Ramen Dojo, San Mateo

Garlic pork ramen

At the Ramen Dojo there's always a wait. Because there are good, fairly inexpensive noodle joints elsewhere in the Bay Area (for example, Santouka in San Jose and Maruichi in Mountain View), we hadn't bothered standing in line. Today our curiosity finally prevailed, and we waited half an hour for a counter seat. (Ramen Dojo opens at 5:30, and we arrived at 5:45.)

The delay was worth it. For about ten bucks you get a decent-but-not-huge-size bowl replete with ingredients: quail egg, pork, mushrooms, green onions, garlic, ginger, and lettuce. And, of course, the noodles and soup. RD likes to spice up its fare--"spicy ramen" is how it describes itself on the business card. Caution: even the "non-spicy" version was noticeably peppery.

We'll be back. The Ramen Dojo waiting line is as good a place as any to catch up on our e-mails. © 2013 Stephen Yuen