Ramen, Cupcakes and a Champagne Cocktail

What more do you need on a rainy, windy Saturday?

After a successful but mentally fatiguing shopping expedition to Midtown, S. and I treated ourselves to some much needed girl time. We headed down to the East Village to some of our favorite places. First off was Minca Ramen Factory. We both went for the Basic, a huge steaming bowl of noodles and thick, rich garlicky broth topped with mushrooms and a couple slices of melt in your mouth pork. Rest assured, this ramen bears absolutely no relation to the noodle block many of us depended on for sustenance in college. I can never finish it and usually take the rest home for lunch the next day.

After filling our bellies with ramen noodles, we took a walk down to Sugar Sweet Sunshine on the Lower Eastside to have a couple of their superb cupcakes. S. likes the red velvet, which are moist and very red. I tried the pumpkin with cream cheese frosting, also moist with a little spice. The buttercream they use is light and not too sweet. You can eat a whole cupcake without feeling like you'll get a cavity. The atmosphere is cozy and warm and the sweet smell makes you want to stay for a while.

We topped off our evening with cocktails at Angel's Share. I tried one of their signature drinks, Scenes in the City. A refreshing mix of Citron, grapefruit juice, and lychee syrup. S. went for her favorite, a Bellini. For the encore we each had a Kir Royale. I have to thank S. for getting me started on the champagne cocktails. They add a festive note to going out for a drink. This bar is small and a little hidden (though really not much of a secret). You need to go up a flight of stairs and through a Korean restaurant to enter. It fills up quickly, so the time to go is right after it opens at six. We sat at the window and watched twilight fade into night. The mixologists at Angel's Share are scientific in their approach to drinkmaking. They are fascinating to watch as they measure out the proportions and then put it all together. I recommend getting a bar seat once in while to see them work.

Minca
536 East 5th Street
New York, NY
(212) 505-8001

Sugar Sweet Sunshine
126 Rivington
New York, NY
(212) 995-1960

Angel's Share
8 Stuyvesant Street
New York, NY
(212) 777-5415