NSP: The Perfect Bowl

Gardena Ramen

1840 W 182nd St

Torrance, CA 90504

Ramen is the noodle soup that above all others deserves its own blog.  This is perhaps because ramen has been subject to over 400 years of uptight, obsessive Japanese tweaking. The rules are simple -- a pork-based soup broth flavored with soy, miso or plain salt; add noodle, pork chashu, assorted add-ons and bits (canned bamboo, shoyu egg, butter). But the simplicity of the dish is what lends itself to the characteristic Japanese rage for both perfectionism and localism. Ramen is to the Japanese as the kennel club is to the British bourgeoisie -- a chance to cultivate regional differences while simultaneously pushing the boundaries of a single perfected form.

If Gardena Ramen's ramen were a pedigreed breed, it would be a blonde labrador, the ideal everyman's dog: loyal, noble, unaffected. Walk into Gardena Ramen and you are greeted by an elderly Japanese lady and the wonderful scent of long stewing pork bones. The menu is posted on the wall and there are only three items -- Ramen in two flavors -- miso or shoyu -- and a side order of gyoza. A simple affair. Five minutes after being seated, this is what arrives at your table.

The soup is light and almost clear. The noodles are straight, striking a nice balance between softness and chewiness. All of which amounts to a straightforward, unadulterated bowl of ramen which carries its flavors from bowl to mouth with admirable clarity and precision. Everything is there. No special ingredients, no gimmicks, no imported noodles, no conspicuous symbols of rustic Japanese life. Just an excellent bowl of noodles served hot and quick, by an adorable and doting Japanese grandmother. What more could the asian couple ask for?

Asa Ramen

18202 S Western

Gardena, CA 90248

The problem with this feel-good story of an asian couple and their golden lab is that right across the street from Gardena is Asa, this beast of a ramen house. After much deliberation, we both agree that while Gardena is a perfectly respectable lab with all its papers in order, Asa is a Rhodesian ridgeback. Fearless, bold, unmistakable, powerful, and salty. 

Asa Ramen is an unassuming spot in the unassuming strip mall that includes other establishments like Salty Sports and Golf and a tempura and udon house. The only clue for the non-Japanese that one has arrived at the right ramen place is a welcoming whiteboard sitting outside the frontdoor proclaiming it 'Asa.' Open 6pm to 2am. 

Inside, Asa is tiny. Three or four tables and a truncated bar. The decor is, in contrast to Gardena's anti-design minimalism, a designed minimalism. The menu is divided down the middle, with Japanese on the left, English on the right. Compared to Gardena, Asa presents you with a vertiginous array of choices. Regular and large size bowls. 'Rich' and 'light' shoyu (no miso). And six types of takoyaki (more on that below). After a pretty tense wait, this is what comes out of the kitchen: 

That is what the surface of Jupiter would look like if Jupiter was a bowl of ramen. Marbled chashu that tastes like it has been salted and preserved. A perfect soft-boiled shoyu egg (metaphors fail me here, this egg is just really good and again, soft-boiled perfection), and gorgeous silken ramen noodle that holds up against the searing heat of the soup. And the soup: a cascade of sensation, a wall of sound (er, taste). There is a deep savoriness that works in exact counterpoint to the sharp and insistent saltiness. A layer of floating pork oil covers the whole thing, sealing the entire bowl and keeping its hellish convections currents rolling until your spoon breaks through. 

And so we are torn. While we admire Asa Ramen for its virtuosity, its complexity, its integrity, its serious and uncompromised deliciousness, we are nevertheless delighted by Gardena Ramen, by its naked simplicity, its lack of pretense and ambition, which somehow only amplifies its demure charms. Luckily for us, these two deserving ramen spots occupy different noodle soup niches -- Gardena being the perfect lunch spot for the sober light of day; Asa being the first place to pop into mind at around 1:00 am, when all you need is a strong bowl of ramen to regain equilibrium and get the world back on your side. It's good to have choices.