Karazishi Botan is one of my favorites in NYC, but unfortunately I don’t get out to Brooklyn very often. A post-Brooklyn half-marathon replenishment (I didn’t run, but expended some calories cheering 😉) was the perfect occasion to continue working my way through their ever-changing menu. Order of the day was a special, the Paint It Black, a Kyushu style black garlic tonkotsu. As with their flagship Iron Men IV, the soup is refined and achieves incredible balance and depth of flavor. Despite the ample pork oil floating on the top of the very cloudy broth, it is a very clean flavor with no funkiness. The black garlic complements instead of overpowering. Unlike the Iron Men IV, which featured pure-white flat noodles that were very wheaty in taste, the noodles in the Paint It Black were a deep yellow and very springy, with a more traditional flavor. The chashu was thin cut and menma were interestingly julienne cut which I had never had before. A great bowl. Another person at the table went with the Showa classic, and as I stole a few slurps I was impressed with the nostalgic bonito-forward taste, like a much higher end version of the cafeteria ramen served in my office in Tokyo 30 years ago. (30? Yikes! 😳) I also sampled the Zangi chicken, naively ordering each person at the table a piece, unaware one piece is basically a whole chicken thigh. Zangi is Hokkaido’s version of Karaage (fried chicken) and if you ever see it on a menu, get it. This was delicious, though maybe ranked a hair below the offering at Menkoi Sato (will see if the new Menkoi Sao keeps the crown). Wish this place was closer - I absolutely love it.