Toki Underground - Washington, DC

Before I left for my vacation I did a look at the restaurant scene in the DC area and one restaurant kept popping up, Toki Underground.  A look at their website proclaims it to be DC's first ramen house.  This kind of blew my mind because their are many ramen shops in Chicago, including 5 within a 15 minute bike ride of where I live, so it was a place that I was going to have to visit.  The neighborhood in which it is located could kindly be called "up and coming".  It does have a run down look to it, but their are also indications that hipsters are starting to move in.  While it's located on a major street, it wasn't obvious where it was located.  This wasn't surprising to me considering the fact that it has "Underground" in the name.  I expected to find it in a basement space.  I was mistaken.  It was actually located above a dive bar called The Pug, sharing the same entrance.  The logo for Toki Underground was on the door, but it was admittedly a little confusing to go upstairs to a restaurant with underground in it's name.  After the fact, I think the Underground could be ironic, it could mean not yet in the mainstream, or it could mean both.  Walking up the stairs, I saw that it was a very small space (seating about 25) with an open kitchen.  While there were a few tables, most of the seating was at the bar, at a counter in front of the kitchen, or a counter looking out the front windows.  The restaurant seemed to employ the reduce-reuse-recycle aesthetic heavily.  The rail/fence above the stairs was made up of skateboards that had been cut like a picket fence.  The tails of the boards were used above the divider between the kitchen and the bar.  There was a small dead tree used to hang Christmas lights. The walls had a street art design with both painting and stickers, and the bar top was uneven and resin covered with this found art sculpture embedded in it made up of nails and clips that kind of reminded me of a pinball machine.  Their liquor selection, while not huge, did have a good selection, not just using the usual suspects when it came to whiskey, vodka, gin, rum, etc.

We started out with some Pork Dumplings served with Sesame and a Spicy Teriyaki Sauce.  The dumplings looked like they were grilled, but they did have the standard steamed dumpling texture.  They were very tender, a little spicy, and very good.  While I didn't order these, my dining partners did, and I was glad to be able to try them, because they were very good.

The reason that I came here though was to try their Ramen.  While they did offer several ramens, they all seemed variations on the same theme.  I went with the Toki Classic with Braised Pork, Greens, Soft Egg, Pickled Ginger, topped with Nori, Sesame Seeds, and Scallions, and added more pork with some Berkshire Pork Belly.  I went with the Classic to see what their standard ramen was like.  I added the pork belly, because pork belly.  The nori came as a big piece on top and as could be expected it tasted very salty and green.  The taste of nori reminds me of spinach.  The two porks were very tender and while they were each served in a solid piece, they were easily shredded with the spoon or chop sticks provided.  The egg was a perfectly soft boiled egg, and broken open, it added another savory flavor to the already savory broth.  The noodles were plentiful, tender, and slurpable.  It was all very good and worked well together, the only issue that I had was that I thought that it could have used a little more heat and I saw no hot sauce readily available.  Having said that, I would gladly return to have it again. I really enjoyed the space and the food even if I wished for a little more heat.

Strings Ramen

I seem to have been on a ramen kick of late.  I recently met a friend for ramen at Strings Ramen in Lincoln Park.  They also have a location, which is also their original, in Chinatown.  The location of the Lincoln Park location is a little confusing to find.  The sign for the restaurant is in front of a brownstone two-flat with an elevated first floor.  It made sense to me that the restaurant was on the main floor, but after walking up the stairs, I saw a sign on the door that said, "Strings Ramen - Downstairs", so I went to the basement unit and found the restaurant.  The space unsurprisingly looked like a basement with a low ceiling and high windows, but it was fairly nicely done.  The space was pretty open with a long bar on one side, which, I saw was not a bar as such, but a serving counter as the restaurant is a BYOB.  The lights were hanging lights that looked like Chinese lanterns and everything was done in light colored woods.  Seating was all at high top tables for four (plus the counter) with a banquette on the wall opposite the bar/counter.  The menu at Strings features the four standard ramens, Shoyu (Mushroom Broth), Shio (Sea Salt Broth with Chicken or Turkey Stock), Miso, and Tonkotsu (Pork Broth), but they also have premium versions of each and Hell Ramen which features five levels of hotness.  While the Hell Ramen sounded interesting, I went with the premium Miso Ramen which included King Crab Leg, Bean Sprouts, Asari (Clam), Scallions, Shichimi (Seven Color Chili Pepper), Black Sesame, Nori, and diced Kuro Buta (Berkshire Pork).  We also ordered Soft-boiled Eggs to cut into the ramen, because the egg yolk adds a richness to the broth.  While it did taste good and there were peppers in the broth, it was still pretty bland.  On the table was a couple of hot pepper mixes that you could add to make the ramen spicier or you could get a half mix of the peppers used in the hotter Hell Ramens.  We ordered one of these and it very definitely helped.  After adding the pepper mix, I really enjoyed the ramen.  The crab leg was split so it was easy to get to the meat and there were plenty of small shrimp and clams.  The Kuro Bota was bite sized and tender and also added a little richness. 

