3 Japanese Food Chains Come to NYC

choi

Julia Moskin, From Japan, Speed and Solitude; Private booths, fast-food steak and other endearing quirks. nEW yORK tIMES, sEPT 7, 2016.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/0 ... w-york-ichiran.html

Note:
(a) "this fall, three popular Japanese chains will open New York satellites, each with an unusually narrow specialty.  The ramen chain Ichiran 一蘭, headed for Bushwick, Brooklyn, is famous not so much for its food as for what it calls 'low-interaction dining.' * * * Each diner is enclosed in a narrow space like a library carrel * * * Orders are taken and delivered by unseen servers"
(i) carrel (n): "a table that is often partitioned or enclosed and is used for individual study especially in a library"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/carrel
(ii) One can see his server, right in front of him or her -- just not server's head. See
JennyRos, Photo: 'You never see your server': Ichiran, Shibuya [東京都 渋谷 区]. Tripadvisor, undated (~2014).
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Loca ... efecture_Kanto.html

(b) "In a different twist, chairs will be absent from Ikinari Steak in the East Village, where the goal is to help customers eat a big American-style steak in the shortest possible time. (Rather than a steakhouse, think of it as a steak shack.) Ikinari means 'suddenly' in Japanese, and it reimagines steak as a fast-food option * * * The New York outlet will have 40 standing stations where diners order by the ounce [by the gram in Japan; 300 grams minimum] (there's a 12-ounce minimum), specify doneness and cut (rib eye, sirloin or filet [just 3 choices]), and within minutes receive their steak on a sizzling plate. They customize the flavors with wasabi, soy, hot sauce and the chain's homemade steak sauce, then cut, consume and go. At lunch, a 14-ounce steak with salad and soup will cost $18. No creamed spinach or baked potatoes will be available."
(i) Japanese-English dictionary:
* ikinari いきなり 《行き成り》 (adv,adj): "abrupt[ly]; sudden[ly]"

(ii) "No creamed spinach or baked potatoes will be available."

Roman R, 'Perfect steaks for affordable money': Review of Ikinari Steak Kamiyacho. Tripadvisor, undated
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Show ... efecture_Kanto.html
("by default you will have a beef steak on a heat frypan with onion and corn. Additionally you may have garnish like rice and mix salad for just additional 350 yen or so")

(c) "noodle chain TsuruTonTan * * * to focus exclusively on udon [饂飩, though Japanese almost always uses hiragana, rather than kanji] — thick, springy white noodles [made of wheat] * * * Joji Uematsu, the chain’s director in the United States, said udon is much closer to the heart of authentic Japanese cooking than the popular upstart ramen. 'Udon has about 1,200 years of history in Japan, and ramen only about 100,' he said, acknowledging that both noodle styles were originally assimilated into Japan from the Chinese kitchen. Instead of rich pork and chicken broths, udon soups are traditionally flavored with bonito (smoked and salted fish) and kombu (seaweed), both dispensers of natural umami."
(i) 北村優希, 麺匠のこころつくし「つるとんたん」.  週刊·東京流行通訊, undated
www.tokyo-fashion.net/content/Article/JPsocial/3444.shtml
("「鶴」（瑞鳥）と「飩」（空海が唐から持ち帰った言われる飩～はくとん～と呼ばれる麺）、「啖」（健啖家、啖能などの啖）の合成語")
(ii) Japanese-English dictionary:
* 健啖家 【けんたんか】 (n): "glutton"
   ^ 健啖 【けんたん】 (n): "gluttony"