Your Pie, My Mouth: Ouan Ramen & Izakaya - Hillcrest - San Diego

http://www.izakayaouansd.com/home

Touted as one the of the best "legit" ramen spots in San Diego, Ouan Ramen & Iazkaya is located in the heart of Hillcrest and is helmed by two Japanese dudes, offering a wide selection of Sake, beer, ramen, and other Japanese delights.

Well, we'll just have to see about this

If you know me then you know that I'm instantly skeptical of claims such as "best" or "legit". I think that this is due mainly to my naturally negative nature...., but it also could be a function of the many douche'd out restaurants currently on the San Diego scene, run by people that want to be in the restaurant business rather than those who have a passion for food and want to share it with the world.

I'm happy to say that my fears were instantly way-laid as I approached the kitchen and was warmly greeted by this dude.

A Ramen Samurai in hipster mode

I feel that this place is going to crush it, in a good way.

Another good sign is the authentic, legit, traditional ramen baskets hanging in and around the kitchen.

Japanese adornments abound

OK, enough fluff, let's eat!

Fried ray (sting variety)

Nice fish flavor (not off-putting at all), decent texture (not tough or chewy). I'd order this again for sure. The sauce was light and tangy and I wanted more. A vessel full in which to dip possibly.

KIMCHI!!!!!!

I Love it and I love'd it. It had a great crunch to it and a strong sour/spicy smell and taste.

Delicious

Gyoza (pot stickers). There was a fried and a steamed version, and for everyone at the table we had a resounding thought that it should have been BOTH. You steam them and fry the bottoms at the same time. But what do we know?!?!? Apparently not much. We also don't do a great job of taking photos of all the food we eat, hence no photo of the steamed version (my bad, as always), which was the best by the by, the steamed that is. It contained TONS of flavor of which the fried had almost none. One more note on the fried is that they were deep fried, which seemed not so great, and not much cooking technique either.

Drop and plate = not great.

One of the big hits was this seaweed salad. Multiple types of seaweed and crunchy fried sweet potato slices garnished on top. Great crunch (the seaweed and chips) and a deliciously light dressing. Super terrific. I'd order this again no matter what else I was having, or even if I just pop in for a sake or two. A must have.

And then this happened.....

Who drinks a can of beer the size of a pitcher?!?!?!?

A limited mental capacity was my initial diagnosis.

Or upon further review, maybe it was HIGHER intelligence as the can was 1/4 the price of the pitcher...and it contained as much beer.

Who's the idiot now?! Wait, what?

Moving on, let's drink

Our ramen order is in, the noodles are ready to drop.

BOOM!

HG has added mushrooms to hers. Looks yummy. Smells great.

Here's mine. Red Ramen and I've added more pork.

The broth was good. Not amaze-balls but good. I would've liked to have had a floating layer of pork fat on top, but I get that were not in Japan, where you'd leave a ramen shop with glazed lips that glisten for an hour.. The spice level was perfect. Just enough to know that it's there but not a gut buster (like the last bowl I had in Tokyo).

Kikanbo Spicy Ramen, Kanda Tokyo Japan

The noodles were larger than I'm normally used to but they were cooked perfectly, the texture was just about al dente. The big difference was the egg. It was fully cooked on the inside and slightly under done on the outside (the white). This created much confusion in my mind. How can the center be more cooked than the outside? Isn't the outside closer to the heat? WTF is going on here?!?!?!

Anyway, My assessment?

It was really good ramen. Best in San Diego? I'll not go that far. It was good but my favorite, and most opinion of the most authentic Japanese, is still Tajima in Kearny Mesa

(I've heard that the Hillcrest location is not quite up to the KM standard....)