mmm-yoso!!!

Ramen by Request - The Vegan Soy Ramen from Nishiki (Mira Mesa) and the "Crazy Garlic" Ramen from Buta Ramen (Linda Vista)

One of the reasons that I've kept on blogging all these years are the great "FOYs" and the wonderful comments, emails, questions, and recommendations I receive. There's just no way this blog would have existed for nearly 20 years without all of you. Yes, it's a large part a "food/travel diary", but the interactions are what keep me motivated to continue. And in spite of sometimes taking a while; I do try to check out places that are mentioned in your comments. I try not to forget these. And here are two visits that would never have happened without those comments.

The "Crazy Garlic" Ramen from Buta Ramen:

In my last post on Santouka and HiroNori, FOYs ST and Franklin mentioned the "Crazy Garlic" ramen from Buta Ramen. After my visits; I've considered Buta to be a "second tier" shop. They have catchy names for the fusiony ramen; like "Soul You" for shoyu or "Tahini Old School" for tonkotsu. I'm probably not the target audience for their ramen. But what the heck; it had been over 5 years since my initial visits; so I guess I needed to see if this "crazy old school" would feel like a Buta?

I as happy to find parking on this day. This parking lot on Linda Vista Road as almost attained the same notoriety as those along Convoy and some of those along University in City Heights.

The nice gentleman working pointed me to a table and handed me a menu.  I took note of this on the menu.

And I went ahead and ordered the Crazy Garlic Ramen. Which arrived in just a few minutes!

   First thing I noticed was how foamy the broth was, like it was kept at a rolling boil instead of a simmer. It was also on the thin side and seemed more like a thickened, slightly bitter, shoyu based broth. Like the tonkotsu I had here before, it also had a slight "metallic" tinge to it.

As for the garlic "chips"? Well, I expected something crisp, not bitter, hard, and plastic like, which this was. It was not fun eating those!

    The chashu was a bit on the chewy side and lightly flavored, but not bad. The noodles were actually cooked decently and had a nice "springy pull" to them.

As a whole not my favorite bowl of ramen, but I'm glad I tried it.

I'm probably just not into these hipster type of ramen?

So, ST and Franklin, I know you mentioned that it was your coworkers who loved this. It's been a couple of months since you both commented and I'm wondering if you've managed to try this and if so, what did you think?

Buta Japanese Ramen
5201 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92110

The Vegan Soy Ramen from Nishiki (Mira Mesa):

Way back in November of 2023, in the comments of the post on the Veggie King Ramen at Nagi, FOY DavidG commented:

"As for the veggie ramen, this is the 2nd best I have had in SD. the Nishiki veggie ramen is so good, I don't understand how the broth is vegetarian. better than anywhere else i have ever tried. i'm curious what a meat eater like yourself would think of Nishiki's veggie ramen?"

Yes, I know it took long enough, but I finally decided to try the veggie ramen at Nishiki out. It's a good thing that I checked the menus online as I was headed to the Kearny Mesa location, which does not serve the "Vegan Delight"! I immediately changed plans and headed on over to the Mira Mesa location, which I hadn't been to before.

Wow, I remember when this was Spicy Hut!

I was greeted as I entered and said I was fine with a counter seat.

The nice young lady handed me a menu, but I told her I already knew what I wanted and ordered the "Vegan Soy Karaage Delight" 

I rather enjoyed sitting at the counter as I could watch the kitchen in action. Those folks were working hard.

My ramen took a while; but I enjoyed watching the action.

   The pseudo tonkotsu bowl arrived seaming hot. There were some...well, interesting things about this bowl. My least favorite was the "impossible chicken karaage". It seemed to be sort of soybean based; but the texture was not to my liking; it was spongy and super chewy...think thick nylon sponge and had no flavor.

The eggless noodles were perfectly cooked, I really didn't miss the eggs....probably the best prepared I've had at Nishiki, so no qualms with that.

    Not quite sure what to do with the slice of tomato? How much acidity, sweetness, will one slice of tomato provide for a bowl of ramen? The cabbage added a slight sweet-bitterness and was blanched. The corn also added some nice textural contrast and sweetness to the bowl.

As for the broth, it was mildly savory tones, and decent saltiness; not bad at all. I did miss the umami forward tones and while there were many "dots of oil", you can see it was on the thin side. I missed the tongue coating richness of a decent tonkotsu broth.

