dresese

More ramen

Wow. Yet another Ramen place has opened up this past week! This one is called Himawari. I noticed it today, and talked with a Japanese guy who was waiting on his friends to go eat there. He told me he already ate here a few days ago, and he thought it was the best Ramen in the Bay Area. I asked him if it was better than Santa, and he said yes - he doesn't particularly like Santa's soy sauce flavor, but Himawari has a good version of that. I agree, of Santa's three flavors they offer, I always thought soy 1000 sauce was the weakest. I can't wait to try Himawari! I'll report back as soon as I do. I don't have much time left here, so expect it soon.

Oidon

A new Ramen shop opened up in San Mateo recently, bringing the total to three Ramen shops in downtown San Mateo. This one is called Oidon and is located next to Suruki Market (a wonderful Japanese market) on 4th Ave. It is on the second floor, which is a relative rarity for San Mateo restaurants.

I had the Tonkatsu Ramen for around $6. I found the portion size smaller than the other two Ramen places. The broth was clear and lighter tasting than in Santa Ramen. It was slightly oily, though. And the pork was a bit too salty. Other than that, it was a nice noodle soup.

Best of San Mateo restaurants

So, now that I'm leaving my home in San Mateo, I thought I'd share a list of my favorite San Mateo restaurants. No one I know that reads this blog lives in San Mateo, but this is good search engine fodder. I'm sure it will be of use to someone.

• Little Sichuan - in downtown San Mateo. The Sichuan-style food here is incredible. Not only spicy, but also so tasty it's hard to stop eating it. The dishes I like to get are Family Style Noodles (Song Sao Mian), Dumplings in Hot Oil (Zhong Shui Zhao), Scallion Lamb, and a spicy tripe (Ma La Niu Du). There are a ton of other good dishes, ranging from the well-executed familiar (Ma Po Tofu) to the more exotic (powdered steamed beef). One piece of advice - stick mainly to the back of the menu where the traditional Sichuan items are, those are the best items. The more un-Sichuan the menu item is, the worse it will be.
• Happy Cafe - a tiny little Shanghai restaurant. This is famous throughout the bay area for it's Dragon Dumplings (Xiao Long Bao). I've eaten at many very good Shanghainese restaurants, but this one has the best dumplings. It's even as good as I got in Hong Kong. Besides the dumplings are a small assortment of other items such as Wonton Soup, Chicken with House Dressing, Radish Cakes, Shanghai Noodles. Generally, these are pretty good. But get enough Dragon Dumplings.
• Santa Ramen - A very popular Ramen joint hidden away slightly south of downtown. The broth can be slightly salty, but it is very tasty. I've had other Ramen in the Bay Area, and this really is much better than any of them. Get here early, and plan to wait as much as an hour.
• Sinbad's - Excellent middle eastern deli. You can get a great Shwarma, some excellent Zaatar Pie, and their daily specials are wonderful. The specials often include eggplant with ground beef, or Persian-style zucchini stuffed with rice and spices.
• Amici's - Billed as East-Coast Style Pizza. While it's not exactly similar to the pizza I had in New York, it's very good. Good thin crust pizza is all about the crust, and this is one is perfect - thin, crusty, chewy, and flexible. On the negative side, it's quite expensive. A large feeds 2 people and costs over $20! It doesn't sell pizza by the slice. This place is all over the Bay Area now.
• Pizza My Heart - Another place that's all over the Bay Area, or at least it's also in downtown Los Gatos. It does have pizza by the slice, and the slices range from $2.25 to $3.00. I wasn't incredibly impressed at first, but I then started getting just the cheese slice, which is really wonderful. This actually tastes more like the pizza I had in New York.
There's much more. I haven't really even gotten into the nicer (more expensive) places. But these are the places I'd go to the most.
Posted by ahyatt at 01:59 PM | Comments (3)