3rd and 1st Place

#1

Jes has been in search of the next best bowl of ramen for the past 2 years since we moved up to SF from the OC.  His #1 is at the food court at Mitsuwa in Costa Mesa called Santouka Ramen. It has tender pork, a good salty taste, and comes with a soy sauce egg on the side.

#2

His #2 is at Ramen Nakamura in Waikiki. It’s hearty, comes with gyoza and fried rice, and their broth is so savory.

#3

Last night we had dinner at Katana-Ya and I think we found his #3.  Since this one is the only one we can access immediately, I suppose this is his local #1 thus far.  We have been to so many ramen places and he always leaves a little dissatisfied.  Thankfully we’ve finally found something worth going to again.  I had read about this place and had it bookmarked but when Susie mentioned to me the other day that it was her favorite ramen place in the city the deal was done.   So on our usual Wednesday night dinner, we had to get some.  Ah…now we don’t have to go to Costa Mesa or Hawaii for good ramen.

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4 Comments

  • Kel

    Thursday, July 9, 2009

    How funny! Rob and I went to Santouka for dinner tonight! I had their pork/salt ramen and it was soooo good. Yum yum. It’s definitely the best ramen we’ve had in the OC so far (I think we’ve tried 3 other places and they were forgettable). In the Bay Area, I looooove Santa Ramen in San Mateo. I know it’s kinda far and the line is long unless you get there right when they open but I think it’s worth it. We used to drive all the way there from Emeryville! I think it edges out Santouka for me… but I’m not sure if that’s nostalgia or not. 🙂

  • beakatude

    Friday, July 10, 2009

    Thanks for the tip! Santa Ramen has been on my list for a while as well. We will just need to find time to drive down to San Mateo one of these days.

  • tinou

    Friday, July 10, 2009

    hmm Katana-Ya. i think they recently changed owners, but the cook must have stayed. there used to be a photo of Ichiro on the wall. they said that whenever he was in town he’d stop by for some ramen.

  • Giftay

    Friday, July 10, 2009

    ditto to Santa Ramen! good fried chicken there too!

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