door to Genuine Roadside, hawking griddled hamburgers and chicken sandwiches.

Not just any kind of chicken sandwiches.  Fried chicken sandwiches.  (Duh, you know.)

The chicken sandwiches come with a very healthy slab of apple / celeriac coleslaw and sambal mayo.  The chicken is nice and moist, with a good crackly crust, but the slaw was nothing worth writing to you about.

The wait situation is a bit of a disaster at Genuine - I think our sandwich took over 25 minutes, which yielded us a complimentary batch of fries that were cold and also nothing worth writing to you about.

What is worth writing to you about is Jeni's summer pop-up shop.  A small little cart with several of Jeni's seasonal and signature flavors right in the heart of the market!  I couldn't help but stay true to my heart's favorite with a cone of the dark chocolate.  It is every bit as good as it was as my first bite in Columbus, the rich truffle-smooth texture just embraces every tastebud with a happy hug.  Thanks for answering my dreams, Jeni, and being everywhere I want you to be.

The market is cute.  You should check it out.  Before September (cause you'll want to get Jeni's - don't live a life of regrets).

Han's Nonsensical Rating: I'd prolly skip the $15 ramen bowl at Ivan, the $10 fried chicken sandwich at Genuine Roadside, and maybe try your hand at the other eateries in the market and hope you fare better.  However, there's nothing better than Jeni's though, and it should be your destination after any meal you do decide upon.

Gotham West Market
600 11th Ave
New York, NY

Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop


Genuine Roadside