A Surprisingly Good Bowl of Ramen

The waiter delivered two small bowls of ramen to Mr. and Mrs. A’s table.  The kitchen had split their order to two half portions upon their request.  In each bowl, the noodle was covered by a generous portion of tontoro (pork cheek) and deboned pork trotter slices.  The bowl was garnished with thinly sliced green onion, radish sprouts, a sheet of nori (seaweed) and half a marinated soft boiled egg.  Missing were menma (marinated bamboo shoot) and kamaboko (fish cake), both of which Mrs. A did not care for.

Tokyo style ramen

Mr. A started with eating a little bit of the ramen noodle, then a piece of tontoro, before taking a sip of the soup.  The noodle had the proper texture.  The pork cheek was incredibly soft and tender, with just the right amount of fat to make it sinfully delicious.  The soy-sauce seasoned Tokyo-style ramen soup was gentle and rich in pork and chicken flavor with no hint of MSG.  Mr. A finished his ramen with relish, drinking up every drop of the soup.  It was the best bowl he had in many months. 

That the ramen was so good came as a complete surprise because Mr. and Mrs. A were not eating at a ramen shop, or a Japanese restaurant for that matter.   They were having dinner in a casual bar/restaurant in a small town called Saint Helena.  It was curious to them that ramen was one of the main courses on the menu.  So they ordered it as their “pasta” dish following small plates of potato and salted cod fritters, roasted marrow bones with crispy sweetbreads, fried shrimp, and a spicy tripe stew.  

Baccala fritters

Roasted marrow bones, crispy sweetbreads

Fried shrimps

Tripe stew

Dessert was ultra-light Malasada doughnuts and Meyer lemon fool (note: a fruit fool is whipped cream or custard with fruit puree folded into it; in this case it was cream).  

Donuts and Meyer lemon fool

Mr. and Mrs. A enjoyed their dinner very much.  They have planned to return for more ramen.  They won’t share it the next time; each will have an order.

Two Pizzerias

Mr. and Mrs. A ate pizza twice within four days.

* * *

The first pizzeria was famous for its pizza Napoletana (authentic Neapolitan style pizza).  The owner-pizza maker apprenticed in Naples, and had won many pizza competitions in that Italian city with his Margherita pie, which he offered daily at his pizzeria in a limited quantity (a puzzlingly odd number of 73 per day).

Mr. and Mrs. A went there because of its reputation.  They ordered a simple lunch – an antipasto of clam and bacon bone marrow, and a Margherita pie. 

The antipasto was described as “wood fired bone marrow, clams, bacon, garlic and smoked scarmoza”.  It was easy to understand the deadly combination of salted fat (bacon) on more fat (marrow).  But how would clams and smoked cheese come into play?  The weird item called for an investigation.  

Unfortunately, it was a disappointment.  The roasted bone was at room temperature which suggested that it had been sitting around.  On top of the marrow were a few whole clams and bits of bacon amid some white chopped stuff.  The very pale clams were obviously from a can.  The mysterious chopped stuff could only be garlic and smoked cheese based on the description on the menu, though it was neither garlicky nor cheesy.  Nothing on the plate was warm even though bone marrow was not supposed to be a cold dish.  Mr. A made a note not to order weird dishes in the future.

The menu described the Margherita pizza this way: “made with dough mixed by hand using San Felice flour and proofed in Napoletana wood box, topped with crushed San Marzano tomatoes, sea salt, mozzarella fior di latte, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil.  It was baked in a 900°F wood oven.”  That was wonderful reading.

Because they were cooked in very hot wood ovens, Italian style thin crust pizzas always had some burnt spots along the crust.  The burnt spots could be removed easily and did not affect the taste.  But the pie at this pizzeria had many burnt spots at the bottom as well, giving the whole pie a burnt taste.  The crust was also powdery in the mouth as if it had picked up a lot of excess flour before going into the oven.  The pie might be authentic Napoletana, but Mr. and Mrs. A did not like it.

 *  *  *

Three days later, Mr. and Mrs. A had dinner at another pizzeria, a place that they had visited before.  This place specialized in New York style pizza – the kind with thin flexible crust so the slices could be folded to eat for those on the go.

The small menu was full of mouth watering items.  Mr. and Mrs. A started with a stew of squids, clams, mussels, pancetta, leeks and tomatoes.  The seafood was fresh, tender and tasty.  The creamy and rich aioli on the crostini reminded them of Europe.

Mr. A believed that meatball was a barometer of the food in an Italian restaurant.  So he ordered it as their second appetizer.  The dish was simply superb.  Three tennis ball sized meatballs of pork, beef and prosciutto bathed in a bowl of tomato garlic sauce.  They were meaty, tender but not mushy, and rich in flavor.

Next came bucatini with chopped onion, garlic and pancetta, tossed in tomato sauce, olive oil, red chili pepper flakes and grated cheese.  The texture of the skinny long tubes was a little bit softer than al dente.  The dish was earthy and comforting.  Good as it was, Mr. and Mrs. A had to save room for the pizza.  They took most of the pasta home with an extra order of meatballs.

Finally there was the Acciughe pizza with Sicilian anchovies, Calabrian chiles and fresh oregano.  Mr. and Mrs. A shared one slice and enjoyed the explosion of flavor in their mouths -- it was salty (the anchovy), spicy hot (the chile pepper) and aromatic (the oregano).  By that time, they were so full that they could not eat any more.  The rest of the pizza was boxed up to go.

They did not plan to have sweets.  But the cannolo two tables away looked too good to be ignored.  Fluffy ricotta spilled out of both ends of a fried pastry dough roll and decorated with fresh pistachio.  Confectioner’s sugar was sprinkled over it like a thin layer of fresh snow.  Mr. and Mrs. A could not resist and shared one.  The gentle sweetness and lightness of the dessert was a perfect way to end the big meal.