Cathy2 wrote:I had instead the rice with spring onions (which may not be the precise name), which was fine enough but not as decadent as the salmon roe.

I almost cannot believe they are serving rice w/ diced scallion; I don't think that's even a Japanese (side)dish... WHAT IS THAT?!?! (deserves a double shock....) Negi-Nori-don?!?!?! That even SOUNDS stupid rolling off the tongue...

Jay,

This is not a new menu item. I just always went for the salmon roe. The perpetual mystery item on their menu was rice with crab flakes. It has long been on their menu and never seen.

Regards,

I just got back from NYC and after having an amazing meal at Ippudo
(http://www.ippudony.com I tried the Miso Ramen and Akamaru Chashu), I am now craving some solid ramen in Chicago.

I have been through the list at Urban Belly, but does anyone recommend other notable places?

Santouka.

Cathy2 wrote:I was at Santonka just before Christmas ready to order my favorite, except they have stopped offering rice with salmon roe. There was no indication this will return to the menu, which disappoints me. I had instead the rice with spring onions (which may not be the precise name), which was fine enough but not as decadent as the salmon roe.

Salmon roe on rice has returned to the menu.

Regards,

TAC Crazy wrote:I just got back from NYC and after having an amazing meal at Ippudo
(http://www.ippudony.com I tried the Miso Ramen and Akamaru Chashu), I am now craving some solid ramen in Chicago.

I have been through the list at Urban Belly, but does anyone recommend other notable places?

Cocoro at 668 N Wells St has very solid ramen. They have miso ramen as well as shoyu and shio.

Ginza at 19 E Ohio St (and and LTH fav) has great ramen as well. Not sure if they have miso ramen but they do have tonkotsu ramen which is my personal favorite.

viaChgo wrote:

TAC Crazy wrote:I just got back from NYC and after having an amazing meal at Ippudo
(http://www.ippudony.com I tried the Miso Ramen and Akamaru Chashu), I am now craving some solid ramen in Chicago.

I have been through the list at Urban Belly, but does anyone recommend other notable places?

Cocoro at 668 N Wells St has very solid ramen. They have miso ramen as well as shoyu and shio.

Ginza at 19 E Ohio St (and and LTH fav) has great ramen as well. Not sure if they have miso ramen but they do have tonkotsu ramen which is my personal favorite.

And I had it at our Loop Lunch Group visit to Ginza on Friday and, while I'm certainly no ramen expert, I can say that it was delicious! Even better for left-over dinner last night

Great article about Takashi's "Sunday Noodle Lunch" with highlights on Santouka, Ginza, Urban Belly, and Tampopo

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010 ... an-noodles

I recently returned from Tokyo a week ago and went on my own personal "ramen tour" with the help of the guys at http://www.goramen.com and http://www.ramenadventures.com. Here are a few favorites of mine.

Green Curry Ramen (my favorite!) @ Bassanova



Traditional Shoyu Ramen @ Afuri



Special Ramen @ newly opened Ivan Plus+ (hints of tomato and cheese)



Level 5 Spicy Miso Ramen covered with sanshou pepper @ Kikanbou (the spicest dish I have ever demolished!)

TAC Crazy wrote:I recently returned from Tokyo a week ago and went on my own personal "ramen tour" with the help of the guys at http://www.goramen.com and http://www.ramenadventures.com. Here are a few favorites of mine.
[images snipped to save bandwidth]

Keizo and Brian are solid people who know what they're talking about.
Tac crazy did not indicate, however, that Bassanova is the ramen shack Keizo runs. (Keizo's story is amazing. Hit GoRamen.com and read it there.)
I've had a handful (and I do mean a handful) of ramen bowls in Tokyo (& Yokohama - the last one I had was in the sub-sub basement of the main railway station in central Yokohama ~ the Ramen museum is near the 'Shin-Yokohama' station). I'm getting better and knowing what I'm ordering. But I'm still somewhat challenged by my knowledge of Japanese. ["Which button includes the hard-boiled egg?" ]
In addition to those two URLs above, let me also mention these English-language Japanese ramen stands review pages: Ramen Tokyo, and one which will not be further updated (Nate moved back to the U.S.A.), Waseda Ramen.
Finally, if you really want to submerge into the depths of ramen tasting, here is a Google™ translation of the Supleks ramen review World-Wide Web site.

I have filed away the restaurants mentioned herein.

I have all four blogs in my RSS reader! The Supleks Ramen Database is an excellent mapping tool. Brian's (ramenadventures.com) blog links every ramen shop to the database so if you find a post that looks appealing, it is easy to get around the language barrier.

Other favorites of mine were

Ganko: http://www.ramenadventures.com/2010/02/ ... ukuro.html

Ichifuku: http://www.goramen.com/2010/02/great-ra ... great.html

Nantsuttei: http://www.ramenadventures.com/2009/09/ ... ukuro.html

Honke Taiichi Asahi (in Kyoto): http://www.goramen.com/2010/09/last-day ... -trip.html

Nagi: http://www.ramenadventures.com/2010/05/ ... njuku.html

Gogyou: http://www.ramenadventures.com/2009/11/ ... pongi.html

I definitely recommend Honke Taiichi Asahi if you visit Kyoto. It is a half mile from the bullet train station.

It is amazing that my first post here on LTHF was in this thread about Japanese ramen.
I'm pulling it out of the file cabinet because, as you may know, I've been to Japan now fourteen times. On this last jaunt in September, I went to two (or three, but I only remember two now - I'm @ the Chicago Public Library - and my images are on the computer back at the abode) ramen shacks. I took a tip from the Supleks ramen database (also on my regular bookmark page), and went to one close to the Keikyū Kamata train station, Noodle Shop Voyage. It was quite upscale . By that, I mean it attracted female customers for lunch service.
Its bowl was interesting. It had a lot of vegetables in it; not just green onions.
Why was I in Kamata? There's a good covered shopping street near the station (to the west), and I did very well buying DVDs there.
The other one I recall is Noodle Arranger Hanada. It featured a red and white miso blended ramen. It is in the area between the Ueno J.R. and Tokyo Metro Ueno-Okachimachi train stations.
I was in Ueno to shop at TSUTAYA. After I finished buying DVDs on the 3rd floor of its Ueno store, I came downstairs to the 1st floor, where it has created a bookstore and café. I browsed the magazine section and found the Ramen Walker Tokyo 2018 recommended shop magazine. It had been published only three days prior. It cost ¥900. It is huge and thick. I bought it. I suspect this is the only copy of it currently in the U.S.A. One entry which I did not need to plot on a map was that of Bassanova, the shack formerly run by Keizo Shimamoto. There were older reports that it had lost its edge after Keizo returned to the U.S.A., but its reviewers thought one of its bowls was recommendable.
If there are more LTH events to which I can get (the 1987 Chevrolet Sprint is in the shop getting a new exhaust system, or I would have gone to Des Plaines Tuesday night), I will bring in this magazine for people to view.