r a m e n i a c: noodleheads up

noodleheads up

by rameniac | 11 Feb 2008

Big love to rameniac reader Kenneth Murayama, who sent in this tip about Mitsuwa Marketplace's upcoming food event - a "Legendary Ramen Fair"! Over the course of the next three weeks, Southern California noodlers will soon have the chance to sample three of Japan's top ramen shops! The only tragedy in all of this is that I'll be out of town for most of the while, although I'll be in Japan, so I can't complain too much ^^. Anyway, here's the rundown. Go early, for they tend to run out at these things!

Asameshi Maeda Honten hails from Asahikawa, the same town in the far north of Hokkaido as L.A.'s beloved Santouka. These guys will be serving up a shoyu-tonkotsu ramen in the classic Asahikawa mode, with a sweet, rich broth of soy sauce, pork bones, and a fish-based dashi.

Tokyo's venerated Chibaki-ya is famed for having innovated the use of hanjuku, or half-boiled egg, in traditional Tokyo shoyu ramen. Chef Chiba-san has been serving up a flavorful assari shoyu soup made of chicken and pork bones and fish and shellfish for the last twenty years, and for this event, he'll be doing it Stateside!

Finally, the legendary shop Sumire returns to LA with its ever-popular take on miso ramen. Thick, rich and hearty, Sumire is reknowned throughout Japan, and may well be the gold standard for authentic Sapporo-style miso ramen. Trust me, you don't want to miss this one.

And the shop rotation schedule for participating Mitsuwa Marketplace locations:

Asameshi Maeda Honten	Feb 15 - 18 Feb 22 - 25 Feb 29 - Mar 3	Costa Mesa Torrance San Diego
Chibaki-ya	Feb 15 - 18	San Diego
Sumire	Feb 15 - 18 Feb 22 - 25	Torrance San Diego

tagged: features •

Comments

ahhh, so jealous that SD gets all 3. Still deciding whether to make the trip down there for Chibaki-ya, but otherwise, I’m planning to visit the other two!

Posted by on 02/11 at 10:27 AM

Asameshi Maeda Honten was just okay. I like Santouka better.

Posted by Jen Kuo on 02/19 at 12:43 PM

The special at Costa Mesa was outta sight! Great Shoyu Ramen. Not a drop left in my bowl. Looking forward to the Torrance dates!

Posted by Samba Samurai on 02/19 at 05:48 PM

My friend and I thought that Asameshi Maeda Honten would still be at Costa Mesa on monday.. but no : (

He didnt get to try it. Instead we had the spicy miso from Santouka. I must agree with Jen that its better overall.. but the variety is great to have. Especially in the states.

Posted by Samba Samurai on 02/19 at 05:52 PM

The Costa Mesa one was okay, but a little too salty for my taste. I like Momofuku in NY a lot more.

For pics, check out http://www.kats9lives.com/

Posted by Kat on 02/19 at 07:43 PM

Lucky I didn’t drive all the way down to Costa Mesa on Monday night to try to find Asameshi Maeda Honten… now after reading the comments.

I actually enjoyed Sumire on Monday lunch, very flavorful and the noodle is very good. But the plastic bowl… I just feel kinda being cheated… not to add only a handful dice of chashu (it gotta be less than 10 tiny dices, small then a cube size sugar!)

Hopefully I can make it to Torrance this weekend for Asameshi Maeda Honten.

Posted by kelvlam on 02/20 at 11:32 AM

plastic bowls suck. I’ll definitely be at Torrance this weekend for round 2.

Posted by Samba Samurai on 02/20 at 06:58 PM

oh just wonder, does anyone know how late Mitsuwa open till on Sunday night for dinner? I know Mitsuwa in Costa Mesa closes quite early on a weekend, but I’m not sure about the Torrance one. Dummy me… I forgot to look at the store hour when I left this past Monday :-p

Posted by kelvlam on 02/20 at 07:04 PM

Anybody have any clue how long the “supplies” last? Do they continue serving into the night? Looking to go tonight after work… or tmrw during lunch if they run out tonight.

Posted by on 02/22 at 02:27 PM

Sumire definitely had the best noodles, better than Santouka. AMH has a pretty good broth, and very good chashu sliced super-thin, but the noodles were too soft. Both were oily as all hell. Overall I still prefer Santouka, but they’re both pretty good, and a nice change of pace.

Santouka’s broth with Sumire’s noodles and AMH’s chashu would be about as good as non-Kyushu ramen could get for me.

Posted by on 02/23 at 10:31 PM

oh gosh I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE AMH’s brooth so much!!! I’m glad I was able to get the last minute bowl. Even Mitsuwa closing at 7:30pm, I got there around 6:40pm, by the time I was still sipping through my brooth, they “CLOSED” sign is already out at AMH’s booth at 7:05pm…

Posted by kelvlam on 02/24 at 11:06 PM

Anybody have any clue how long the “supplies” last? Do they continue serving into the night? Looking to go tonight after work… or tmrw during lunch if they run out tonight.

Posted by Toronto Lofts on 05/31 at 12:59 AM