#33 - No Soup Ramen at Santouka Ramen

As I explained in the Introduction, if an item is not on the regular menu or not available at the time of visit, I will opt for the most recommended item from a combination of Foursquare and Yelp. So after arriving at Santouka Ramen today and not seeing the No Soup ramen, I opted for the Special Pork in Spicy Miso Broth (OCWeekly #33, Foursquare, Yelp).

According to Santouka's website, the Toroniku Cha-shu is simmered pork cheek (jowl) meat. This ramen is served separately from the broth and noodles and can be added as you consume the ramen, or all at once. I opted for the all-at-once approach while my fiancee opted to add as she ate the bowl of ramen. Either way, it was damn tasty. Now, I don't claim to be an expert on ramen, in fact, I can't even remember the last time I ate ramen that wasn't from a bag that cost $0.30. (As I write this, I recall eating the ramen chronicles twice at Playground (#70 on the list)). Regardless, I'm still quite new to the world of ramen, and as such, don't have much to compare this to.

That being said, this ramen was quite exceptional. The pork was tender, melt in your mouth, and the spicy miso was perfection. Usually when I go for pho, I'll have some of the broth, then add the jalapenos and Sriracha to it for heat. With this spicy miso broth, there was little to no room for improvement. I see some people recommending adding more oil (most likely a chili based oil), but when drinking the broth alone, there was just the right amount of heat, and while eating the noodles and pork, the flavors burst through.

A quick word of advice - parking here sucks. Head straight for the underground parking. Every eatery here takes cash only. It does get busy at lunch, but people cycle through quickly and a table isn't hard to find. There's about five other eateries in the food court and they all looked quite interesting. I'll be going back here many times for ramen as it's close to my work, but I'll also be trying the other locales and sampling other fine Japanese cuisine.

#59 - The Burger at ARC

Unaware of the massive size of this burger, I strolled into ARC expecting something good, maybe regular sized, a nice lunch portion. Instead, I was greeted by a $20 behemoth of a burger with a 16oz. patty of pork, beef, and rendered duck fat. On top of the massive patty, there is a yellow tomato layered at least 4 or 5 times. There's a red chili and pickled red onion layer next and then lots of lettuce. All of this sandwiched between a perfect OC Baking Co. bun that holds it all together perfectly, despite the juiciness and heft of the toppings.

I took two bites with the tomato in place to try the burger as it was intended to be consumed by the chef, but I was just overwhelmed by tomato which I do not care for, so I removed them for the rest of the burger, which also had the pleasant effect of reducing the size of the burger considerably, allowing it to almost fit in my mouth at this point.

After getting a few more bites under my belt, I had to resort to building each bite back up by adding some peppers, lettuce, and onion back on as it all seemed to squirt out the backside, no matter how it was held. On the bright side, each bite was immensely flavorful and well balanced.

As I have had a couple days to fully digest the massive burger, as much as I enjoyed it while I was eating it, I did have to stop without finishing it and thinking back, it wasn't just due to the size, but mostly due to to the overwhelming amount of pork mixed into the patty. Now, I'm all for bacon lardons on burgers (see: Umami Burger) and I love me a bacon cheeseburger, however, the amount of pork, in such a chunky form, in the burger eventually gets to you. Combined with the fact that they cook every item in the restaurant in a massive wood fired oven, which already lends itself to a smoky flavor, the heaviness of the pork just weighs each bite down.

While I would probably recommend this to someone in the market for a gigantic, tasty burger, I'm not sure I'd go back to it. It's just too heavy and rich to be eaten in one setting. The pork overwhelms the patty and also helps hasten the patty's mission to fall apart in giant chunks as you get further into the burger. Impressive. Tasty. But there was just something...something that would steer me to order a different item the next time I go back, despite my immense love of burgers.

Introduction

Over the past 100 or so days, the OC Weekly paper has been publishing their 100 Favorite Dishes in Orange County. Some I've had, but most I've never heard of.

So, to start, I mapped them all so I could quickly pick out a place local to me that had something available from the list. On the page for the #1 favorite dish, Taco Maria, they list all the previous faves, so that's the best place to go for a comprehensive listing other than my map.

Of the favorite 100, I've had:

• #100 - Bean and Cheese Burrito at Del Taco
• #94 - Coney Dog at LinX
• #93 - White Board Specials at Taco Adobe
• #83 - Strawberry Basil Lemonade at Mick's Karma Bar
• #70 - The Continuous Ramen Chronicles at The Playground
• #40 - Tulsa Potatoes at Tulsa Rib Company
• #36 - Lamb Burger at Haven Gastropub
• #26 - Beer Brat at LinX
• #22 - Sausage Anything at Sabatino's

I think the only one that I'm really unwilling to try is:

• #52 - Free Happy Hour Food at Gulliver's

Considering it's FREE happy hour food, the fact that I'm unwilling to eat at Gulliver's should speak volumes about the quality of the food of late. I mistakenly chose to go there for my birthday in September, 2012, so, with a celebration ahead of us, our family of four ventured out to a restaurant of which I had fond memories. Unfortunately, my mother and I were both greeted with a very poor cut of prime rib, while my dad, wanting fish and chips, asked to get it from the lunch menu. We expected a mark-up of the lunch price, but they charged us almost double without getting any additional sides or quantity of fish. Ever since, I've basically vowed not to return.

So earlier this week, I set out to start trying some of the other items from the list. They won't be in order, and if an item isn't available, I'll try the most highly recommended item on the menu from a combination of Foursquare and Yelp.

Let the fun begin!