Archive | October, 2012

Seattle’s Best Ramen

18 Oct

I am based in Seattle and have lived here for about 10 years now after I returned from my time in Japan.  As friends and acquaintances become familiar w/my love for ramen I am often asked where the best ramen in Seattle is….

As a caveat I support and love everyone trying to bring ramen to the mainstream.  I envision a day where I could go to any major city in the US and have a great bowl of ramen.  Therefore the scale here is relative…and I do continue to go to many/all of these establishments on a regular or occasional basis.

1. Fu-Lin-512 S King St Seattle:  I have been going here for the majority of our time in Seattle and still remember when it opened.  I’ll be honest, definitely not the most pleasant establishment to dine in, but the ramen has always been consistently good.  The story being that the chef/owner ran a Chinese restaurant in Japan for a number of years.  During my time in Japan one of my regular ramen haunts in town was a Chinese restaurant which was only open for lunch that made a great ramen w/a hint of Chinese flavors.  I always go for the Shoyu ramen and add good amount of ground pepper (the super fine kind that you find in all Japanese ramen shops) and ra-yu oil (Chinese hot pepper oil).  In addition to the always solid ramen their cha-han (Japanese fried rice) is excellent and IMHO is better than the ramen.  Cha-han is a staple at many ramen shops in Japan…and there is a difference between fried rice between Chinese and Japanese.  Finally they complete the trifecta of ramen shop staples by putting out an excellent home made gyoza.  Go w/a friend so you can each order a bowl of ramen and share the two sides.

2. Boom Noodles…Capital Hill, U-Village, Bellevue Square:  What?!?!  That may be your reaction, but if you asked me where I want to eat on the Eastside, the answers easy.  Boom is a chain and does butcher other great Japanese dishes and put cilantro in my ramen (I often forget to hold it upon ordering), but bottom line their kimchi-ramen is good.  Now in full honesty I love spicy ramen and I love kimchi w/my ramen.  This is a shoyu based broth, w/miso and a good amount of kimichi and kimchi paste added in.  Minus the cilantro it’s quite good.  Also great place to take kids or have a bite when at the mall.

*UPDATE*

3. Dozo Ramen – Factoria in Loehman’s Plaza and DT Kirkland:  Haven’t dined in Kirkland but do very much enjoy their Gomoku Ramen.  I admit I don’t know much about Gomoku flavoring…but another Japanese/Chinese Food staple (i.e. General Tso’s Chicken is American/Chinese staple) it’s a great bowl topped with shitake, carrots, chicken, shrimp, ika, baby bok choy, on and on.  I don’t season this much…other than a dash of black pepper.  They offer the staples (Miso/Shoyu/Tonkotsu) but go for the Gomoku.

*UPDATE*

4. Aloha Ramen- on Greenwood and 81st, great ramen/saimen experience, very distinctive flavor:  I was introduced to Saimen at Hamura’s Stand in Lihue, Kauai one late night after landing at LIH.  Lihue was basically a ghost town except for the dimly lit gatherings at local eateries such as Hamura’s.  Saimen like much of present day Hawaiian staples is a mash up of Pacific Rim foods w/a dash of spam.  In this case taking saimen noodles which are thin, white in color and generally served cold and sparse toppings in a broth that is not unfamiliar from Top Ramen..but somehow like the spam musubi or poke, it works.  And at Aloha they have elevated my meager description of Saimen.  Thin noodles in a thinner but tasty broth that has a unique flavor vs. ‘standard’ ramen.  Also a love it/hate it dish in their garlic fried rice…absolutely give it a try b/c it’s definitely distinctive and Aloha’s own.

5. Samurai Ramen- Side of Uwajimaya in the ID and in Capital Hill:  Assuming that the Capital Hill location has sorted things out after a rocky start…but just in case my recommendation is to hit the original, tiny storefront.  Tonkotsu based, with tasty, thinner noodles they have a limited menu and no ra-yu or kimchi 😦

Also:

Federal Way Ramen-great that it’s there if you are ever looking for a bowl in the South Sound

Yao’s Noodle House-take the Prime Card and do brisk lunch business

**Please, pleaese if you know of any local ramen let me know**

RR

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New York City Ramen…Ippudo

17 Oct
Tonkotsu

Ippudo’s Tonkotsu Based Ramen

Recently spent a week in NYC on business and had the pleasure of my first visit to Ippudo Ramen.  Simply stated it’s up there as one of the two best bowls of ramen I have had in the US (the other being Santoku Ramen in Costa Mesa–in a food court at a Japanese Market….more on that in the future).  Be warned, Ippudo comes with a Totto style wait…even as a single it was 30 minutes before pulling up to the counter and expect 45-75 minutes for any sized party.

At Ippudo they offer both a shoyu and tonkotsu (pork) based broth/soup, so naturally on this occasion I splurged and ordered both the Miso (tonkotsu based) and Wasabi Shoyu Ramen.  The Miso I added the house spicy paste (Bakudan) b/c I like my ramen w/a bit of Kimchee of hot oil.  The Miso ramen is in a word, spectacular.  Their menu aptly describes the tonkotsu as ‘silky’ which to me came through in a light (not too fatty in the mouth or thick in the bowl) yet full of flavor and depth (which is what

Tonkotsu is known for…a strong, distinctive flavor).  The men (noodles) were good as well, nice texture and flavor and on the thin side…but as I’ve mentioned before I am a broth/soup guy so to me this was a winner.  The Bakudan did not go well w/this dish and next time I will definitely skip that for the tonkotsu based offerings as it was more red chili flake hot than kimchi or chinese pepper oil (ra-yu).  Finally the toppings were interseting and non-standard while the chashu was appropriately tender and delicious.

Now the Bakudan went well w/the shoyu based offerring.  This was suggested to me by Margaret the host who spent her last vacation volunteering in Japan for Tsunami Relief.  The Wasabi is implemented by a scoop of wasabi-zuke (not sure this is the proper name, it’s just what we called it in our house…basically diced wasabi cured in sake curds)…the shoyu is very light and would be a nice summer time option.  Most interestingly the men in the Shoyu was thicker and chewier, which I believe is the first time I’ve ever had different men at a single shop in the States.

For the tonkotsu broth that would play well in NYC, LA or Osaka I do place Ippudo at the top of my stateside ramen experiences (to date : )

Finally be sure to splurge and get yourself an Ippudo Ramen shirt…it’s a brilliant play off the ubiquitous ‘I ‘heart’ NY”, reading…..

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‘I ‘heart’ RAMEN’h

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