Elk Grove Tofu House

One of my favorite Korean dishes is a soup called soon dubu, which is a tofu-based soup with your choice of meat (usually beef) and various vegetables. It can also get pretty spicy, as a lot of Korean food tends to be, but that's perfect for a notorious fire eater like myself. Needless to say, I was thrilled to learn that there was a tofu house in Elk Grove of all places. Accompanied by my good friend and Elk Grove-native, we set out to try out this new (and seemingly ONLY) Korean restaurant in the growing city.

Inside Elk Grove Tofu House, one can't help but notice that it's a pretty decently sized place. There's a front room with about ten or so tables, and a room in the back with a dozen more. Regardless, the place was pretty empty on a Friday afternoon. Having learned from Gardena Ramen however, this isn't always a metric on which to measure a restaurants quality. Upon being seated, we had our drink order taken and given place mats with the menu printed on them by a warm Korean woman. The menu here isn't the largest or most diverse, but again referencing Gardena Ramen, this also cannot be counted to its detriment. Among the items is a decent sized list of various takes on soon dubu: there's mushroom, kimchi, seafood, vegetable, and assorted. Alongside this is the usual fare of bulgogi (Korean barbecue), ribs and salad. I opted for the kimchi soon dubu with beef, asking for a decent amount of spice, while my companion ordered the spicy chicken bulgogi. After ordering, I awaited my lunch with a salivating mouth and a deep hunger-fire burning in my eyes.

Not too long after, the extremely pleasant waitress came out with the banchan. For those who don't frequent Korean restaurants, banchan is basically an array of assorted dishes (akin to appetizers) that come complimentary with your meal. There are different variations of banchan, but they almost always contain: kimchi, pickled radish, sprouts, stir-fried shredded squid, glass noodles with various vegetables and beef, and pajeon, which is a pancake with green onions. I don't want to dwell on these too long, since banchan at most places is really similar, I will say that they represent a wide variety of textures and flavors. Depending on how finicky you are, there will be things you like and things you don't, but take a chance and try each of the dishes and see what you like. Overall, a great start to the meal.

Shortly after making a dent in the banchan, our main dishes arrived. The chicken was still steaming and sizzling on the grill plate, and the soon dubu was bubbling like a witch's brew; proof that both dishes were fresh and carefully prepared. Carefully dipping my spoon into the fiery red soup, I sipped a spoonful of the broth with tofu in tow. I closed my eyes and entered spicy, soupy nirvana. The broth was just the right amount of spicy without overshadowing the flavor of the rest of its parts, even with the kimchi added in. The soft tofu absorbed the bold flavor and exploded in my mouth when I bit gently into it. I had just two small complaints with this dish: one, the beef wasn't that flavorful and seemed like it may have been just a tiny bit overcooked, but not offensively so. Two, the dish didn't come accompanied with a raw egg. At other Korean restaurants, you are served a raw egg which you break and empty into your soup, allowing the soup's own heat to cook the egg and add even more flavor. Barring those two issues though, this was a great bowl of soon dubu and would definitely come back here for this dish if I was in the area.

Next up is the spicy chicken bulgogi. It doesn't take much to describe this dish: just grilled, marinated chicken with green onions served on a hot plate to keep the dish hot and sizzling when it's served to you. Despite the simplicity, it is damn good and extremely flavorful. The marinade they use for the bulgogi is nothing short of delicious, and mixed with the green onions it just comes together and becomes an orgy of goodness. Even though the bulgogi plates are the most expensive dishes on the menu, the amount of food you get is very generous; I had to help my friend finish his plate! If I wasn't so obsessed with soon dubu, I would definitely get their bulgogi. Perhaps on the inevitable return visit I'll try the barbecue rib or pork bulgogi.

All in all, this is a great addition to Elk Grove's dining repertoire, which consists mostly of chain restaurants. Given that this also appears to be the sole Korean restaurant in the city, I can also safely say that it is the best Korean food in the area, but don't let yourself think it's only winning by default. Swing by Elk Grove Tofu House and reward yourself with a steaming bowl of soon dubu and an ice cold bottle of soju, I heartily recommend it!

Gardena Ramen

Now, I try to keep fanboy gushing to a minimum while writing objective reviews or commentary on the places I eat at; but I have a hard time containing it when I think about Gardena Ramen. As it stands right now, this may be the best ramen I've eaten in California.

