Underbelly (North Park)

One of the guys I know loves this place and keeps telling me I need to check them out. I've told him that I'd been to the Little Italy location a couple of times and have basically found them to be more style than substance. But on a recent weekend morning I found my self in the area and thought "why not"?

Being right around the corner from Tacos Perla and right next to Modern Times Flavordome I'd passed the place enough times. Same drill as the Little Italy location, order at the counter, grab a seat at the table. I do like the lay-out; though I tend to think of ramen as being something for milder, cooler weather; all this outdoor type seating seems to be taking quite a different tangent. Still, really nice counter folks, the guy who brought me my drink was also great.

I simply went with the "Belly of the Beast". At $12, I think it's a dollar cheaper now……

  The broth was just above lukewarm, not my favorite temperature for ramen broth. I'm sure the "no-spoon" thing has something to do with that…..though I understand that you can get spoons these days…by request. It was lacking in richness, and not much in terms of flavor other than being much more salty than I recalled. No deep umami, or subtle, nuanced saltiness, it was basically very dull. I left most of it.

There were even less noodles than before; pretty much standard issue, but prepped well; but too crumbly, lacking a nice pull.

If there's anything that set Underbelly apart from other ramen shops (other than the no spoons and hipster-ish-ness), it was the proteins. As before, I found the oxtail dumplings to be on the mushy side; but for some reason, it seems like there's a bit of kimchi in them now, which helped the flavor. As before, I could note no hoisin flavor on the short rib and though I liked the fat on the beef brisket, which also had a decent beefiness, the center of the meat was cold.

Now the egg was the best item, as it was decently soft boiled, and the flavor was right in the ballpark. But the yolk was ice cold….which really didn't go too well with a now almost room temperature broth.

All in all, I think Underbelly has taken a few steps backwards. I took a look at the beer list, which was pretty good. So perhaps that's what Underbelly has become. More of a Gastropub that serves ramen? Well, at least I gave this location a try.

Underbelly
3000 Upas St
San Diego, CA 92104