{"source_url": "https://www.stlmag.com", "url": "https://www.stlmag.com/dining/dish-of-the-decade-this-one-gets-our-vote/", "title": "What's the dish of the decade? One St. Louis dining critic weighs in", "top_image": "https://www.stlmag.com/downloads/312235/download/20191231_115951.jpg?cb=931794e1b436b3ea7f5d0077a801b542&w=1200", "meta_img": "https://www.stlmag.com/downloads/312235/download/20191231_115951.jpg?cb=931794e1b436b3ea7f5d0077a801b542&w=1200", "images": ["https://www.stlmag.com/downloads/266500/download/linkedin.png", "https://www.stlmag.com/downloads/250774/download/2016-Best-Doctors-Logo_new.jpg", "https://www.stlmag.com/downloads/266502/download/twitter.png", "https://www.stlmag.com/downloads/264693/download/20170726_Nudo_0139.jpg?cb=a0a3fad6b0a1bd440b9733159c175868&w=640", "https://www.stlmag.com/downloads/312235/download/20191231_115951.jpg?cb=931794e1b436b3ea7f5d0077a801b542&w=640", "https://www.stlmag.com/api/design-307935e580019fcf3e1694deb356c23a/STL_LOGO_SOLID_RED.svg", "https://www.stlmag.com/downloads/266503/download/youtube_slm.png", "https://www.stlmag.com/downloads/266501/download/pinterest.png", "https://www.stlmag.com/downloads/312234/download/Screenshot%202019-12-31%2010.30.30.png?cb=b4f7d27ade46aa86bacb2ceebdb4b965&w=600", "https://www.stlmag.com/downloads/312235/download/20191231_115951.jpg?cb=931794e1b436b3ea7f5d0077a801b542&w=1200", "https://www.stlmag.com/downloads/266499/download/instagram.png", "https://www.stlmag.com/downloads/266498/download/facebook.png", "https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=171486380191372&ev=PageView&noscript=1", "https://www.stlmag.com/api/design/STL_LOGO_SOLID_WHITE.svg"], "movies": [], "text": "\u00d7 Expand Courtesy Midtown At Midtown Sushi & Ramen, from left: Spicy Midtown, New Miso Butter, Seafood Nagasaki Champon ramen\n\nCupcakes and comfort food. Cake pops, feta-and-watermelon salad, and the cult of locavore. Yes, it\u2019s been 10 years since the first decade of the 21st century went into its final innings, 10 years since those were the shiny objects of our culinary attention.\n\nTen more years have gone by\u2014we\u2019ve called it another decennium\u2014and we\u2019re now wondering: What's the one dish that defines this past decade?\n\nSure, your first response might be, \u201cWell, of course, it\u2019s Taco Bell\u2019s chalupa.\u201d Damned right. But let\u2019s face it: Not everyone\u2019s living la vida Bell, and they just don\u2019t get it.\n\nAnd we\u2019re thinking in terms of a dish that doesn\u2019t just appeal to, you know, gourmets like us but that represents a food trend that's fundamentally captured the enthusiasm of the whole country. A dish like ramen.\n\nGo back to 2010, and you\u2019d find a dining landscape where ramen was, at best, a salt-saturated Stuckey's along the main highways of gastronomy, a brief stop made mostly by dorm-bound college kid and others looking for a quick, filling, and almost ridiculously cheap meal. Those crinkly bricks of noodles steeped in broth supplied by the packet were, to many, what hardtack was to Civil War soldiers. Nobody thought of it as a holiday feast, but it did the job.\n\nComparing these 20-for-a-buck packages of Maru-chan ramen to the real thing is, of course, like comparing a can of Chef-Boyardee Beefaroni to Misi\u2019s strangozzi with pork sugo. But you get the point.\n\nIn Japan, wheat noodles were slipped and slurped into the country through Yokohama Chinatown in the early 20th century. The Japanese took the noodles and ran with the concept, adding broths and toppings and more regional varieties than Ben and Jerry have flavors. Ramen\u2019s popularity popped in the years following World War II. Rice was scarce. Wheat flour, imported by the United States, was plentiful and made for great noodles. In the mid-'50s, instant ramen exploded, and the food that launched a thousand all-night study sessions per year eventually became part of the American food scene.\n\nIt wasn\u2019t until this past decade, however, that ramen as a serious dish really started cooking. Almost overnight, ramen became a matter of connoisseurship in the United States. On both coasts, Japanese and American chefs introduced some of the classics: Sapporo ramen, from way up in northern Japan, rich with miso; Nagoya\u2019s spicy ground pork ramen; Hakata ramen and its ruinously opulent, milky tonkotsu broth. Some were authentic representations. Others? Well, at least we didn\u2019t have any small-plate, foraged ramen bowls or that featured the Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s foam treatment.