Syracuse, N.Y. — Ramen gets a bad rap as cheap dorm-room food that powers college kids through when trudging to the dining hall seems like a long haul. Those cheap packets sustained many of us but obscured the joy of real ramen.
Give me a steaming bowl of slow-cooked broth, chewy, firm ramen noodles and a jammy egg, and I’m a happy guy, regardless of whether it’s peak summer heat or the depths of winter cold.
It was on my mind during a recent visit to Bleu Monkey Cafe on Marshall Street. Faced with the rote miso soup that every sushi bar offers, I embraced the ramen option. But, there is no specific ramen bowl on the menu. To get to this particular combination, order the Japanese chashu noodle bowl and choose ramen noodles with tonkotsu broth.
These were real deal ramen noodles. They were sturdy and chewy, cooked just so to maintain their body and hold up when pinched with chopsticks. The pork broth was cloudy and milky, with a creamy texture that coated the mouth, or what’s called a paitan. Intensely flavored, it enhanced the chashu and paired with the ramen, and jammy eggs completed the circuit of ramen happiness for me…