ガーデナ gardena ramen: "real" ramen cometh!
by rameniac | 06 Feb 2007
A true rameniac lives for days like these.
Late on a Superbowl Sunday, with hunger mounting and twenty fresh miles on the car, I pull into a desolate South Bay strip mall only to find my intended destination, Shuu-chan Ramen, transformed into a newfangled Asian “Bistro.”
Looking for alternatives, I check out an even more deserted corner mall and peek into Gardena Ramen, which I’ve vaguely heard of but know virtually nothing about. The place stands empty, with nary a single slurper in sight, and though the lights are on and the sign says “open,” a TV has been erected at a corner table, doubtless to kill wasted time.
“Are you sure you want to eat here?” my copilot asks.
“Well, might as well get it over with,” I reply.
An elf-like chef with a toothy grin seemingly materializes out of thin air the moment we enter. Is this magic? I ask for a menu as I take a seat. He points at the wall. “No menu. We only have two kinds. Shoyu ramen and miso ramen.” And gyoza and beer. I can swear he is winking at me.
"This does not look good,” I think. Bottles of Sriracha and Tapatio decorate the tables. What kind of ramen shop is this?
But I should have seen the clues. A one-man operation. A take-it-or-leave it menu of limited choices. A bookshelf with volumes of ramen-themed manga. And last but certainly not least… um… posters of Japanese babes holding mugs of Asahi.
In a nutshell: Gardena Ramen serves the best ramen in Southern California.
Okay, Santouka notwithstanding.
But Asahikawa shio tonkotsu is a different animal altogether. I’m talking shoyu ramen here, purist ramen, the stuff anime characters eat while flicking naruto like ninja stars. Many people - from Japanese ex-pats to ex-Engrish teachers (myself included) - bemoan the lack of “real ramen” outside of the motherland.
Well I’m here to tell you now. “Real ramen” has finally arrived.
Sole chef and proprietor Isao Nakamura’s little ramen shop with the unlit sign is exactly like something you would find on a nondescript sidestreet in Tokyo. His shoyu ramen is a complex (the key word here) concoction derived from torigara (chicken bones), genkotsu (pork knuckle), and niboshi (dried sardines). It is slightly opaque and just a tad too salty, but flavorful in impossibly distinctive ways. It is sweet yet savory. Rich yet light. The product of trial and error, until Nakamura-san found the exacting flavor he was looking for.
“It’s all in the soup,” he says. By virtue of being the lone diners in the place, dinner quickly turns into a rameniac exclusive interview, especially when I start to gush over the broth and prod Nakamura-san with questions. “Had I this recipe when I first opened (roughly a year ago), people would be lined up out the door.”
A partner in the Sushi Mac franchise (which is how he thankfully manages to keep his ramen shop afloat with scant customers), Nakamura-san boils his soup not for hours, but for over two days, all the while skimming and stirring with an oar-sized ramen paddle. “I wake up, come here at 7am, tend the soup, and then go play golf until lunch. Sometimes I go play golf after lunch,” he says with a guilty grin. Upon retiring from his career as a sushi chef, he’d taken a three year sabbatical before opening Gardena Ramen. The place is indisputably his passion project.
I ask him if, given a choice, which would he rather eat. “Ramen or sushi?”
“I’m sick of sushi,” he deadpans.
Nakamura-san is clearly a student of the ramen game, and is amazingly forthcoming about his endeavors. He shows us the numerous recipe books he consulted while honing his craft over the past few months. He describes an experiment he once witnessed on Japanese television, in which mice were fed different tastes and oils and their preferences tracked, then explains how the results influenced his own approach to cooking.
He offers his theory as to why most of the ramen shops outside of Japan, quite frankly, suck. “They have too big a menu. They try to make too many different things. They hire other people to cook. Me, I only have ramen. And I’m the only one here.”
Realizing his ramen is such a marvel, I opt for a side of gyoza. We talk at length of marrow, of noodles in the Yamagata-style of his home prefecture, and of proper tare or soup base. “It doesn’t matter what tare you use, as long as the broth is right,” he insists. Not entirely true. In Gardena’s miso ramen, the salty shiro miso paste kind of overwhelms the delicate flavors of the distinctive broth (the shoyu, if I may reiterate, is superb).
Nakamura-san shows me his kitchen, which is optimized to make nothing but ramen. He realizes he’s forgotten all about the dumplings as they’ve burned to a carbonized crisp. “Oops! You don’t still want them do you?” We laugh. “Next time,” I say. I will be back within the week.
| the shoyu ramen, essentially a light shoyu genkotsu made of pork knuckle, chicken bones, and dried niboshi sardines, is supreme, rich, and complex, if a tad salty for those unaccustomed to saturated ramen flavors. it would definitely hold its own in japan. the white miso ramen fares slightly worse, but is still pretty distinctive and worth a try. | 8 |
| slightly pillowy, soft, and curly yellow egg noodles that fit the bill just right for this particular kind of ramen. as good as it gets when kansui soda water is unavailable this side of the Pacific. | 6.5 |
| i will ignore the fact that the succulent and tender chashu was slightly pink. maybe food coloring? the place got an A for a health rating, so if i do get a huge tapeworm, at least i'll be able to stomach plenty more delicious gardena ramen. shinachiku (marinated bamboo shoot) was juts ok, but if only the egg was soft boiled, i'd be crying in ecstasy. | 6 |
| nakamura-san is a friendly chef with a lot of stories to tell. just remind him to check on your gyoza. free if you order ramen and mention rameniac! | NA |
| hide the tapatio and sriracha hot sauces please. the wooden chairs are swank, but you can tell they belonged to a coffee shop in a previous life. points for the posters of beer babes and even the tv in the corner, which is very characteristic of neighborhood ramen shops back in the motherland. | 2 |
| a one-man operation with passion and heart, a friendly proprietor and the finest shoyu ramen in L.A. an absolute winner. | 7.5 |
1840 West 182nd Street (182nd & Western)
open daily
cash only | 20.5 |
I would not be surprised if we’ve seen you and your family there before, I often see a family of 3 (with a young son) dining there, though there are quite a few “regulars” staying true to “the spot.” Our group usually consists of a of 2-6 friendly Hawaiians, and we’re kinda loud (for G.R. standards!!). If you ever see us, say hi! For those who haven’t been there yet, this is just an example of how Gardena Ramen has brought people together, and most of us keep coming back!
Nakamura-san had been complaining recently about business starting to go down. However, just 2 days after your feature in the Food section of the LA times, he’s had a hard time keeping up!
Inside a nearly full house, me and my girlfriend sat down to chat with him for a while. As soon as a customer came in, he wiped his forehead in grief and said “oh, no, not another customer” before running back into the kitchen.
I just want to thank you on his behalf. You just may very well be responsible for saving the shop for a while.
I agree though, he needs to add a few more things here and there. We’ve suggested chahan, which goes hand-in-hand with ramen, but he insists that the broth is all he really cares about (at least for now).