\n\nAs expected, those who had slurped ramen in its homeland were dismissive of the attempts and innovations worked in the United States and abroad. What was not expected was that non-Japanese chefs in America\u2019s ramen parlors persisted during the past decade. Some took the route to Japan to apprentice there. Others forged a different path, working to both incorporate their ramen into the mainstream of American cuisine and simultaneously to gently lead Americans to a more traditional version of the dish.\n\nWhat\u2019s unique about ramen is that its roots in Japan are so relatively recent that \u201ctraditional\u201d isn\u2019t really applicable in the sense that we often use that word when talking about food. Yes, there are specific regional versions. The truth is, ramen places in Tokyo and everywhere else in Japan have long been playing around, experimenting, pushing boundaries. There are ramen restaurants in Japan serving up kiwi berries in noodle bowls or topped with pizza ingredients, including mozzarella. Many American ramen chefs are taking the same approach.\n\nRamen became popular in the past decade in this country, evolving from that simple college dorm repast into something that's the subject of almost obsessive dedication for its enthusiasts. Yes, we sometimes crave the \u201creal thing,\" which means the atmosphere of a ramen-ya, as well as the tastes and textures. (When we do, we go to Samurai Noodles, in Seattle\u2019s International District, a place smaller than your doctor\u2019s exam room, with tree stumps for seats and windows perpetually steamed with the cooking of the broth. Yes, it is worth the trip.)\n\nCourtesy Ramen Tei At Ramen Tei, white miso broth, tofu, black garlic oil, king oyster mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, bamboo shoots, seaweed, ajitama egg, scallion\n\nWe also appreciate the innovations of such St. Louis restaurants as the superb Nudo House, Nami Ramen, Robata, Ramen Tei, and Midtown Sushi & Ramen. None of them look like a Japanese ramen shop. They don\u2019t have the same fragrances, the same sounds. Somehow, though, they\u2019ve made the transition of turning what was a purely Japanese dish into an international one.\n\nRamen in the West has managed to retain some of its original character and, at the same time, become a unique expression, a reflection of its adopted home.\n\nNot bad for a bowl of noodles.", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": ["Dave Lowry"], "tags": [], "authors": ["Dave Lowry"], "publish_date": "Tue Dec 31 12:20:34 2019", "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "It's not barbecue. Or the smashburger. Or fried chicken.", "meta_lang": "en", "meta_favicon": "https://www.stlmag.com/api/design-307935e580019fcf3e1694deb356c23a/SLM.png", "meta_data": {"generator": "Metro Publisher (www.metropublisher.com)", "viewport": "width=device-width, initial-scale=1", "description": "It's not barbecue. Or the smashburger. Or fried chicken.", "keywords": "Dave Lowry", "thumbnail": "https://www.stlmag.com/downloads/312235/download/20191231_115951.jpg?cb=931794e1b436b3ea7f5d0077a801b542&w=1200", "og": {"url": "https://www.stlmag.com/api/content/da062a3c-2be7-11ea-b5a0-1244d5f7c7c6/", "image": {"identifier": "https://www.stlmag.com/downloads/264693/download/20170726_Nudo_0139.jpg?cb=a0a3fad6b0a1bd440b9733159c175868&w=1200", "width": 650, "height": 433}, "type": "article", "description": "It's not barbecue. Or the smashburger. Or fried chicken.", "title": "What's the dish of the decade? One St. Louis dining critic weighs in", "locale": "en_US"}, "fb": {"app_id": 141280292734209}, "twitter": {"card": "summary", "site": "@stlmag", "creator": "@stlmag", "image": "https://www.stlmag.com/downloads/312235/download/20191231_115951.jpg?cb=931794e1b436b3ea7f5d0077a801b542&w=1200"}, "author": "Dave Lowry", "article": {"published_time": "2019-12-31T12:20:34.025494", "author": "https://www.stlmag.com/topics/dave-lowry/", "publisher": "https://www.facebook.com/stlmag"}, "google-site-verification": "HMlDdTSDKWBkTh8_A_ZMsHwRTWIJxRkHFNt0H6EERfo", "theme-color": "#212121"}, "canonical_link": "https://www.stlmag.com/dining/dish-of-the-decade-this-one-gets-our-vote/"}