I understand the aforementioned claim is a bold one, but let me backpedal and explain myself. Gardena Ramen is a tiny ramen shop on an unassuming street in Torrance (in a shopping plaza, sandwiched between a Chinese restaurant and a donut shop no less), without any frills or kitschy interior design. As you enter, there will be three things you notice, and I shall put them here in list form: 1) The chairs are hysterically ironic, since they are nice wooden chairs with coffee mug designs on them, which would be more at home in a coffee shop...or even the donut shop next door. 2) It is almost always empty. Empty as in you will be lucky to see even one other diner in here sometimes. 3) There is no menu...there are simple pieces of paper on the wall detailing what they serve, which is: shoyu ramen, miso ramen, and gyoza.

After reading the above details, I'm sure that some people will be turned off. But folks, I tell you, this all just adds to the charm and mystique of Gardena Ramen. I actually will invoke a metaphor I read on someone's Yelp review (I know, I know...Yelp). The metaphor was "Gardena Ramen is like the In n Out of ramen." And I have to agree wholeheartedly; they have a tiny menu, but this allows them to totally perfect and focus on just those limited dishes.

Once you sit down, you'll be greeted by a friendly older Japanese woman who is seriously one of the sweetest obasans you will ever meet. She will quickly take your food and drink orders, and quickly scurry (happily still, might I add) to the back to relay the information to the only other employee of the establishment: her husband, the chef. I am still amazed at how nice this woman is, it is just really comforting...which goes hand-in-hand with ramen, which is comfort food!

As soon as the food comes out, you will be amazed. Every single topping included in the ramen is arranged PERFECTLY...I mean, I can imagine the chef sitting there in the back with tweezers, carefully placing each ingredient in a specific spot. I almost didn't want to eat it! I was lucky enough to take a picture, but it doesn't do the ramen enough justice (plus my friend decided to dump all her green onions into my bowl without even discussing it with me first! Gah!).

I took a bite of the chashu first, and dear God was it good. Not too much fat, not overcooked, just the way it should be. Next, I sampled the broth. The shoyu broth here is my favorite part of the ramen, it is just simply satisfying. Most places tend to make their broth too salty or oily, but here it is light without sacrificing the flavor. Speaking of flavor, dipping your ramen spoon in will reward you with a combination of pork, shoyu, and just enough hint of green onion as if to say "Hey! Hey buddy! I may be subtle, but I'm here!"

I think if I had to pick the second best thing about Gardena Ramen, it is definitely the noodles. I can assure you, if you are an avid ramen eater and have not been across the ocean to try ramen, then you probably have not eaten noodles like this. They are firm and cooked so perfectly, and they refuse to get soggy! It seriously is the weirdest thing, these noodles do not get soggy. In addition to the quality of the noodle, you get what appears to be a handful of noodles so large that it would (and did!) make an Italian blush. I was able to clean my bowl, but it was no easy task. My accompanying ramen cohorts weren't so lucky, but seriously, come here hungry!

Now that I've neared the end of the review, there is one other thing I need to address: the price. I'm never one to really factor the price into whether or not I eat somewhere (unless I feel like the place is terrible and charges way too much for the sub-standard food they serve), but the price here cannot be beat. For a bowl of ramen that you have a good chance of not finishing, you pay $6.50. This includes the titan's portion of noodle, hard boiled egg, green onions, and bamboo shoots. There were three of us dining there, and each of us had ordered a bowl of ramen and then split two large bottles of Asahi, and the bill came out to $30.50. Seriously, it's a steal considering how damn good the ramen here is!

If you haven't noticed already, I love this place. The combination of amazing food and genuine warmth and hospitality from the owners just has not been beat by any other ramenya I've visited in California. Please go make the trip to Torrance for Gardena Ramen, I promise you it will be worth it. Don't let this place go out of business!

Updaaaaates

Are you ready? Are you prepared? I don't think you are.

This week I'll be uploading about 5 more updates on restaurants I have in my backlog. Most of them will be about various ramen shops in LA, but I'll sprinkle in a sushi post and top it off with a bbq post.

In addition, I'll finally be adding pictures of the various things I've been and will be eating! Now you can't ridicule me on my subpar descriptions, because you will have visuals of the food taunting you, beckoning you to partake in its sinful deliciousness. Mmm...I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.