While this is not the absolute best ramen that I have ever had, it is good, especially after adding some of the hot pepper mix, and is well worth returning.  It is low key and friendly and the waiter was very helpful.   

Wasabi

When I think of Wasabi, I think of my first experience with the Japanese horseradish.  It was actually my first real experience with sushi.  A friend of mine took a few of us to a sushi bar and ordered a bunch of stuff.  When the plates arrived, there was a blob of green sitting at the edge of one which I took and popped in my mouth without knowing what it was.  That probably was not the smartest move ever made.  As one might guess, this was wasabi and it was very painful going down.  While I have since learned how to handle it and i have actually come to enjoy it, this first experience still comes to mind when I here the word.  A few of years ago, a Japanese restaurant opened in my neighborhood called Wasabi, I thought that it was another sushi restaurant, which would have been fine, but there are many sushi restaurants in the area, so I kind of put it on a back burner to visit at some future time.  I found out recently though, that while wasabi has sushi, it focuses on small plates and specializes in ramen.  There have been several very good ramen places that have opened in Chicago recently, and as I like ramen, I decided to check it out.  The building that Wasabi is in is a former Mexican restaurant and has a shape like a Spanish Mission.  The walls, inside and out, are all dark gray with the exception to the brick wall behind the sushi bar/dining counter.  The room is rather narrow with the bar and the tables (all four tops) are a bit close, so it could be a bit difficult to move through the dining room when it gets crowded.  I sat at one end of the bar so I had a good view of both the open kitchen and the dining room, which did get crowded by the time I left.  Wasabi does have a good list of sushi, but I was there for the ramen so I didn't try it and will have to return for that.  While I was having the ramen, I figured that I would also have room for a few things on the small plates and skewers menu.  I started with Takoyaki.  Takoyaki is supposed to be a fried ball of dough with a lot of chopped Octopus which is usually served with a dipping sauce and Bonito Flakes.  This was all of that and it was very good.  I say supposed to be though because I have run into several restaurants that were serving takoyaki that was not takoyaki and contained something other than octopus.  I was very happy to have octopus.  The balls were fluffy and flavorful and the bonito flakes, while plentiful, were not overwhelming.

My next small plate was something highly recommended by my waiter.  He recommended getting a skewer and specifically, the Fried Chicken Thigh.  His argument is that the ramen takes a long time to make and has a lot of ingredients so you should expect that it should be very good.  The skewers are very simple and focus on a single ingredient, so it should take some skill to make it stand out.  The best of the skewers, in his opinion was the fried chicken leg because the thigh has the most fat and hence, the most flavor.  With his glowing recommendation, I tried it.  It was very simple as could be expected and the meat was well seasoned, juicy, and flavorful.  While it was good, it wasn't as exciting to me as it apparently was to him.

For the vegetable portion of my meal, even when I go out I try to have at least one dish that has a good focus on vegetables, I had Crispy Brussels Sprouts.  They were well browned, cut, and served with Toasted Almonds and Miso Sauce which provided an even more savory flavor than would normally expected.  As they were browned, they were pretty crispy as the name stated and very good.