In the end, I think I prefer the Veggie King Ramen from Nagi. Though this wasn't bad at all and the staff here were really nice. In fact, to be perfectly honest, I preferred this to the Garlic Ramen at Buga, which I think says a lot.

Nishiki Ramen (Mira Mesa)
9460 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126

Thanks for the recommendation DavidG!

Ujin - Soft Opening Visits

So, I recently got word that Ujin Ramen, whose storefront I first noticed in March of last year had finally opened. Man, what's with Renaissance Towne Center? Remember Kuljem Chicken & Beer, that was first supposed to be JJ Chicken and then Honeyjam Chicken, before the final renaming? Well, I remember when Ujin was going to be named Ramen Hanyuzur?

Anyway, I thought I'd check things out during the soft opening. Our friend "Google" and the other four-lettered site said Ujin opens at 11am. So, having some time I headed on over and for some reason easily found parking at 1115. I then walked over to the shop.

Where I found a gentleman opening the door. I walked on over and was told that they weren't opening until 1130.....fine, it's the soft opening period, so I went for a short walk and returned at 1130.

The interior is quite modern "trendy - artsy"??? There's a huge statue of Mercury at one of the corners. There are a few tables indoors and some al fresco seating, along with the standard bar area. There's also a communal 12 seat table where I was seated by the very sweet young lady.

It also seems that they may make their own ramen noodles. I asked about that, but never got an answer.

The menu is brief, something I actually like; especially when it comes to stuff like ramen. You don't see any of the good ramen shops in Japan making all styles of ramen...it's only here where places like Kitakata Ramen Ban Nai will have to start making tonkotsu ramen.

The ramen did seem kinda modern with porcini and mushrooms featured in the soup for several versions. There are two mushroom type broth, the tsukemen, shoyu, and shio soup features chicken.

Well, I just wanted to get some ramen, so I went with the "Classic Tokyo" Shoyu Ramen ($17.95). When my bowl arrived, I quickly noticed the noodles which were quite straight. I've always thought of Tokyo style ramen to have curly noodles of am medium thickness. Also when does a classic version of shoyu ramen have truffle and porcini?

  You could make out the scent of truffle. If you took a look at the broth, you'd notice little flecks of black. The more flecks, the stronger the truffle flavor. The broth was very light and in my mind could have used a bit more richness. The savory flavor of shoyu was barely evident. More of a mushroom broth to me. 

Two of my pet peeves were instantly fulfilled when the menma and the tamago were delivered ice cold. The egg could also have used a bit more time marinating.

 

 The noodles were of the thinner variety and a bit overcooked for my preference. 

The meats were interesting.

  The chashu had been grilled before serving; which totally changed the texture and taste. I like a nice "buttery" chashu and the grilling had made it rather tough and stringy. The flavor was on the lighter side as well.

The chicken breast was an oddity. At first glance I thought this was gio lua. Perhaps the thought was that it would be something decadent, almost like a pate or foie gras, instead the texture was odd, dry, fairly chewy, the flavor quite bland. Really did not enjoy that. 

It was an interesting bowl. Consumed while under the watchful "eye(s) and wings" of Mercury.

One thing good about the location....it's fairly close, so I decided to try the shio ramen....sorry mushroom/vegan ramen is just not my thing. On this visit, even though I confirmed an 11am opening time before I left previously, I arrived at 1130 just in case. Well, even with this buffer Ujin was not open. The young guy who mans the cooking area came out and told me they weren't opening until noon. Ah yes, the "softest cushion" of a soft opening. Luckily, I needed to get a couple of things from CVS and managed to kill time that way.

When I returned at noon, there were already several parties seated, so I'm guessing they opened before noon? Well, anyway, I decided to order the 3 piece Chicken Karaage ($6), along with the Shio Ramen. There are three different proteins you can have with your Shio Ramen; the Chicken Breast Chashu.....based on my previous visit, no thanks, Sliced Beef, or Wagyu. I decided on the sliced beef version ($18.95).

I was a bit hesitant about ordering the Karaage; after all it said "3 pieces", so I kept thinking it would be 3 typical sized pieces of karaage, but I was mistaken as these were quite large.

 I must say; this was fairly good, at least in terms of how moist, tender, and for the basic marinade/seasoning. The coating could have been a bit more crisp or crunchy as it deteriorated quite fast. Much of that was probably due to the overly sweet and sticky glaze used.

