the ramen blog & other goodies!

For a limited time (until tomorow), Chibakiya is at Mitsuwa supermarket again, this time at the Costa Mesa location. On the menu this weekend: their famous shinasoba!

The Costa Mesa Mitsuwa gets ridiculously crowded at lunchtime, especially when they have their food fairs. You have to prowl the dining area and be ready to pounce on tables when people leave. Luckily my wife was able to snag a table while I waited for the ramen. According to exile kiss, Chibakiya’s very own Chef Kenji Chiba, straight from Japan, was in the kitchen, preparing his signature ramen! I lurked around the Chibakiya stand, trying to get a picture of Chiba-san. I caught glimpses of Chef Chiba (the gentleman on the left, below), but was only able to get a picture of this gentlemen (in the green shirt on the right), who looked like he was supervising? Read the rest of this entry →

Chibakiya is coming to Costa Mesa with their Shina Soba!
6/4(Thu) – 6/7(Sun) Costa Mesa Store
6/11(Thu) – 6/14(Sun) New Jersey Store
Just in time! I’ve been having cravings for hanjuku eggs recently.

And if you prefer miso ramen and/or live in Torrance:

Ezo Fukuro will be there with their Miso Butter Corn Ramen
6/4(Thu) – 6/7(Sun) Torrance Store

Sorry folks, I’ve been too busy to post much, so I’m just going to refer you to the Mitsuwa web site for more details. Have fun!

It’s not every day that I feel like…or at least pretend to be Jack Bauer. On a recent trip to New York, though, I had such a tight schedule that I constantly heard the “beep-clunk…beep-clunk…” of the advancing “24″ clock.

I had it all planned out. I would arrive in New York at 9:15pm. I only had carry-on luggage so I figured I could get out of the airport by 9:30. I should be able to get to my hotel by 10, check in, drop off my luggage, then go to Ippudo. According to Google Maps, I should be able to take the subway and get there in about 30 mins. Perfect. Ippudo closes at 11pm. Read the rest of this entry →

…to a new web host, that is. This should mean absolutely nothing to you and with any luck you won’t notice any difference except for slightly faster loading times. If you do run into any problems or notice anything wonky, please either leave a comment below or click on the “contact” button above so we can fix it. Thanks!

Apparently, some people are having problems leaving comments. If you’re having any technical difficulties, please feel free to click on the “contact” button on the menu bar above and let us know. Please include as much info as possible, including:

• what you were doing when the problem occurred
• what you expected to happen
• what happened instead
• your operating system (e.g. Windows XP) and browser

As soon as we finish our ramen, we’ll get right on it and try to clean out our interweb tubes.

Can’t wait to have your very own copy of The Ramen King and I? Wouldn’t it be better if it was free? C’mon, everything’s better when it’s free! We’re giving away a free hardcover copy of Andy Raskin’s new book The Ramen King and I! All you have to do is leave a comment below with your story of how ramen has affected your life by Friday May 15. Feel free to leave multiple comments, but only 1 entry will be counted per person. Good luck!

5/16/09 update: We have a winner! Congratulations to zimmon for winning the book! Thanks to everyone for posting and sharing your ramen stories!