Asa Ramen in Gardena: Give This Anemic Broth Some Steroids!

I had tried to sample the much talked about Asa Ramen for years now but it was always closed for lunch on weekends. Or more accurately, it only opened from 6pm-2am so had given up trying. Going to have ramen for dinner in South Bay that's farther from where I live turned out to be harder than I thought. 

I finally tried it and now that I made time to go for dinner, it is open for lunch too. Go figure. I know I am rather late in the game -- it opened at least five years ago -- the verdict is a resounding thumbs down.

The kotteri shoyu tonkotsu broth was so weak I thought I was having instant ramen. Ok, that's a stretch. But doesn't kotteri mean thick in Japanese? Come on. Where's the milky, industrial strength pork broth that makes ramen so incredibly comforting and satisfying?

The broth wasn't horrible. It just wasn't thick enough. Was I supposed to order the extra topping of butter/pork fat, which actually exists on the menu?

The char siu slices were solid. I'll give them that. And the noodles were cooked al dente, just the way I like them. But that's where the good ends. It was respectable but merely above average and most definitely below Shinsengumi, the reigning ramen joint in LA for me, followed by Santouka.

The gyoza, another litmus test I like to do when I go to a ramen joint, was just as disappointing. The filling smelled too porky and not in a good way. They were piping hot, fresh off the pan, which I liked, but what use is it if the experience is botched as soon as you bite into the dumpling? Sad.

Mottainai Ramen: Gravy-like Broth = Not Good

I've been going out of my ramen comfort zone lately -- that safely tucked away area that includes Shinsengumi and Santouka. But truth be told, I usually get disappointed, as I did at Mottainai Ramen in Gardena.

It's true that I'm anchored to the wonderfully porky and salty flavors of the above mentioned ramen joints, not to mention their al dente noodles and super tender charsiu that's been boiled for hours on end. But Mottainai's broth tasted oddly like...gravy and that's not a good thing. I had the heavily pork-based tonkotsu ramen but the broth was thick in a gravy-kind of way, which is to say excessively thick. Strike one. The charsiu pieces were passable. The noddles were a tad overcooked and the works were average. The works included bean sprouts, spinach, green onions and dried seaweed. Full sheets of seaweed didn't work for me at all. They're totally soggy by the time they hit the broth so why bother? I know Koreans do it with shredded seaweed in rice cake soup but that's at least shredded. Having to tear the giant unwieldy sheet of seaweed is a royal pain.

The gyoza were a bit on the porky side, meaning they smelled a bit too much like pork, which signals either unfresh or low quality ingredients. They were fried perfectly as the image shows but they weren't as good as Shinsengumi's. The spicy miso that came topped with ground pork was even more disappointing. It was nothing like the spicy miso ramen at Santouka that I like. Not sure I'll return. So my ramen journey continues but I have yet to be surprised at the non-faves to which I'm trying to give a chance.

Tea Station: Please Come to West LA

I wish we had a Tea Station out in West LA. I mean, what's not to like about having a choice of 33 iced flavored teas, 26 iced flavored milk teas and 14 flavored snow ice and 20 hot traditional Chinese teas? That's not even all! There's also flavored shaved ice, hot flavored tea, hot fruit tea, hot healthy drinks (like hot grass jelly) and hot flavored milk tea, to name a few.

I got the mango shaved ice with an addition of red bean topping, as I had had my caffeine fix earlier that day and craved patbingsoo, that venerable, seemingly loved dessert of red beans plus shaved ice whose variations are available in several Korean, Chinese and Taiwanese coffee shops.

It was a massive mound of shaved iced, topped with mango flavored snow shaved ice, sprinkled with red beans and condensed milk.

I loved that it stays open until 1am and offers snacks like butter toast (aka brick toast) and a bunch tea-flavored goodies like Pu-Erh Flavored Beef Stew with Green Tea Noodle.

Consider it an East Asian Starbucks, at least in price level, except not yet as ubiquitous and much cooler. It's just sad it's a bit of a trek to get to one.

Eat Not at Eatalian: Worst Pasta I've Had in Years

I was so disappointed by the food and service at Eatalian that I vowed never to return again. So not worth the drive out to "Gardena," (closer to Harbor Gateway and Compton, actually). The space was great -- open, airy and very modern-cafeteria. The high ceilings reminded me of Bottega Louie, but Eatalian is a lot less fancy than that.

The only redeeming thing about this place was the pizza. I was a bit perplexed that the Margherita didn't have any basil on it, but I figured everyone must have their own version of Margherita. So I got the "speciale," that includes cherry tomatoes and basil. Maybe the menu should have specified that it only comes with 5 little slivers of basil, because they really skimped on the basil that usually adds so much flavor to the pizza. I'm talking fresh, large, full-leaves of basil sprinkled on top of the pizza.


The pizza crust was decent -- thin, crispy and not too chewy like those cheap ones. But there wasn't enough tomato and because there was more cheese than tomato, or maybe because they had oversalted it, it was too salty. I liked the fresh mozzarella blobs but I don't think it was enough for me to want to return.

