- Mike Sula
- Tonkotsu ramen, Strings Ramen Shop
I can’t help but beat my head against the truth that the current wave of ramen slingers who do a million other things besides ramen will never make a bowl as good as the ones I slurped at Ramen Misoya, the Japanese chain that opened last summer in Mount Prospect. It’s a belief I have to smother in the service of objectivity every time I try a new bowl at a place that also happens to make sushi, or whatever filler they use to pad the menu for people who can’t deal with a restaurant that doesn’t have 180 options.
The latter two broths are nearly indistinguishable. They’re both pleasingly sticky with rendered collagen and just a hint of animal funk—the miso ramen perhaps a bit more so—and both offer the chance to upgrade the pork quotient with pieces of grilled Kurobuta chashu. Yet despite that 48-hour bone bath, the broth in each is surprisingly flat, missing depth and body. This is a noble effort, but it’s lacking the character even of Wicker Park’s Oiistar, where the depthless broth is ruined by overseasoning.
Mike Sula
Chazuke duck, Strings Ramen
Mike Sula
Strings Ramen Shop