Still, this was much better than I thought it would be and definitely has potential.

As for the ramen. Well, the "beef" in the ramen was beef teriyaki-bulgogi like.

 There were some definite improvements on this visit. The noodles were firmer, the menma and tamago were not iced cold.

The beef was really low quality, lots of "sugi" (chewy fat and connective tissue), quite tough, the teriyaki style; sweet-soy-ginger type marinade was kind of interesting and really clashed with the large amount of savory-salty-oceany katsuobushi provided. The beef was really like something you'd get at a low-level Hawaiian BBQ type place.

The thin broth was dominated by the katsuobushi. There was just too much going on here in my opinion.

    Overall, the service was unobtrusive, the young lady working the front was very sweet.

While I'm glad things are moving on from San Diego being "tonkotsu city", I'm not quite sure about the ramen here. I enjoy shoyu ramen to have the flavor of shoyu; if the chicken is used in the broth, perhaps there should be a reflection of that. To me, the perfect home for Ujin would probably be North Park, South Park, or Normal Heights...

Perhaps I'm just out of touch and this is the future of ramen in San Diego? And perhaps I'll return after the soft opening period. Perhaps....

Ujin
8935 Towne Centre Dr.
San Diego, CA 92122

Kitakata Ramen Ban Nai Revisited

Man, it was 41 degrees this morning in Bay Park! Yikes, my "San Diegan" bloodstream seemed frozen! Well, it was definitely ramen weather for me. My typical ramen choice to temper the cold climate would be one of the usual suspects. But, in the end, I wanted something different from the ubiquitous tonkotsu style ramen that seems to be everywhere. I hadn't been back to Kitakata Ramen Ban Nai since they first opened back in July of 2023 (I almost said "last year"...but it's now 2025!) so I thought it would be a good time to check them out again.

I arrived a bit after the 11am opening time and was surprised to note that only one table was occupied and the counter where I was seated was completely empty.

The two folks manning the dining area were very nice and I was handed a menu. I quickly noticed that there's a lunch special available.

Under the auspices of the lunch special, one could get a side of karaage for $2.80. So, I could get a small Kitikata Ramen for $13.95, the tamago was now $1.50....looking back, I noticed that it was $1.90 back in July of 2023. So, could there actually be something that is now more inexpensive?

I also noticed this sign....the place seems to enjoy having these little signs.

I had always found the noodles here a bit on the softer-mushy side, but now I could get it "katame" (firm), which seemed like a good option. I did find the broth to be on the saltier side of things, but decided to do only "one change at a time".

So, all of this for $18.25.

    The bowl was delivered nice and hot. The tamago was now provided on the side. The yolk was adequately soft, the marinade a bit weak....but of course...my pet peeve, these were ice cold....sigh.

The chashu had the "fat cap" I recalled; though was cut thicker than I remember. It was not as nicely marinated and was also a bit chewier then before.

    The broth seemed more full-bodies then on my previous visits and while still a bit on the saltier side, I found the added richness more enjoyable . It's still seems fairly straight forward in flavor, but I think that might be a good thing in this case.

The added firmness of the noodles really made a difference for me, as I found that the additional "pull" combined with the curliness which managed to really "pick up" the soup added to my enjoyment.

Well, at least to me, on this visit, it seemed like Kitakata had gotten better since I first visited.

Well, the ramen that is. As for the karaage.

Unevenly coated, not crisp or crunchy enough for my taste, on the blander side. The flesh was fairly juicy and tender though. Not a big fan of the sesame like dressing provided either.

Still, I thought the Kitakata Ramen was good, an nice contrast to all the tonkotsu in San Diego. Though, looking at yet another sign; I guess they are making tonkotsu here as well? Which I'm probably NOT going to try.

Unless one of you, my great "FOYs" tell me it's worth my attention?

Like I mentioned, the two young people working were quite nice....though I'm not sure about the customer base? One couple kept calling them "hey! hey!", a guy in another group kept using the "come here finger" gesture....when they got what was requested, no one said "thank you"? What's going on these days?

Kitakata Ramen Ban Nai
7951 Othello Ave.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Mon-Thurs  11am - 3pm, 5pm - 9pm
Friday           11am - 3pm, 5pm - 10pm
Saturday      11am - 10pm
Sunday         11am - 9pm

Hope everyone had a wonderful New Year!

