Alvarado Ramen

I miss my old ramen shop on the East Coast, and the arrival of this one in downtown Monterey seemed like it would be a great addition to the bustling – and still growing – food scene along Alvarado Street.

Despite the uneven word on the street and the rumor of plastic spoons for hot soup, I wanted to love it. So even as I sat there with my mouth full, I noticed I was trying to convince myself that I should be enjoying it more. But I was disappointed, and it wasn’t about the disposable utensils.

There’s much to recommend the place. The staff are super friendly, the establishment is clean and modern, and a decent crowd of people occupied the small dining room and long bar each time I stopped by. Popular music (including a few Sublime tunes) played in the background, and the atmosphere delivered a promising place to chill out with a warm dish.

The sake selection is impressive, particularly as it’s displayed in the wall-mounted dispenser. The pork belly is excellent. The curry’s very good too. But there was something else I sought.

I started with their signature “Alvarado Ramen” tonkatsu-style with chasu (pork belly) and one of the house specials, Japanese chicken curry (both $13.95). (Two other house specials, also $13.95, consist of tori-karaage gohan, aka fried chicken over rice, and chasu gohan, pork belly over rice.)

The ramen bowl came full with a halved “six-minute” hard-boiled egg, tofu, spinach, menma (bamboo shoots), moyashi (bean sprouts), kikurage(mushrooms), negi (green onions), corn and seaweed. The eggs brought creamy softness to the bowl, as did the sweetly braised pork belly with its tender middle and crisp, caramelized edges. The array of ingredients melded together well and brought interesting aromas and textures, but something seemed to be missing from the broth. Tonkatsu soup base is traditionally pork and chicken bones and whatever veggies are on hand that – like any broth – needs to cook for many, many hours (I do mine for 24-48, depending on the meat). The flavor on Alvarado’s take was muted, vague, lost in translation. Chef Hank Kim, a beloved local presence who also owns Sushi Moto, simmers his for 11 hours, so maybe the issue is a stingy amount of bones and/or too much water.

The Japanese curry brought a surprising amount of tastiness compared to the ramen. Similar to the tori-karaage gohan, the curry’s basics were fried chicken over rice, but with the addition of toppings like chopped apple, carrot, onion, zucchini, potato, mushroom and some furikake, a traditional Japanese seasoning of ground fish and seaweed, it was outstanding. Curry spices abounded, creating a deliciously unique blend of flavors. The chicken was darker than expected and not quite tender enough, but it worked. A spring mix side salad accompanied the curry with a nice light dressing and a few carrots, cucumbers and yellow takuan (pickled daikon radish).

Fast forward a couple weeks and I’m back again, this time on a mission to see if the broth had an off-day the first go-round. Again I tried tonkatsu in the Alvarado Ramen special, and a took shot at their miso ramen, a modest version of the former ($9.95) with egg, negi, corn and seaweed.

No luck. The toppings got the job done again, but no matter my high hopes, the broth was flat. It came medium spicy as requested, but almost watery.

I had more hope for the miso, the same broth base as the tonkatsu but with miso paste added instead of tonkatsu seasonings. It looked like it would at least be creamy, but I realized I was being overly hopeful again, knowing full well that you can’t judge a book by its cover.

My optimism was not rewarded. Thin flavors hardly made it to the surface. The egg was nicely done with a good balance of yolky silkiness, and the other parts attempted to save grace, but it was incomplete. I left most of it there, as did my friend.

To round everything out we had also decided to try to chicken karaage ($6), the Japanese dish of fried chicken served with spicy mayo, unagi (eel) sauce and bonito (fish) flakes. The sauces and flakes mixed into a yummy flavor reminiscent of sushi (the same sauces often top it), but the chicken was tough and the batter tasted less fresh than it could’ve been.

When Alvarado Ramen first debuted in September, the initial opening delivered as much buzz as any new restaurant in memory. People lined up out the door and the shop often sold out, and the feeling in the air resonated with excitement.

Some important tweaks have been made, like the big switch of going from plastic bowls to ceramic ones (though the spoons are still plastic). There are colorful mochi ice-cream macarons from San Jose’s Maven’s Creamery ($4.50), drinks including that sake lineup and Japanese beer, and a collection of starters like seaweed salad ($3.50), beef gyoza ($6) and takoyaki (deep-fried flour balls with diced octopus inside, $7).

Great stuff. Still, when you’re a ramen shop, it’s the ramen that matters most.

ALVARADO RAMEN 487 Alvarado St., Monterey. •11am-2:30pm, 5-9pm. • 643-9556, facebook.com/Alvarado.ramen