I saved the Ramen for last because that kind of made sense to me.  In actuality, everything arrived, for the most part, at the same time, so I could have eaten it in any order that I wanted to.  I just had it in the order that made the most sense to me.  The Ramen that I had was called Spicy Roasted Garlic Miso Ramen.  It actually starts out with a pork base broth like tonkotsu and is actually very similar to their Tonkotsu Ramen.  In addition to the broth and the noodles, it contained Pork Belly, a Soft Boiled Egg, Marinated Bamboo Shoots, Bean Sprouts, Sesame, Scallion, Roasted Garlic, Garlic Chips, Chili Threads, and Sesame Oil.  The difference between this ramen and the tonkotsu is that this has bean sprouts, garlic, and chili threads, and the tonkotsu has wood ear mushrooms.  In any case, it is really good.  It's rich and spicy and has a lot of noodles in addition to the many other ingredients.  While there is a little bit of a learning curve for eating ramen, use the large spoon to take a scoop of the ramen and eat off the spoon with chopsticks, the food is satisfying, so the experience is good.

The menu at Wasabi is pretty big so you have to make multiple trips to become an expert.  From what I tried though, I would very much enjoy returning to further become an expert.  The food and service were very good and the waiter was very helpful.     

Furious Spoon

When most people think of ramen, they think of the really cheap dried noodles that are covered with salt and they loved as kids or survived on in college.  When one goes to a ramen shop though, people are quick to discover that ramen is much more than those dried noodles.  There have been a number of ramen shops that have opened in Chicago in the last couple of years, due to the growing popularity of ramen.  I like authentic ramen and I like trying new things, so I went to one of the new ramen shops, Furious Spoon, for dinner recently.  Run by Shin Thompson of the former Bonsoiree and Kabocha, this is small, but simpler and more low key than his previous ventures.  I still had an expectation going in though, of some really good food.  The restaurant is pretty small with the order counter at the front of the open kitchen just to the right of the door.  The place will seat about 40 people between to communal tables and banquettes and a counter facing the kitchen.  The walls, tables, and chairs were all dark and heavy wood, and the space was relatively dark.  I walked in, looked over the short menu (5 ramens, toppings, 5 sides, and  drinks), ordered, was given a number and was directed to seat myself.  I sat at the inside of one of the communal tables, so I could get watch the flow of the restaurant.  The ramen that I ordered, Furious Ramen,  had almost everything offered in it.  I also ordered an order of pickles, which I have learned, is much more than just pickled cucumbers.  I like to order pickles when I see them on the menu because I like pickles and it is interesting to see what it is exactly that I am going to get.  This order of pickles consisted of Red Onions, Carrots, Celery, Mushrooms, Cucumbers, Potatoes, and a single Red Pepper.  The vegetables were crisp, with a good sweet and vinegary flavor.  The mushrooms were firm and had a good flavor, and the potatoes were good as well.  While I do like spicy food, I do not make a habit of eating whole hot peppers, whether pickled or not, so the pepper was left uneaten.

I was very surprised, when my ramen arrived, of the size of my bowl and spoon.  I was warned, when I ordered it, that it was pretty spicy.  I was not warned, however, how big it was going to be.  The bowl looked to be able to hold about a quart of ramen and the spoon that came with it was about the size of a cooking spoon.  The method that people seemed to use was to grab a spoonful of ramen, eat the noodles and meat out of the spoon with chopsticks, and slurp the broth from the spoon a the end.  While I will not say that I liked the color of the broth, there was a lot of stuff in it that did look good.  The broth was pretty spicy, but it was still flavorful and good.  In the broth was Sesame, Spicy Miso, a Poached Egg, Beef Brisket, Pork Belly, Pork Cheeks, Marinated Mushrooms, and Garlic Relish as well as a lot of noodles, of course.  In addition to being spicy, it was very meaty, and had a good garlic and sesame flavor.  The egg was poached perfectly.  It was solid enough to be picked up with chop sticks, but it was soft enough that it probably could have been sucked through a straw.  Despite the size of the dish, I managed to plow through it, and left happy and very satisfied.  I liked the food here and will be sure to be back.