The great store bought ramen shoot out.

As much as I love the ramen shops around me, I don't have the time or the money to eat out all the time. While I need to look in to both of those things, there is a fairly competitive store bought ramen scene. Mitsuwa in NJ

recently hosted a shoot out of their tops sellers: 

Let the sampling begin!

First up Yamachan Ramen:

Made in California, I sampled the pork and miso flavors. By far the most expensive ramen at almost $6 per package but the flavor was excellent and the noodles held up. 

 They also have a very wide variety of flavors. It was a Saturday and too crowded to go shopping, but it's on my list for next time.

 Next up, Myojo.

Unfortunately they only had the seafood/tonkotsu broth. It was pretty odd, a pork with a slight fish taste. I like "seafood" and I like pork. I'm not sure they are they are the new chocolate & peanut butter.

And Sun Noodles

I normally love Sun Noodles. My fridge is stocked with their tonkotsu ramen, at less than $4 a box (serve two) they are piced well. They were sampling other flavors (miso & shoyu) which were just ok, but...

dixie cup size samples probably isn't the best way to sample ramen.

All in all, nothing blew my socks off, but I'll give Yamachan a try.

I'm back... kind of.

I haven't kept up with my blog, obviously... I will say in the last year I have eaten much more Vietnamese

                                                                  (the holy grail of Bun Cha)




than I have Ramen and in general I've been fueling a "ramen only" blog is a little limiting in NYC where there are so many great options for food. So I'm just going to lump in other great food stories in here ;)

As close as it comes. Kambi/Minca

I don't know why this wasn't my first post. Probably wrapped up in my born-and-raised-in-NYC psyche is that you don't speak about your favorite places except amongst close friends out of fear that someone from Time Out will write about it and completely and utterly destroy the place with tourists and NYU students.  I am also confused by it's completely middle of the road ranking on Yelp.

Since Time Out already has it as their second best ramen joint [link] and it is right on the edge of NYU and the wanna-be dorms that is Sty Town, I guess if it was going to be over run, it would have happened by now.

So, here it is, my favorite ramen shop:
Kambi Ramen House - 351 E 14th St 


and its equally good, more funky, smaller, have to wait for a seat every time sister:
Minca Ramen Factory - 536 E 5th St

Service & Ambiance: I tend not to go to Minca because it has the same exact quality in a much tighter, rushed, and frankly dumpier atmosphere. It could be mistaken for trying to imitate a Tokyo ramen shop, but it's really just a LES first floor apartment dive. Kabi is a modern take on a ramen place and rarely do I have an issue having a party of 4 seated right away. It is large, so that helps, but I don't find it very busy. Unlike Minca, I haven't been asked to leave.


Either way, you are getting a hearty welcome (only second to Ippudo), a menu with Japanese and English, an inquisitive look when you don't order goyza (I don't get why that is mandatory) and kitchen staff that will cook your noodles "kata" (al dente) if you ask them to.


Broth: This is the closest to a creamy pork broth as I can find. It is excellent. I am puzzled by Yelp comments saying the broth isn't much. I have to think they are looking for something else because this is excellent tonkotsu broth. They also have a chicken broth I tried once. It was fine, but I can't really rate it as I'm not in to it.


Noodles: Good. I never know what to say about noodles. I've never had "bad" ramen noodles and their taste largely comes from the broth and seasoning in the bowl. If they aren't mushy, I'm good. These are cooked right. You can get thick, thin, wavy and for some reason whole wheat and bean. Choice is always good.


Egg: Yup. Over cooked, but a soft boil just isn't going to happen for me. It's good, seasoned and there.


Pork: Oh yes! Not the mega pork you get in Japan, but this is belly with a nice piece of fatty soft, melts-in-your-mouth pork. Yes.


I'd agree Ippudo has a better broth, but since the wait time is 1 to 2 hours for a meal that should take 20 min, it's impossible to recommend it. So, go to Kambi, enjoy it. If you see any tourists ask you the way, point them to the west side. Maybe they just haven't figured out where it is yet.

Where I'm coming from

I haven't written a quarter of the reviews I have to write. However, the ones I have written I think have sounded overly critical. With only two places in NYC I can say I really like, I guess they are mostly going to be downers.

That said, I've been trying to figure out what I was looking for. The other day, over a bowl of good ramen from Kambi (there, one of the two places I'll recommend) I was looking at some ramen pictures from my trip over the summer. I went to Tokyo to search out the best ramen in the world and the differences was obvious from the pictures...

 

Look at that egg. Not an over cooked hard boiled egg with no flavor. Soft boiled, delicate and full of flavor that compliments the soup. 

Can you see the fat content in the soup? Look at this close up:

The thick creamy taste of a Hakata style tonkotsu (pork bone - yes, bone with marrow!) broth that has been left to simmer for many many hours just can't be beat.

Let's talk pork. LOOK AT THOSE PIECES. Big, thick, fatty. Not dried out thin wafers hiding in the broth because they are embarrassed. After the broth, the pork slices are the most important part of the bowl. Unfortunately, I just don't think you'll find pork belly slices like this show up in your bowl. Kambi/Minca certainly comes close, they are small, but perfectly fatty pieces.

The noodles are usually standard. I'm not able to discern the subtle differences in the different homemade noodles and the once from a noodle "factory". I will say, it is important to ask for the noodles to be al-dente or "kata" or they will be served too soft and become a little to mushy by the end. It is usually served a little less well done here if you don't ask.  