Ramen Weather - Santouka and HiroNori Craft Ramen Revisited

Yep, well the cold weather (it's all relative) has settled in. If there's one thing I enjoy about winter here is that it is cool enough for me to head out and get ramen. Heck, even the Missus was wanting some ramen.

And of course She chose.....

Santouka:

Man, can you believe that Santouka has been open for over 16 years already? And even with the influx of all the ramen shops over the years, the Shio Toroniku from Santoua is the the Missus's favorite.

Which is now $16.95. It was $15.95 on our last visit in February of last year. Still, the Missus and I will split one bowl and also get a rice bowl. On this day, the Missus chose the Chashu Gohan ($6). Guess She was feeling in a "porky" kinda mood.

The ramen was as usual; that bowl keeps the broth hot for the entire meal.

  Santouka has been fairly consistent over the years. Of course that consistency is a two way street. Santouka has probably the worse tamago. And yes, it's always been terribly overcooked. But hey, if you want consistency, that egg was just as bad at Santouka's original location in Asahikawa!

The broth was rich and tongue coating, savory with just enough saltiness for us.

The pork cheek (toroniku) was a bit tougher this time around and didn't start melting away in the hot broth like we enjoy. Still, it was delightfully porky.

Speaking of porky, we both enjoyed the Chashu Gohan.

Nicely flavored, fairly tender pork, over hot rice. Since we're not big eaters, this was enough for both of us. 

Santouka Ramen
4240 Kearny Mesa Rd(In the Mitsuwa Marketplace)
San Diego, CA 92111

A few days later, I was craving some ramen, and decided to head on over to another favorite; HiroNori. After all, the last time I visited was almost exactly a year ago. To be perfectly honest, these days I prefer the ramen at HiroNori to Menya, which has been somewhat inconsistent and much too busy these days. And let's not even go into the crazy prices at Baikohken. I also had thoughts of heading to UTC....perhaps I need to do a ramen rumination of all ramen places in Westfield UTC? But that'll have to wait until after the holidays.

So, it was off to try and find parking in Hillcrest. Which I magically found a few blocks away on Robinson and Third.

HiroNori Craft Ramen:

My timing worked out pretty well. The clock struck 1130 just as I crossed Fifth Avenue and I sauntered in; the first customer of the day.

I ordered my usual here; the Shoyu Ramen, now priced at $16.45, it was $15.10 at this time last year. I also got some moyashi ($.50). 

    I prefer the savory, somewhat salty, barrel aged shoyu broth to the tonkotsu here. It has nice soy-savory complexity and the broth has a decent velvety tongue feel.

The tamago had been nicely marinated and the yolk was warm. An ice cold egg is a pet peeve of mine.

   The chashu was porky, with a nice shoyu flavor. It was so soft and buttery; the best I've had here to date! I decided to get the noodles katame; firm, and the woman working nodded in approval. The noodles were indeed firm, slippery, but also did a great job "picking up" the broth.

This might be the best bowl I've had here to date!

For me, this is a great option to the typical tonkotsu broth that is everywhere. Which leads me to something interesting I noticed during my meal. There were three parties of folks who came in during my meal. They all ordered "tonkatsu" ramen. The Japanese woman working didn't blink an eye....I guess this is the norm here in Hillcrest. "Tonkatsu" ramen.....

HiroNori Craft Ramen
3803 5th Ave
San Diego, CA 92103

So, two bowls, both of them winnah's. It's a nice start to "ramen season" for me!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Baikohken Ramen

Has San Diego hit the saturation point for ramen yet? Well, perhaps not as it seems that Baikohken Ramen created a bit of a buzz upon opening in the former Menya Ultra spot in Hillcrest. Part of it was because the restaurant, which hails from Asahikawa, (which BTW has the record for the coldest temperature ever recorded in Japan, think minus 40) was mentioned in the Michelin Guide to Hokkaido in 2017. What was interesting was that Ramen Adventures wasn't too impressed with the Asahikawa location, calling it yet another chain. And yet, when I think of my favorite ramen shops in San Diego, be it HiroNori, Nagi, Menya, and of course Santouka (I need to make another visit to Ban Nai) are "chains" with multiple locations. Speaking of Santouka, the chain had it's start in Asahikawa, in fact, if you've read our little blog long enough, you'd know we went to Asahikawa just to visit the original location of Santouka! So, when thinking in terms of Asahikawa style ramen, be it ever so humble, I'd be doing a comparison to Santouka.

