Ramen Santa @ San Mateo

[morethanreal]

It's generally accepted that Ramen Santa in San Mateo and Ramen Halu in San Jose are "the" places for tonkotsu ramen in the SF Bay Area. Ramen Halu is fairly decent, but since it is too much of a hassle for me to get to now (I have yet to know a ramen enthusiast who wants to fight the lunch hour line on weekdays), and I was pleasantly surprised

Comments

[anonymous]

The food culture in the Bay Area tends to be a bit much at times. People line up so they can congratulate themselves on being in the know.

The benishoga and no shichimi togarishi are a bit weird.

You'd like Ryowa in Berkeley. No line, a bookshelf full of manga, videotapes of random Japanese TV, surly waitstaff, great kimchi in little pots on the table. Too bad it's in Berkeley.

We had good ramen in NYC over the holidays.

[morethanreal]

I went to the Ryowa in Mountain View. It's also super super busy, but I haven't been to the one in Berkeley. I thought their soup was not rich enough. In the summer they had tsuke-men which I liked more than their regular ramen.

[quikchange]

That purple ring around the yolk in your boiled egg is not from overcooking but because they neglected to place the egg in cold water immediately after cooking it.

[morethanreal]

Okay... So what exactly does plunging the egg in cold water do?

[quikchange]

I'm not sure what the chemical process underlying that phenomenon is.

[morethanreal]

It's something to do with the iron and sulfur in an egg, which react to form the ring at a sufficiently high temperature. The egg continues to heat up and cook for some time after it's removed from boiling water, and plunging it in cold water prevents the yolk from getting too hot. If an egg is really overcooked (like boiling for 20 mins), the cold water bath will not save it.

[anonymous]

Hmmm, how did I miss the Tartine comments earlier? Anyway, try (1) their pain au chocolat, and (2) a loaf of their bread, which I think you have to ask for, as I never see any on display.