The pastas were dismal to say the least. Thank god I was able to take one back and not get charged for it. The biggest culprit was the "handmade" tagliatelle al ragu. Oh my god. It was the single most bland thing I've put in my mouth in years. It tasted like a mush of nothingness over some flat spinach noodles. There was ground meat in it but it didn't taste like anything.
The tomato sauce tasted as bland as the meat. Normally, I would think about ways to add flavor to it from my home kitchen. I was thinking, would it taste better with some garlic added or, what a thought, salt?

I actually tried adding salt but it didn't do much for it.

Then the spaghetti carbonara wasn't much better. The pancetta seemed well cooked enough, crispy and porky as they should be. But what happened to flavor again? It looked like a perfectly serviceable carbonara with its "egginess" from the raw egg and cheese mixture and bits of pancetta throughout. And both pasta were cooked al dente. But that wasn't the issue.



The pasta was totally bland, again. So I proceeded to add more salt and pepper to add flavor. Because carbonara is a more simple dish, I feel, it actually helped to salt and pepper it. It was edible. I didn't take it back, but the tagliatelle, I had to. It just wasn't salvageable by any means. Not even Thomas Keller or Ferran Adria could have saved this dish.

Don't even get me started on the shoddy and slow service. Ok, our guy didn't charge us for the awful pasta. But this place is clearly short-staffed and it needs to beef up staff or somehow improve the quality of the service. Everyone's running around like chicken without their heads.

Also, this place also clearly got more business than it can handle. That was apparent in the diluted quality of the food. I'm sure it wasn't like that when the LA Times or West Ways magazine gave it rave reviews.

Whenever I run into places like these, I think about Hillstone Group that owns places like Houston's or R+D, etc. All restaurants are chains and are always inundated with customers but always have great service with great food. It's all in the training, experience and philosophy of the management. Maybe Eatalian bit off more than it could chew. I really wanted to like this place because it's a great concept and I wanted to an affordable place to go for good Margherita pizza (can't always go to Mozza, right?).

The gelato was totally unremarkable -- had the Bacio and mango. Yuck. The pastries that they sold there, like chocolate croissant and "cannellino," were downright bad. Maybe this is their version of chocolate croissant and I'm very picky when it comes to this. The chocolate was like chocolate custard instead of the dark brown chocolate essence in the best croissants. Yuck! And the cannellinos, well, I've never had one of these but if it's supposed to be their version of cannolis, they were really bad. They used a soft puff pastry shell instead of a hard shell and the custard was not good. I'm not a big fan of cannolis but even I was put off by this lame impersonation of the real deal. If I'm the lame one by not knowing this is the way they should be, my bad.

Hope this place improves but I'm not returning until I have word of mouth from trusted sources about its comeback.

BOWL OF RAMEN GOODNESS

I will kickoff my blog with my favorite ramen place in the U.S. -- Shinsengumi Hakata Ramen. I love ramen so much that I paid a visit to the Ramen Museum in Shin-Yokohama a few years ago -- hands down the best ramen experience I've had in my life. I sampled ramen from all over Japan from the masters themselves. One clear-broth bowl sprinkled with toasted garlic comes to mind. I recommend it to anyone who has a chance to go to Japan. It's only a quick train ride away from Tokyo and well worth it.



But I digress. Shinsengumi serves one type of ramen and one type only, which is always a good sign. It serves the pork bone-based Kyushu-style ramen that Shinsengumi's Web site claims cooks for more than 15 hours to get that delicious and hearty broth (http://www.shinsengumiusa.com/ramen.php). The standard bowl comes with 2-3 tender slices of pork, bamboo shoots, bright-pink sliced marinated ginger and loads of chopped green onions.

What I love about it is that you can tailor your bowl of ramen just the way you like it. Besides the wide array of toppings you can choose from, you are asked for desired levels of doneness of noodles, soup oil and strength of broth. After having tried different variations, I recommend going with hard noodles, low soup oil and normal broth. For those who like spicy, I recommend adding spicy miso that can be ordered on the side for some kick. Purists may balk but as much as I like the depth of the broth, I like how the spicy miso complements the somewhat overpowering porkiness of the broth.



Shinsengumi is also a good deal if you come hungry. For 95 cents, you can get an extra order of noodles. For less than a dollar more, you can get a combination meal that includes ramen with a side order of gyoza or fried rice. I am particular to the A and C-sets that come with mini gyozas (pan-fried dumplings) and dome-shaped fried rice (with pork and veggies), respectively.

I waver when asked which of the ramen franchises within Shinsengumi is best. I have a soft spot for the first franchise I ran into years ago in Fountain Valley and I frequent the one in Gardena because it's the most convenient. I haven't been to the one in Rosemead, but between FV and Gardena, I would have to go with the broth at FV's shop for its complexity and depth of flavor.



Don't worry about the waiters yelling in Japanese when you enter and leave. It's supposed to make you feel welcome, although I just try to block it out.

I have tried other items on the menu like potato croquette and albacore tuna salad, but none come even close to the divine goodness of the ramen. I have also tried other (but not all) restaurants in the Shinsengumi empire and have one plea and one complaint. 1) Please open a ramen shop in West LA! The shops lining Sawtelle have nothing on Shinsengumi. 2) Its Shabu-Shabu restaurants are no good. I also happen to love Shabu-Shabu but the meat was too thick, the sesame sauce was bland and it plain wasn't worth the drive.