I'm not a big fan of trying to find parking in the little strip mall where Baikohken is located. Which they share with a couple of fairly busy businesses like Oscar’s Mexican Seafood. And this was before Baikohken started up weekday lunch service, so I thought myself lucky to get parking in the lot right at 5 pm.

The shop is rather tiny, so I can imagine how difficult getting a table during peak hours might be. I'd never been to this location of Menya, so am not sure how that would compare.

During my two visits, it was the same two folks working the front of house; both the older Japanese woman and the always hustling young lady were wonderful. Attentive, efficient, friendly.

Since I had my sights on doing a comparison with Santouka, I figured it had to be a shio ramen to start. I just decided to suck it up and go with the Shio Chashu Ramen......which is $22.95! Yikes. And to add to matters, I also ordered the 3 piece Karaage $6.95. Man, nearly thirty bucks for ramen and karaage without tax and tip! Is this the world we live in now?

First to arrive was the Karaage.

   The pieces of karaage were large, the batter slightly crunchy, the chicken was on the tougher chewier side. It was also fairly bland in terms of seasoning. Not my favorite version of this.

And then my ramen arrived.

    The broth was interesting, a lot lighter than I would expect for Hokkaido style ramen. It did have a good amount of saltiness and based on what I'd read, there's supposed to be a savory-seafood based component to it, like how Santouka is in Japan. I was looking forward to that, but I really couldn't make that out. As a whole, the broth lacked complexity.

The chashu looks like it was made from butt or loin, it had been marinated and seasoned well, but it was quite tough and chewy.

The menma (bamboo shoots) were nicely marinated. The cut was quite thick, which might give some folks problems, but was super crunchy.

The tamago looked great and was marinated well. Though, well, you know my pet peeve, right? The eggs were ice cold.

   The noodles were nice and springy, of the slightly thicker variety, much like what we'd had at Noodle Zero, though it was a bit under cooked and chewy for my taste.

Overall, a kind of mixed bag. Some of this could be attributed to having recently opened. But when you create a certain amount of hype, I would think that expectations would be rather high and I was just looking for a good bowl of ramen.

Well, based on this visit you know that I was going to wait a couple of weeks before visiting again, right? Anyway, I drove on up and this time, even though it was before five on a weeknight, I had to find street parking a couple of blocks away. Still, the place was just opening when I walked on over and I easily got a table.

The same two wonderful women were working the front of house.

This time, I wasn't going to be going for a $23 ramen. I decided to try the shoyu ramen.

Of course, I couldn't let things well enough alone, I wanted to see if the cold egg was the norm so I added that ($1.95) and also some Moyashi (bean sprouts - $1.95). Which brought my bowl to almost $19.

    Man, check out that chashu. It looked different from the version I'd had on my previous visit. It was still the same overly lean cut, but was also super salty. In fact, I wasn't able to finish it!

The tamago was even better in flavor this time around, but was still ice cold.

And salty is indeed the key word here; as the broth was also a sodium bomb. I couldn't really get past the saltiness. The texture is still on the thin side for this version as well.

Wanna see how much bean sprouts you get for two bucks here? At least it soaked up some of the broth and helped to cut the saltiness.

The one bright spot were the perfectly textured, springy noodles, that did a great job picking up the broth. Now it would have been great if it wasn't so salty....and I like salty foods!

Well, I decided that two initial visits would do it for now. I'll wait a while to revisit, hopefully things will improve.

Baikohken Ramen
690 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92103
Current Hours:
Wed - Mon 12pm - 230pm, 5pm - 930pm
Closed on Tuesdays

Also, is it just me, or does it seem like Hillcrest is ramen central now? Isn't there like 5 ramen shops within a mile? I know UTC has 3 and near Convoy things are more spread out. What do you think?

Midweek Meanderings - Mama Lin's Replacing Saigon 5, it's now Ujin Ramen instead of Hanyuzu Ramen, Honeyjam Chicken Looks ready to open? And the new sign for Golden City

So, here's some "stuffs" I found while driving around. Actually, this is just a couple of places, there's much more, but the title of the post was getting too long!

Mama Lin's Replacing Saigon 5:

So, on a previous visit to 99 Ranch Market on Balboa, I noticed that Sip n' Cluck was replacing Krispy Krunchy Chicken. Imagine my surprise on my last trip to 99 Ranch when I went to the restroom and saw that a stand named Mama Lin's was replacing Saigon 5!

