East Village, Fourth Avenue Between Wanamaker Place and 10th Street

Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Does something seem to be terribly wrong at 65 Fourth Avenue? In case you can't see what that godawful mess of a façade is made of, here's a closeup.




Mary Sargent © 2009 …………………………………….. click to enlarge


I googled 65 Fourth Avenue and discovered that it is the home of Hakata Ippudo, apparently a famous and widely admired Japanese ramen chain. According to Rameniac, Ippudo is the John Coltrane of ramen. (If mediocre ramen is smooth jazz.)





I must say, the reviews and excitement about this noodle shop have got me ready to go right back down there.

Back to the visual mess. Since it's a chain, I guess they wanted to make it look like the shops in Japan, so they slapped these wooden slats onto a totally inappropriate building and walked away.

Actually, I was more interested in Lam's Garden when I took this and several other photographs, although it is probably not the John Coltrane of Chinese takeout, and is certainly not beautiful. What it does have is a certain East Village visual integrity.



BUT if this ramen is as good as they say it is, I'm prepared to breeze right past those wooden slats without a word of complaint.

See map.