I had promised myself a return visit to Raki Raki to have the Tsukemen back in November when the weather got a bit warmer…..well, if the record heat we had recently wasn't a sign from some divine being….in short, it was tsukemen time.
But a funny thing happened on the way to my noodles. I believe I'm usually hype free and don't really follow fads. Yep, I'm just your usually fuddy duddy, boring kinda guy. But in a moment of temporary insanity I ordered this:
A ramen burger…….or should I say a "Dream Come True California Ramen Burger" ($9.75)
Even I have those moments it seems….after eating this I mumbled "what was I thinking" to myself as I walked into the psycho parking lot on Convoy. Hopefully not too loud….
The burger is 100% angus beef, over-worked and cooked to death as it's tough as leather. The flavor is nice and beefy. All of the juices from the burger seemed to have collected in the greasy, bland, flaccid, mushy bunch of noodles used as a bun. The fry job on these was lousy as it fell to greasy pieces after two bites. I had imagined something like crispy "cake noodle" like I get back home, this was not very good. The "crisp" rolled pork slice they call "underbelly" was more like hard and the edges burnt and bitter.
The sweet potato fries were light and mildly crisp, with good flavor.
But man, who you gonna sue for this oil spill?
This was like something dreamt up in a college dorm room after a couple hits of the cash crop. For a more mature point of view, perhaps you should read Kirbie's post on the ramen burger.
I sent out texts and photos to my friends, then had a moment of paranoid reflection…….first Yes! Pingo and now a ramen burger…what's going on? What next…a Harley, porn 'stache, and a couple of tats? Maybe this was that male menopause I'd seen my friends go through? Yikes!
I needed to fix this……which I did by returning for the Standard Tsukemen ($8.75).
It was as before, noodles with a nice texture, perhaps a bit over-priced for what you get, and the broth edged on the too salty side.
But most importantly, this seemed like a return to normalcy. At least for now….
RakiRaki Ramen and Tsukemen
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Yikes. I heard bad stuff about the beef which is why I avoided it and got chicken. The chicken patty was decent but I didn’t really like the bun and really wanted a bowl of tsukemen at the end of my meal. On the bright side, at least you didn’t wait in the 5+ hour line during the weekend the ramen burger was in LA.
Increasing the carbs-to-protein-ratio – restaurants way to fool customers into making them feel full without actually really needing to give away substance that costs them money.
My wife’s high school buddy had a shop that sold “rice burgers” about 10 years back. They weren’t greasy, and the texture was nice. But perhaps they were a bit too early on the scene and didn’t last.
I wouldn’t attempt to use noodles as buns. It won’t work and too much effort to keep it grease free and crunchy. It did look yummy until I continued reading.
Too bad the ramen burger was a bust, especially with that dry meat and soggy noodles. Ugh. My daughter totally wants to try this based on looks alone; Bert on the other hand thinks this ramen burger fad is all kinds of wrong.
Hi Kirbie – I’m glad you didn’t get the burger…..I’d say what you heard was pretty accurate.
Hi Rhino – Bottom line…this is a gimmick. It’s also a ramen shop; so a change on any side of the scale will drastically change the ratio.
Hi Jan – I ate yaki gohan quite a bit growing up so that doesn’t sound so far fetched….hmmmm….haven’t done that in like 20 years…..
Hi Billy – I think you can do it; but why?
Hi CC – A good illustration of the generation gap, huh? ;o)