Makes me wonder if business in this food court is not particularly busy. The place never seems busy.....

5950 Balboa Ave (Inside 99 Ranch Market)
San Diego, CA 92111

It's now Ujin Ramen instead of Hanyuzu Ramen:

**** You can find my post on Ujin here.

So, I've been avoiding Renaissance Towne Center because of all the crazy road work. Heck, I have to deal with the ever changing traffic patterns on Clairemont Drive; why would I want to expose myself to more of the same? Still, after 7 months or so of avoiding the area, I decided to to head on over to Chicago Fire Grill to see what's going on. In the end, I ended up trying a new place that opened up there (post upcoming) and got to see what was going on.

Since I arrived before 11, I took a stroll around the strip mall. It was quite interesting. Back in August of 2022 it seemed like a shop named Ramen Hanyuzu was coming to this mall. In June of 2023, ditto. But now, in March of 2024, it looks like Ujin Ramen is coming to this spot?

My goodness......

8935 Towne Centre Drive #113
San Diego, CA 92122

And what about Honeyjam Chicken?:

Good question. I mean way back in 2021, this spot was going to be JJ Chicken. Then, in October of 2022, "FOY" Patty and Rena alerted me to changes. Apparently, the place was now going to Honeyjam Chicken. Of course, it's now March of 2024. 

Well, there seems to be some work going on here. Still, not sure if or when they will open. It must be so frustrating for folks in the area who are looking forward to these businesses open. But can you imagine; that we're hiring sign has been up since I first saw the place in October of 2022. I mean, really, you want staff.......do they think folks will wait a year-and-a-half for work? It's quite sad....

8895 Towne Centre Dr.
San Diego, CA 92122 

The new sign for Golden City:

This is an interesting one. I saw a change of signs occurring for Golden City earlier in the week. Then "FOY" Derric sent me a message asking what was going on.

When I first saw the sign, I drove into the parking lot and peeked into the restaurant.....the guy working and the decor looked the same. My one source said it was still the same with a change in the Chinese name of the place. The Missus said that in Chinese the name is now something along the lines of "Prosperity Palace". So we'll see.....

5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123

And there's more; but I'll save that for a future post. Hope you're having a wonderful week!

Monsta Ramen Curry

So, a couple of weeks after I first saw the storefront for Monsta, they opened. A couple of folks I know actually visited and told me they weren't impressed and it was ramen and curry for the "masses". Still, I was curious so I decided to see what the grand opening business was like. I made sure to visit right at opening time and on both visits the place was empty.

 The interior is bright, rather spartan, and almost "fast-foodish". And to keep up with the times, you can order via menu or order and pay via QR code. The young lady, who was quite friendly also told me that there were special promotions for "online ordering" which was also reflected on the bottom of the menu.

And there it was, Tonkotsu Ramen, regular price $12, was $10 if ordering online.

I was going to order that anyway. I also asked the wonderful Server if there was any appetizers that folks really liked and was told that customers seemed to like the Potato Shrimp ($6), so I ordered that as well.

I gotta say, the Potato Shrimp, while being on the small side was kinds cute looking. The crustacean was wrapped in a potato string and deep fried.

 The shrimp was served with a "Thousand Isle-ish" dressing. The shrimp was overcooked and dry; the potato strings while mildly crisp lacked seasoning. A fairly bland dish overall.

As for my ten dollar ramen.....

 Well, let's just say, this reminded me of the last time I had a bowl of ten buck ramen. That broth was thin, lacking in any nuance, super salty, as in I was chugging water for the rest of the afternoon. Another broth that is Tonkotsu in name only.

The tamago was nicely cooked and decently marinated....but sigh.....guess what? It was ice cold!

The noodles were unevenly cooked, some were overcooked and mushy side and others were hard and brittle.

   The chashu had been marinated and charred. The flavor was not bad, but it was on the tough side.

Insipid as this was, it was still better than what I'd had at O-To-San, which is not saying much. Perhaps this ramen might have had a place in the day when Tajima was the only show in town; but these days, I consider it "C" level ramen.

Ok, well, the shop has "curry" in its name so I thought what the heck and returned for a follow up. The same nice young lady was working, I did the QR ordering and got the Pork Cutlet Curry Rice ($13).

 This was an interesting dish. The tonkatsu was nicely breaded, quite crisp, the pork itself was moist, but mushy, and lacking in flavor. The texture was kind of strange and the taste was definitely in the "other white meat" category.

