What does the future have in store for California ramen?
Would you rather order a bowl of Miso Ramen, or a bowl of Sonoma County Organic Miso with a Medley of Organic Seasonal Dirty Girl Farms Vegetables and a Free Range Trish Elliot Ranch Egg . . . Ramen.
What's your take on ingredient worship? What if that obsessive attention to detail results in this:
What if these ingredients, sourced daily from local farms, results in a $20 bowl of ramen?
I like where this is going. I like where food culture in San Francisco is right now. Street food pop-ups are tweeting their next move by the dozens. Everyone is thinking locally. Chefs are trying new things, fun things, that are actually accessible to normal people. Artisan coffees and craft beers have replaced Folgers and Bud Light. Go ahead and make some Portlandia reference, or refer me to some poll about how much the West Coast is despised, I'm down with it.
And are these guys seriously going to distill some 昆布 gin?
4 comments:
I guess I'm down with "ingredient worship", as you put it. Many establishments in Santa Cruz(my daughter is an under grad there)make a point of telling us where the ingredients came from(those Dirty Girls get around). You're seeing it more often in LA now. I think it's good to know where what you are eating cam from, but maybe not essential. I felt a little foolish last year in a small restaurant in HI last year. I asked the chef/owner where he sourced his delicious, nutty brown rice that he served cold with his gado-gado. I was expecting some boutique grower in some magical place. "It's from California, I think. I dunno, I just get it at Costco."
I live in SF and love knowing about the ingredients, it seems to reflect a level of care and attention by the restaurant. Am sure it could swing too far if consumers just fixate in a particular brand, sort of like what happened with Nieman Ranch beef...
Where can I get a bowl of the Sonoma County Organic Miso with a Medley of Organic Seasonal Dirty Girl Farms Vegetables and a Free Range Trish Elliot Ranch Egg Ramen? I would order one.
Did you try anywhere else in SF?
Many of the best shops in Japan have specialty ingredients, but they tend to keep them a secret.
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