The Reporter And The City

Momofuku Noodle Bar

Shrimp buns, ramen noodles infused with pork and mushrooms, and cream cheese soft-serve ice cream with an apple crumble, are among the asian delicacies you will find at Momofuku Noodle Bar. Hidden between a roasted-chicken restaurant and an Italian bistro in the East Village, the quaint restaurant serves delicious food at affordable prices.

The food is absolutely scrumptious. Unlike other Asian restaurants which usually cater the same menu, Momofuku’s changes with the seasons. The menu is innovative, providing the customers with an opportunity to enhance their palates with flavor combinations as peculiar as sage and cream cheese ice cream.

The shrimp, pork and shiitake mushroom buns are a must as appetizers. The buns are soft and flavorful, spiked with homemade spicy mayonnaise and cole salad. As an entree, the momofuku ramen—their house dish—is wholesome and filling. The ramen is submerged in pork broth and accompanied by pork belly, pork shoulder, a poached egg, and other vegetables. Among other noodle specials, the ginger noodles were particularly delicious. Served with fresh cucumber and pickled shiitake mushrooms, it is a great vegetarian option.

Aside from the great food, the service is incredible. Servers are attentive, constantly refilling drinks, cleaning up plates, and providing you with a remarkable dining experience.

-Karla Barrios

Chelsea Market

The Chelsea Market in Manhattan is a treasure chest filled with great eateries. From fancy restaurants to miniature carts filled with teas, doughnuts, herbs and spices, this food mall has it all.

Among the many restaurants at the market, Giovanni Rana Pastificio & Cucina stands out as one of the top three. Beautifully decorated with warm accents and wooden furniture, Rana welcomes tourists and locals with a fresh taste of local Italian food. The crostini appetizer, which came with fresh ricotta cheese topped with pesto and kale, sunchoke caviar with olives and sun-dried tomatoes, and tuscan pecorino cheese, prepares your pallet for the remaining meal. The cheese is soft and creamy, with subtle touches of flavor from the pesto and the sunchoke caviar.

Aside from Rana, the Milk Bar is the perfect place for a glass of milk. Famous for its milkshakes and fresh milk, the menu is filled with traditional dishes such as mac and cheese and omelettes, but also has a touch of Middle Eastern cuisine. The lavender milk was particularly interesting.  At first it seems like drinking detergent, but after a teaspoon of sugar it becomes a relaxing, therapeutic drink.

If you’re looking for great food, the Chelsea Market is the place to go.

-Karla Barrios

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof Was Lukewarm

It is important for an artist to be straight to the point; the best told stories lack words. What are actors if not mere artists? If you aren’t painting the Cat on a Hot Tin Roof picture, you may be the ravenous cheetah on a hot plain. Yet, you are the savannah cat at night and so that is what your character portrays. This goes to the star cast of the play, whom collectively manages to deliver a cold performance. Perhaps New York City’s temperature has something to do with it but perhaps not, as the play is about envy, greed, deception and desperation.

Scarlett Johansson’s starring role, Maggie, is delivered through an impressive memory-exhausting performance. Johansson’s coarsened voice, putting aside her natural inclination to it, only spans about 35% of its sound. Perhaps her voice is as her self-loathing, heart-broken husband Brick shouts: that it sounds “like you’d been running upstairs to warn somebody that the house was on fire!”

Johansson’s schedule has been nonstop since March 1, at times performing twice a day. I was lucky to watch this play on the 12th, a single performance day. I applaud her vocal chords’ regenerative powers, they have unlimited lives. I can say the same about the play. It’s set permanently in a 50’s-era plantation bedroom overlooking a large party yard, impregnated with a southern American Gothic atmosphere, and pleasantly diverse lighting setup dominant in afternoon colors.

The women in the play yearn for the love of the men, and the men want to disappear in anguish. We are seeing the resolution of the play, which begins long before we take a seat in the theater of our minds, where the play’s conflicts are about to spark breakdowns in its characters, all to our amusement.

-Irma Gutierrez