The rice was drier than I prefer and the curry which had ground meat in it was quite thin, my packaged S&B curry is richer and thicker. The seasoning wasn't too bad, and it had a hint of heat.

 I liked the service, and the prices are cheap for this day and age; but to me it seemed like the food was at a "fast-casual" level and not even in the realm of "Japanese diner" or "Japanese food court" (think Mitsuwa Market Food Court) cuisine. In other words; it's more of a "Yawn-sta" instead of a "Monsta".

Monsta Ramen Curry
4344 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 1130am - 0950pm

Saturday Stuffs - The Big List Returns, Welcome to a New San Diego Blogger, and Do You Really Want Me to Try "Tonkatsu Ramen"?

Just a couple of items for this Saturday.

The Big List Returns:

More than a few years back, I created a page which I titled "The Big List", that listed every San Diego restaurant post. I listed everything and even included photos. Well, the Big List got "too big" and I eventually deleted the page.  But over the years I've had a few requests to create a listing of places in San Diego. And back in March of 2023, "CY" asked about having a listing by location, to help him decide on where to try. I really wasn't up to doing this again, but in May, I started on the Big List by Neighborhood. Man, having to go thru over 5100+ posts took a while, but I've finally completed it.

There were some benefits. Since I had to review all local posts, I managed to update the old posts and indicate and hopefully link to updates. I created links which indicated the month/year of the post along with short notations on items like if the post was done by Cathy/Ed from Yuma/Vicki, if the post was on a old location/previous owners, etc....

I tried to divide places up by Zip Code, but there are a few "kinks" regarding my listing. I also learned stuff like Mien Trung is not really located in Linda Vista, but Clairemont. I also did split some zip codes like 92111 and 92110 - I really do think of Bay Park/Morena/Old Town being separated from Midway, which I included with Point Loma/Shelter Island. I'm sure folks will have some feedback on that!

I also have a listing noted as "In Limbo", for places that are currently changing locations, having to find a new location, etc......

I will try to update periodically or when I find out there have been changes.

The one good thing is that there a bunch of places I have to revisit; places I haven't been back to in years.......

So please take a look and let me know what you think:

The Big List by Neighborhood

And, if folks like it; maybe I can do a page on LA/OC and perhaps even places we travel to often.

I also need to thank each and every one of you for being greats "FOYs" all of these years!

**** 01/22/2024 A short update. By request I opened up the comments on the page as well.

Welcome a New San Diego Blogger:

So, I found out via an Instagram Post, that "FOY" Denver, an occasional commenter on our humble little blog has created a blog of his own which covers food and travel. It's called My Phone Eats First.

So, go check it out. I also created a link in the sidebar! 

Welcome to the blogging world Denver!

Do You Really Want Me to Try "Tonkatsu Ramen"?

And lastly, I'll end with a bit of silliness. I got an email from a "FOY":

"So, over the years I notice that you have an issue with folks calling Tonkotsu Ramen "Tonkatsu Ramen". You even called out Andrew Zimmern on it. So, I was at Zion Market and noticed that PokeU in the food court actually has Tonkatsu Ramen! Check it out and I double dog dare you to try it"

Ok, so on my last shopping thingy at Zion; I usually go at 9am so don't even bother with the food stands there, I walked over and good lord.....

There it was.

I know this place made everything from Teriyaki to Rolls, but this cracked me up. Still, based on trying their poke back in 2017 I'm not so sure.

I will however, suck it up and actually try a bowl of "Tonkatsu Ramen" if folks want me too. Or maybe you can try it and let me know what you think?

Poke U (In the Zion Market Food Court)
7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

HiroNori Craft Ramen Revisited

In my post on Ramen Nagi, "FOY" Mar mentioned liking the Shoyu Ramen from HiroNori. Man, it had been three years since my last visit which was, because of Covid a takeout visit. So, the last time I'd dined in at HiroNori was in late 2019 and the last post I did was in July of 2019 when I stated that HiroNori's shoyu ramen was "my second favorite ramen in San Diego". Of course, the obvious question is, if HiroNori is my second favorite, why don't I visit more often? Well, there's this thing called "parking" that I hate in the Hillcrest area. I mean, there are lots in the strip malls in City Heights and on Convoy that I detest, but for some reason, just having to search for and pay for street parking or some of the exorbitant lot prices kinda drives me off. 