I'm not sure the exact reason we have such sub-par flavored ramen. I don't know if it is made to be "healthy" for the NY/LA audience? No one walks in and asks for a slice pizza made with low fat mozzarella, do they?


The hunt continues....

Hide-chan Ramen

This is getting embarrassing. I hit up a East Village ramen place at least once a week and I've yet to write anything on them, and here I go again...

Hide-chan Ramen 

248 East 52nd Street, 2nd Floor, 

New York NY 1002

212-813-1800

I stumbled on a review of this place here:

http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2010/09/hide-chan-ramen-come-for-the-noodles-stay-for-midtown-east-opening-review-nyc.html

and really wanted to try the Hakata Kuro Ramen with the charred garlic oil as it was a flavor I remember from a meal in Tokyo over the summer.

I also the ability to order the richness of the broth was something I had to check out as I find most broths a little on the weak side.

Service & Ambiance: It's a quiet shop since it is in midtown and I was there on a random mid-week, service was good, and we got a quiet irasshaimase. It's a nice looking place, though not with the feel of a traditional ramen shop, which for me some how excites a part of my brain that remembers ramen meals gone by.

Noodles: These were some tasty noodles and were cooked perfectly. They were al dente / kata to begin with, but settled in quickly soaking up the broth.

Broth: The burnt garlic didn't do much for me in this case. The garlic flavor at Misuwa's ramen shop makes me slurp it down quickly. This on the other hand seemed to compete with the broth. The broth was fine but not with the richness of Minca and it's no longer possible to increase the richness.

Egg: Yup it was there. No it wasn't undercooked as I had hoped when I bit in to it, but fine.


Pork: Actually a tasty piece of pork! One of the better I've had. Soft, not over cooked and actually did shine with the addition of the burnt garlic taste.


The extra stuff: The mushrooms, bamboo shoots and scallions were all perfectly balanced.


Did I like it? Yup. Would I go to midtown to get it, nope. But if I'm there, I'll hit it up.

Daikokuya, Little Tokyo, Los Angeles

On a recent trip to LA I had to hit up popular Daikokuya in Little Tokyo. The reviews on Yelp are spectacular so it was no surprise there was a good 45 min wait on a Monday night just to sit at the counter.

The atmosphere was an interesting mix of American diner and ramen shop. Actually it was pretty close to a diner and a lot less like a ramen shop, but interesting none the less. Unfortunately my decision to go was a last minute one after dinner plans fell thru so I didn't have my camera and my phone was dead so I don't have any pictures :(

Service was efficient and I was issued a relaxed "irasshaimase" by the person seating me. I do love when you get a hearty shout from the kitchen, but that wasn't being served here.

The menu is pretty extensive for a ramen shop, with sashimi, bento boxes and tempura. They have plenty of combo plates which gives you a bowel of ramen, a small (and awesome) salad and a small dish of one of their other dishes. I went with some fried rice since so many people loved it.

I'll say it a again, for a small basic salad, I loved it - the way it was shredded and the dressing it was almost like a slaw. Ok, that's more about salad then I thought I'd ever right.

One really unique feature is you can order extra fat! That seemed like a no brainer. As long as they didn't go all Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum on me (a story for another time, but needless to say WAY too much fat, like an inch of it.) I'm all for it.

So first off - the bowel of ramen is HUGE. I make clean plate every time, but this place has no business serving combo dishes. I was hard pressed to finished my bowl and I am 6' 5" and all stomach.

Noodle: As I was watching the ramen being made, I was a little disappointed to find them coming out of sealed plastic bags. That doesn't scream fresh to me. Sure lots of places don't make their own, but if the place they are getting them from needs to take the time to seal them up, I'm concerned. That said, this is one tasty noodle. Good for them, next time take them out of the plastic in the back and stop screwing up my illusion.

Broth: The (extra fatty) broth unfortunately didn't hold the appeal. The pork taste was lost with the addition of the soy. It a pretty bland broth. When I start reaching for the hot stuff to spice things up, something has gone wrong. Oh well.

Egg: The egg - whole, not sliced could have stood a little more seasoning, but was tasty, though over cooked. I wish just once I'd bite in to a perfectly cooked egg, but it never happens in the states.

Pork: Now we come to the winner of the thinnest sliced pork award. The pork was good, not over cooked, had a decent piece of fat there, but as thin as a piece of paper. It literally disintegrated when I tried to lift it out of the soup. I don't know what that was about, but not a winner in my book. 

The extra stuff: Nothing really to mention of note. And the broth could use it.

In the end, a solid showing, but probably won't be back to this LA institution. I'll be back in a few weeks and I'll have to give another place a shot. As I've seen in NYC, long lines don't mean much. My favorite place never has a wait and I've waited for some really sub-par bowls.

Cheese Wasabi Ramen

I am backlogged with about 3 ramen reports, NY, NJ and LA are in the making, but then a report comes from one of my favorite Tokyo ramen blogs that blows my mind.. Cheese Wasabi Ramen!

http://www.goramen.com/2010/10/cheese-wasabi-ramen.html

and I realize, I'm just trying to get a decent tonkotsu broth with a melt-in-my-mouth piece of chashu and a semi-hard boiled egg and this dude gets to sample some real experiment stuff.

Lucky bastard.