Iron Chef Morimoto Judges the Best of East Village Ramen
Judge Morimoto's Iron StomachPhoto: Melissa Hom
Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto is a master competitor on the Food Network, but Grub Street wanted to test his skills as a judge. We took the Morimoto chef on a ramen tour of the East Village — including Ippudo NY, Rai Rai Ken, Ramen Setagaya, Momofuku Noodle Bar (where a stunned David Chang stopped a meeting to personally prepare our ramen), and Minca Ramen Factory — and asked him to rate the ramen on a ten-point system for taste, five for presentation, and five bonus points awarded at his discretion. Morimoto liked everything he ate, especially the way it was eaten. “We saw American people slurping and making noise, just like the Japanese do, and that’s amazing,” he said. Click through the slideshow to see which ramen Morimoto crowned king.
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