But recently an opportunity arose. I had an appointment in Hillcrest and it ran into the opening time for HiroNori, so I decided to finally return.

I lucked out as there were two tables still open when I arrived. The two young ladies working were just fabulous, so kind, efficient, and hard working.

As before, I got the Shoyu Ramen ($15.10), I'm not a fan of the Tonkotsu ramen here. I got it with the thicker noodles and the wonderful young lady talked me into getting the garlic paste as a side. There were some huge takeout orders; one guy came and to pick up 10 orders of ramen to go. The young ladies had him drive up front and they walked the orders to his SUV for him. Like I said, great service. So, I was surprised that my ramen came out so quickly.

  Man, I still really like the noodles here. It has that perfect ratio of chewiness to slippery pull and girth that I enjoy. The garlic paste went well with the tamago, which was nicely seasoned and still warm. It was a bit much for the broth; which had that nice tongue feel and savory tones I enjoyed previously. In the past it teetered on too salty, but today it was nicely balanced. The garlic paste was too bitter and messed up the balance of the broth. Man, the barrel aged shoyu does wonders for the broth adding a slightly sweet-umami "edge" to things.

The menma was nicely seasoned but cold. The chashu was as good as always; yes, its not the most buttery, but it is tender enough, providing what a call and pleasant "meaty chew". It has been simmered and flavored nicely and the porkiness has not been lost.

 I enjoyed this bowl and also the service. As things are now Ramen Nagi is my favorite ramen in San Diego. However, the former #1, Menya Ultra has fallen to number 3 as HiroNori holds strong in second place.

I really need to figure out how to get here more often.

HiroNori Craft Ramen
3803 5th Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
Current Hours:
Mon - Wed 1130am - 8pm
Thurs - Sun 1130am - 9pm

Thanks for the reminder Mar!

The Veggie King Ramen from Ramen Nagi

Back to Ramen Nagi so soon? Well, it wasn't really intentional. I was headed elsewhere at UTC, but I found that the posted opening time of the business was not 11 as I had found on Westfield Site, but 1130. So, I decided to head on back to Nagi to check how busy things were and there was basically one party in line when I got there at 1110! This was a Monday mind you....

Well, perhaps this was fate? Now as I was handed the order sheet, I made an interesting decision. You see, I received not one, but two emails regarding my post on Ramen Nagi. One from Vinh and another from Franklin. Both of them endorsed the Veggie King Ramen. To quote Vinh's email:

"It's the best vegetarian ramen I've ever had and I think it's even better than the Original King (which was pretty great) and the Black King (I thought this was kind of mediocre)."

Plus, FOY Peter mentioned wanting to try the Veggie King as well in the comments of that post.

So, why not, right?

I filled out the order form.....now, I didn't go "full vegan" on this, as I added a tamago (of course)! And other than requesting my noodles "firm" I made no other customizations.

There were two tables filled and one person on the counter when I was seated, a far cry from my previous visits.

My rather large bowl arrived soon after, with two "hashbrowns" looking like wings for the bowl of noodle soup.

    Before my ramen "took to flight" I dug in. As with my previous visits, the tamago was perfect, still warm, with a runny yolk. The firm noodles were indeed that, good stretch, slipperiness, and chew.

As for the rest? Well, those potato cakes were really like hashbrowns. Kinda strange. They started getting soggy and falling apart quickly. Not my favorite thing; but if you do get this bowl, perhaps you could request this on the side? The spinach was fine, quite typical. The mushrooms were really hard and chewy.

As for the broth? Well, this was sort of like a shoyu ramen. There was a savory component that was hard to pin down. I know the broth is mushroom based, but the fungi-flavor wasn't pervasive. It had a good amount of oil, but wasn't overly rich in texture. And, like my first bowl at Nagi, it was very salty, way too salty.

While I don't think I'll order this again; if I did, I'd order it with less salt. I'm not overly familiar with vegetarian/vegan ramen so I have no real baseline in that comparison. That said, while I won't be changing my "ramen-ways", this was not bad.

And thanks to Vinh and Franklin for suggesting I try this. You both are "FOYs" for sure now! I do enjoy recommendations as it helps to broaden my horizons.....

Ramen Nagi UTC
4301 La Jolla Village Dr. Suite 2033
San Diego, CA 92122
Current Hours:
Daily 11am - 230pm, 5pm - 9pm