rameniac

陣家 ramen jinya: studio city blockbuster

by rameniac | 14 Jul 2010

Had Ramen Jinya opened a year or two earlier, I might have been one happy slurper. As a former employee of a major Hollywood studio (yes, I was in “the industry”), I spent a good number of lunch hours bemoaning the fact that there was simply no good ramen -actually, no ramen at all, to be had in the Studio City/North Hollywood area. Sure, there were plenty of sushi shops along Ventura Blvd’s “sushi row”, but when it came to noodles, even the nearest pho joint was miles away.

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the 22 popular ramen styles of japan: a ramenologist’s field guide

by rameniac | 20 Jul 2007

So you like ramen, but have a hard time figuring out what we babble on about here at rameniac? A bit confused over the differences between Asahikawa and Hakata-style pork bone soup? Fear not. Here's a (far from) comprehensive guide to the 22 popular ramen styles of Japan. Just like Italy has Neapolitan and Lazio-style pizzas, ramenology is a complex and fascinating study of regional variations, cooking processes, and local character. Well, it's complex and fascinating to yours truly and about five other native English speakers on this planet, at least.

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pleased to meet me? ooh yeeah!

by rameniac | 16 Sep 2008

aw, c’mon. indulge me. this is as close as i’m ever gonna get to having peter saville design my album cover…

Ever wanted to meet the “rameniac”? Well, um… now you can?! In a desperate attempt to ride my fifteen minutes of fame into the sixteenth minute, yours truly will be appearing at the West Hollywood Book Fair on Sunday the 28th of this month. I’ll be guesting on a panel entitled “Feed Your Muse: Food, Creativity, and Writing,” alongside Marilyn Friedman, Jonathan Gold (yes, that one), and Laraine Newman and moderated by KCRW’s Evan Kleiman in conjunction with Writing Pad.

Apparently, there will be a signing as well, and since I don’t exactly have a book out (yet!), feel free to bring your empty ramen packages, love letters, record contracts, or exposed body parts and I’ll be more than thrilled to sharpie ‘em all up. Heck, I’ll sign anything, even that sandpaper first edition The Return of the Durutti Column vinyl LP you’ve got laying around. You know, the one, hand-glued by the members of Joy Division, that brings the party to a grinding halt. Actually, if you gave that to me to sign, I’d just run off with it. The food fight starts at noon in the Writer’s Pavilion. Yeayurh.

they’re baaack…

by rameniac | 07 Sep 2008

Has it been a year already? Mitsuwa Marketplace is back with their annual Hokkaido Fair food festival. Regale yourself with the ramen stylings of Asameshi Maeda Honpo, Sumire , and Santouka over the course of the next two weekends at various Mitsuwa Marketplace locations throughout the United States.

The schedule is as follows:

Asamesh Maeda Honpo	9/11(Thu) - 9/14(Sun) 9/18(Thu) - 9/21(Sun)	Costa Mesa New Jersey
Sumire	9/11(Thu) - 9/14(Sun) 9/18(Thu) - 9/21(Sun)	Torrance Chicago
Santouka	9/18(Thu) - 9/21(Sun)	San Jose

For all you Bay Area noodlers, the Mitsuwa website touts Santouka as having the "#1 ranking in L.A." (gee, I wonder where they got that idea? ^^) Asameshi Maeda and especially Sumire should just open permanent U.S. branches already and be done with it. The world would be a better place for sure.