(Photo: Carolyn Griffin/New York Magazine)

On Fridays and Saturdays at Takashi�the famed beef-centric, grill-it-yourself Japanese yakiniku on Hudson Street�devotees who made reservations can pile in between midnight and 2 a.m. for chef Takashi Inoue’s distinctive take on ramen: a garlicky beef broth; traditional alkaline noodles; a boiled egg cradling a puddle of deep-�orange yolk; crisp bits of beef intestine (vital for texture, better than they sound); and a hunk of long-braised beef belly. Add a plump lobe of seared foie gras, then swirl in Takashi’s own red paste, a 20-ingredient pepper mash cooked for days at a time. Yes, it might be ill-advised to cram into a dark storefront, almost certainly after too many drinks, and slurp down something insanely rich when, really, you should probably just call it a night. But that’s the whole point.