for me good ramen begins and ends with the cha shu (char siu). yeah, broth is important as is noodle. but if that slice of pork in the soup is good, i can pretty much overlook all other shortcomings. best piece of pork i have had stateside is hands down, santouka. its like a piece of pork flavored butter.b,121b,121second for me would be broth. i mean, for good ramen it really shouldnt be too oily or salty or fatty. it should be right at the point of all those excesses. not sure if i can say there is a spot stateside that does it right. often times its a lil too salty for me.b,121b,121noodle, man, if you F*ck that up, you really shouldnt be running a noodle joint. b,121b,121i cant really comment on sf ramen cuz its been a real long time since i been. katanaya was my joint, but again, they go a lil overboard with the flavors. not to say that is a bad thing, but if we're talking about snooty ramen styles, its gotta be subtle. but i love the kara-age ramen and the mabo ramen at katanaya. they mustve moved from their spot on parnassus, yes? oh, and that was one of the first spots to do chuhai in sf. b,121b,121citrus, i guess its good in a pinch. especially if youre stuck on that corner cuz the other options are that shitty burrito joint, escape from ny pizza, and cha cha cha's, if i remember correctly. i might take cha cha cha's over citrus, but even that wasnt as great as folks make it out to be. citrus is a good example of over seasoning everything. asian food should be more subtle than what they offer, but like i said, on that corner, im not against citrus. plus i think overseasoning is a clear sign that they are compensating for lack of quality ingredients. so they just pour salt and sugar on it.
b,121 not sure if i can say there is a spot stateside that does it right. often times its a lil too salty for me.
b,121
b,121
h,121
font class="post"1b,121b,121What do you think of Shinsengumi Hakata Ramen in Garden? I don't find theirs very salty, especially compared to Santouka and Asa.
b,121citrus, i guess its good in a pinch. especially if youre stuck on that corner cuz the other options are that shitty burrito joint, escape from ny pizza, and cha cha cha's,
hakata in gardena is pretty good. though im not a huge fan of tonkotsu broth. one time i got the spicy miso add on thing and that was waaay too much. i even went as far as to dial down the salt and oil section of their ramen quiz. their gyozas are pretty badass tho.b,121b,121as far as soba, im not sure how they offer it at katanaya. is it same ramen broth with soba substituted out for the regular ramen noodle? im not a fan of that cuz soba tends to absorb more of the liquid throughout your meal making the noodle kind of mooshy. but i love cold zarusoba. usually comes on some bamboo tray thing and they give u a cup of sauce, wasabi, fresh ginger, hella green onions, nori and a lil quail egg thing. i really like soba like that!
sadly, I can't wholeheartedly endorse any ramen in SF. My friends vouch for Halu though. Santa just doesn't look that good to me.b,121b,121santouka has the best ramen in N. America. The 2nd best I've had was the shoyu ramen special on Fridays at Chikubu in nyc. Sadly that place closed down last year.b,121b,121img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/47/149683636_0922669f27.jpg"1b,121santouka shiob,121b,121img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/94/207364863_698f54a0a2.jpg"1b,121chikubu shoyub,121b,121I tried Ippudo's new fandangled outpost in nyc recently, still not as good as Santouka. In toroniku shio I trust...b,121b,121Last good soba I had was at Soba Totto, goma dare soba, blaow!!b,121b,121img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3022/2810269106_191167ff4b.jpg"1b,121jacked my frond's pic
b,121I've heard good things about Ippudo...except for the price. A bowl of ramen shouldn't cost more than $10, even in NYC.
b,121
b,121
h,121
font class="post"1b,121b,121I agree- ramen should be cheap AND good, but it still didn't stop me from paying $14 for a bowl at Momofuku. Twas good, but I remember the pork bun and soft serve w/choco chips (DAMN GOOD) more for some reason...
Comments