You can’t win ‘em all. Well, let me rephrase that. Every once in a while, you just bite it. Hard. Out of town the past two weeks, I’d pretty much missed out on the bulk of the Mitsuwa Marketplace “Legendary Ramen Festival.” Figuring to hit up the final weekend of the event, in San Diego, I took an (all too) leisurely drive down to Kearny Mesa today. I even brought the rameniac okasan along, who’s afraid to drive the freeway but likes to go wherever she can cajole her offspring into chauffeuring her.
Asameshi Maeda Honten was the only shop on the schedule I had yet to try, and I looked forward to sucking down some bona-fide Asahikawa shoyu ramen. Now, my jetlagged brain must have been on autopilot, because I didn’t even heed my own warning to all you fellow foodies and ramen lovers: “If you’re gonna go, go early.”
noodleheads up
Posted by rameniac at 01:58 AM | 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!
this has nothing to do with ramen either…
Posted by rameniac at 08:34 PM | 05 Feb 2008
...but, I figured I should put it out there. Infer from it what you will.
you can’t keep a good men down
Posted by rameniac at 03:26 PM | 10 Jan 2008
Footage of Taishoken's not-so-final day last year. Look at the line!
Credit: 46E2Q
Amazing! The legendary Higashi-Ikebukuro ramen shop, Taishoken, is back in business!. Vaunted as the creator of morisoba dipping noodles, chef/owner Kazuo Yamagishi retired for the second time last February, only to reopen again as of last Saturday - a direct result of a ceaseless letter writing campaign by his most devoted customers. This just goes to show that you can't keep a good ramen master down. Yamagishi-san is 73 years young, so Taishoken won't be around forever. Those of you in or traveling to Tokyo can't afford to pass up this second, nay, third chance at sampling the granddaddy of tsukemen dipping noodles everywhere.
blatant self-hype vol. 2: thrills, soup spills, and bellyaches
Posted by rameniac at 12:05 AM | 03 Jan 2008
So our server went down today, apparently due to visitor overload. I'd always dreamt of that happening, and thanks to the Los Angeles Times, my dream has now become a reality! Haha... in all seriousness, when they asked to interview me last month, I didn't quite realize the scope of the article they had in mind. Big thanks to the Times, its photographers, and especially to Russ Parsons, who, in this ridiculously colossal feature in today's Food section, made me sound way more articulate and coherent than I really am. Thanks always to ビクター and now also to 方向音痴 for the technical assist and help in getting the site back up and running, the academy and the producers, and all the rameniac readers out there who made it all possible. I'll try not to disappoint, and to use my 15 minutes of fame wisely (^_^). I really do feel like a rock star! Now go buy da album, foo! Nah, just kidding. I just always wanted to say that.
* * * nano-update * * *
Apologies, looks like moving servers broke our anonymous comments feature temporarily. But it's fixed now!
* * * mini-update * * *
Seems like the LA times piece sparked a mini-ramen frenzy, as I've heard from more than a few people that several shops in West LA were running out of noodles last night, and that there was a line out the door at Asa. If anyone went out for ramen after reading the article or checking out this site, please, feel free to post in the comments or on the forum and tell us about your experience!
Honestly, i'm pretty overwhelmed by all this, and had no idea the article would inspire such ramen-love. Maybe the reaction is not all that huge, I can't quite tell. I normally get an email or two a week, mainly from very important Nigerian bankers. Anyway, thanks everyone, and have a happy noodling weekend!
So our server went down today, apparently due to visitor overload. I'd always dreamt of that happening, and thanks to the Los Angeles Times, my dream has now become a reality! Haha... in all seriousness, when they asked to interview me last month, I didn't quite realize the scope of the article they had in mind. Big thanks to the Times, its photographers, and especially to Russ Parsons, who, in this 
