It’s been a long week when I meet my friend to set out for Friday dinner. It’s been a long week, five days forty hours long week, in an unsatisfying, thankless, soul draining hourly wage length. But here we are on the edge of the weekend, and the feelings held hours earlier are starting to dissipate.

The plan is to get ramen, first choice on our list is Mu Ramen, a top notch destination with communal seating and not enough chairs. Against my protestations, the Infinity coupe moves closer and closer, and then we’re at the front door. One hour wait, nah, not tonight… not the contraception, but plan b none the less…

Plan b is a new ramen place that just opened up on Broadway just a few blocks above Steinway. This is where we found ourselves through the front door into the warm atmosphere at Shuya Cafe. Surprisingly, and to a bit of a chagrin, another ramen place that embraces communal seating. We are seated next to a couple, and truthfully it does seem a bit to close. Close enough where we have to decide if we should introduce ourselves. We half say hello, shit I’m hungry, at this point its close to nine. Glancing over the menu at the ramen my friend tenses up as he learns that all the items have fish stock in them. He’s allergic to change, and trying new things. He’s about to leave, I tell him that I’ll be staying and that he should take a look at the end of the list. Mazemen, a noodle dish, made with same noodles, without soup stock.

We both decide on the Mazemen, as well as the pork bun app. The dishes come out in no time, the food is deeply satisfying, the weeks woes completely dissolve.