The Road to Ramen Expertise

I have a bad habit of wanting to try new places so much that I almost never repeat restaurants. Although this keeps my eating interesting, it still is kind of silly to not go to back to the ones that are awesome. However! There are a few exceptions. Some foods are so amazing that I want to become an  ultimate expert so I can always end up at the best venues. So far I've mastered froyo & cupcakes, and now I officially am taking on the ramen challenge! I don't think there are THAT many places that serve it, so it seems like a manageable task. Plus, Carlos is also a big fan, so it's a good project for us to take on contigo (yes, i know i'm using that word incorrectly).

Yesterday, we decided to start crossing off some of the places on the Yelp Silicon Valley "ramen list" and hit up Dohatsuten in very south Palo Alto. This place is down in almost Mt. View on San Antonio between 101 and el Camino. It is a very small little shop and looks pretty legit from the outside. We got there about 45 minutes before they were closing for the afternoon, and I was amazed that every table but one was completely filled. There were only two other white people in the place, so I was at first quite excited about the authenticity.

ramen focused menu

The menu was totally ramen focused with an entire sheet dedicated to picking the broth, type, and add-ons to your soup. The back had a few appetizers, but you can tell people come for the ramen. So far so good. We both ordered their "Dohatsuten" special. I added an egg to mine (<3 egg), and Carlos got the "Hyper" version. Points for using the adjective hyper in food context :).

dohatsuten special

Normally I am ok with crowds and noise levels, but I was kind of surprised about how loud the place was for a Sunday afternoon. There were a lot of families and screaming babies. It didn't necessarily bother me, but it definitely didn't add to the positive ambiance.

hyper dohatsuten special

I was starving and super excited when the food finally came; it looked very authentic and delicious. Unfortunately, the taste wasn't as good as the appearance :(. It wasn't bad by any means, but it was not outstanding. Granted we are both sick at the moment (completely coincidentally :P) and not on our tasting A-game, but we just weren't impressed by flavors. The noodles themselves really reminded me of Top Ramen for some reason. They were kind of bland. The broth was tasty, but not as spicy as I would have liked or strong enough to really flavor the ingredients. The "hyper" version didn't seem that much fancier, it just added some more meat, the egg, corn (so jealous), and some green onion things. 

Maybe it would have been better if we had paid extra money for different types of broth (lame! I think broth options should be free), but their "specialty" dish was not really worth the adventure. I'd vote any of the San Mateo shops over this.

Rick's Rather Rich

I like the name of this ice cream shop so much that I don't even want to come up with a wittier title for my post :)

Cookies & Dough and Mango in Waffle Cone

Rick's "Rather Rich" Ice Cream is a cute small shop in a weird southern cusp of Palo Alto. It is in a strip mall and has nowhere to sit, but it has delicious fare. They have about 20 flavors of homeade ice creams (as guessed, pretty intense) and some sorbets/yogurts. I've been there several times and never been dissapointed. I love their waffle cones! I'm a huge waffle cone fan, and theirs are very fresh and flavorful. They even have a great selection dipped in chocolate with sprinkles and nuts.

The ice cream is really delicious too. I ALWAYS have to get a scoop of the "cookies and dough" because seriously, it's a combo of cookies & cream and cookie dough... it's hard to get much better than that. I've also tried some of their fruity flavors. My favorite would be the mango sorbet. All of their products are super fresh and simple, but in an awesome way. You can tell it's not processed :D

They also have a selection of homemade fudges, but I've been too lazy to try them yet. Big recommend!

Dinners with Dad

Although my dad and I share the same love for eating, I swear we have opposite tastes. He's all about the generic "fancy" restaraunt, so on our last biweekly meal, we ended up at Cafe Pro Bono in Palo Alto.

This is a small place in the southern end of town. I was sooo stressed that night, so it was great to get away for dinner before returning to work until midnight :(. The meal itself wasn't too noteworthy, but I did have a nice piece of breaded halibut. My only complaint was that the place didn't serve any salads with the main courses. I think it should be included if you spend a fair amount on a nice dish. I did enjoy the side of their version of rice-a-roni :) can't live here without the san francisco treat!!

Presentation was good. Probably worth checking out if you are in to that stuff