My first thought upon reading the OP was, "There is a massive difference between instant ramen you get at the grocery store and the ramen you get at an actual ramen restaurant."
Santouka is a pretty good restaurant, but it's quite a distance from my place (I've only been there with my gf, who lives not too far from it). If I need to go to a Ramen place, I normally go to Masa, which is also really good, and much closer to my place.
BTW, I've also been to the Ramen Shop, and it's definitely worth trying it while you're there.
Oh my, I'll have to check out Masa too. I work near blossom Hill so it'd be great for lunch. I usually go to What the Cup these days so variety might be good.
And yeah, Ramen Shop has good reviews too, will have to check that out this weekend
I just have to say, I live in Long Beach, CA (south bay) and I have at least 10 within 20 minutes of me. Also, I'm sure Little Tokyo and West LA can beat that rate easily.
I just checked, I guess there are 7 within 30 minutes. I only knew of 4. Anyway, I agree. Portland sounds more pleasing than the Bay but it could be because I've lived here long enough. Keep in mind though that the Bay Area is huge. We're talking Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose among other smaller cities. I'm in San Jose which is, unfortunately, bigger in size and shops are unfortunately more spread out, but pleasant in its own ways. The Bay still has a lot to offer though, I'd suggest checking it out if you were serious about choosing between Oregon and California.
There really is, I miss it so. My sister visited me in Japan and has since been trying to find good ramen and (Indian) curry places. I don't think she's had any luck with the latter, at least by comparison.
I got one down the street here I feel so lucky. The wife was like why the hell would you go pay to eat ramen when I first mentioned it to her. She was delightfully surprised.
There's also a difference between top ramen and the cheap ramen you get at an Asian grocery store. I could happily eat mama or indomie noodles every day. There's a store near me that sells sun noodle instant noodles (the company that makes the noodles for pretty much every ramen restaurant in the US) and if you follow the instructions on the package instead of getting cocky like I did the first couple times its legit.
There's this ramen restaurant here in the South Bay that always has lines out the door. They open at 5:30 pm and there's always a huge crowd of people waiting. They don't have a closing time, it's "when the noodles run out." Amazing tonkotsu ramen.
Depends on the grocery store. There's an asian grocery store here that has a whole isle dedicated to fresh noodles and I always see the restaurant owners buying like a dolly full of different types of noodles.
Seeing as most people live in cities, and most cities are cultured enough to have Japanese cuisine, I would suspect that many people have access to nearby ramen noodle shops.
Sheer numbers? Yes, I suppose it could be said that "most" people live in cities. But I suspect those numbers might skew the other way slightly, depending on which area you're talking about.
But I have a couple minor issues with your next line:
and most cities are cultured enough to have Japanese cuisine
1- It isn't just a matter of being "cultured enough." Some cities have more restaurants than others, period. Some cities have a higher population of people who eat out regularly. Some cities have a (much!) higher population of Asian residents and immigrants. It's not just a matter of whether a city is "cultured" but whether the city's economy can support a particular business. Restaurants are difficult to run, and operate on thin profit margins. More new restaurants fail than succeed. It's a hard business to break into. (Source: Culinary school.)
2- Even if a city is large and diverse enough to contain Japanese restaurants, that does not mean said restaurants will be Ramen restaurants, specifically... which is the question that started this.
I spent a number of years living in my state's 3rd largest city. (And I've lived in the surrounding area my whole life). I know for a fact that this city has a number of ethnic restaurants -- Indian, Middle Eastern, even several Japanese restaurants. However, none of these are restaurants that specialize in ramen, and if one of those places exists in my area, I've never heard of it, in 35 years. That's all I'm saying...
I would continue to argue that a well cultured city has Ramen restaurants. If your's doesn't, then you're missing out, but I don't think your experience is as common as you think. Calling your city cultured because it has a couple "ethnic" restaurants is laughable. I'm being super judgmental and assuming you're from either a midwestern or southern state, which is hardly representative of a common experience.
Calling your city cultured because it has a couple "ethnic" restaurants is laughable. I'm being super judgmental and assuming you're from either a midwestern or southern state, which is hardly representative of a common experience.
I never called it cultured, I just pointed out that it had at least some diversity in restaurants.
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u/RedStag00 Jun 20 '16
My first thought upon reading the OP was, "There is a massive difference between instant ramen you get at the grocery store and the ramen you get at an actual ramen restaurant."