Gyu-Kaku is located at 34 Cooper Square, which is roughly at Bowery and East 6th Street. I've eaten at Gyu-Kaku at least 10 times over the past 12 months. Gyu-Kaku is an effervescent restaurant - good buzz and good vibe. Somewhat chic but comfortable environment. Very friendly and competent service. But, best of all, it has good rameni, which is particularly remarkable because Gyu-Kaku is not a ramen shop and is subject to a heavy Korean influence (not a bad thing, by any means, but merely suggests ramen would not be an area of expertise). Gyu-Kaku's area of expertise is in barbecue -- bringing out good quality and tasty meats and vegetables for you to grill at your table. They do it well. They also do a wonderful bi bim ba.

Tenkaippin is a chain of a distinctive rameni in Japan, which commands a cult-like following. The super rich, thick tonkotsu based soup is almost creamy. The ingredients are naturally secret, but you can taste the garlic on you for days. The traditional (or connoiseur) way to eat Tenkaippin ramen, is to order it with white rice, and liberally add the hot (spicy) miso and mashed garlic which are on the counter/table for this express purpose. Then, after slurping the noodles, dump the rice into the soup, and mix it up. Slurp this porridge like soup with the spoon. Mmmm. Too bad it is not (yet) available State-side.

The Japanese style karei-rice (curry rice) is a very traditional japanese food, though one might not think so. Of course, it wasn't historically so, but since curry spices were imported, it has become a staple of Japanese cuisine.

The Japanese Kare-rice is a thick creamy roux, with flour and potatos stewed until it is crumbling in the curry. Most standard kare-rice will have a few morsels of beef as well. Served on a plate of white rice, so that half of the plate is white, the other half of the plate is covered in curry, it is garnished with red pickles (fukujin-zuke). Curiously, that is about the only time you will see fukujin-zuke served in Japan.

"Menchanko" is a name derived from the word "men", meaning noodles, and "chanko" which is the cuisine of Sumo wrestlers, a rich stew-soup with tons of ingredients. As such, Menchanko-Tei's house rameni, is not a traditional ramen, but more of a Chanko. The noodles are more of a flour noodle, closer to Udoni, and the ingredients are varied and rich. But it is not their Chanko ramen that this Oyajii prefers, but it is rather their Hakata ramen. The hakata (from Kyushu-region) style ramen is in a white tonkotsu broth, with the noodles which are straight and light, similar in texture and look (except that it is still an egg noodle) to Sobai. [As an aside, Ramen is sometimes also referred to as "shina (china) soba"]

Just came across this great How-to, on Sushii and eating Sushi.

Since Oyajii love sushi, but can't usually afford it on a regular basis, we'll even defer to the Yuji-san who seems to be as seasoned an Oyaji as ourselves.

How to eat Sushi, from EugeneCiurana.com

From the How-to: