'Kids in the Kitchen' class set at Ansborough Hy-Vee

Of the traditional ramens, my favorites are the shio, a supercharged chicken soup of phenomenal depth and clarity, and the vegetarian shoyu, darker and heartier, tasting of soy sauce and roasted mushrooms. Both broths were scalding hot, with a fatty richness that made my lips slippery. After the first few mouthfuls of rye noodles, I put down my chopsticks and stared into the white ceramic bowl, trying to see where all that flavor was'ing from.If I ever showed up at Slurp Shop in a linen suit, I might forgo slurping and order roasted-garlic mazemen, a more recent style that dresses the noodles in a thick sauce, something like Italian pasta. Or I might eat a rice bowl. The one with smoked whitefish tastes like a Japanese translation of a morning at Russ & Daughters. But I was even more taken by the one topped with tender, soy-rich pork and a smear of salty, sour plum paste.

The chef Seamus Mullen is here, too. His tapas bar, El Colmado, expands on the Spanish menu he developed at Tertulia but is set up so it's easier to drop in and graze and drink wines from Catalonia or Bierzo and pretend that 11th Avenue is in Spain.El Colmado feeds the illusion. The cooks are dressed in sky-blue grocers' jackets and dark gray caps, and the counter is propped with jars of squid and cans of pimentón next to oysters on ice. They are excellent, as is the Serrano ham, which falls from a vintage Berkel slicer in shaggy pink leaves that are meltingly pliable.

With the exception of fried artichokes smothered below overdressed arugula, the cooking has a light hand that befits the elemental flavors of Spanish cuisine. Frying is a strength, in croquettes filled with smoked eel, or fried whitebait, their pinpoint black eyes staring up from a swirl of lemon-yellow aioli. Lamb meatballs are a model of the form. So are the gambas al ajillo, red shrimp in a quarter-inch of garlic- and shrimp-infused olive oil that I would drink from a shot glass.Thanks Pete, for the truly fun review of Gotham West Market. "Food Court" or "Food Hall," it seems a great improvement over Eataly, where...Mr. Wells, could you please some day write a piece explaining the underlying logic of your reviewing scale? You seem to give out two stars...