As per usual, we were in search of good ramen in New York. Why is this such a difficult proposition? LA is brimming with solid ramen shops, some of my favorites being Tsujita / Tsujita Annex and Santouka. The only ramen that I genuinely enjoyed in New York was Ippudo (after trying the likes of Totto Ramen, Benkei Ramen, and Momofuku Noodle Bar, among many others), and I wasn’t patient enough to wait 2 hours for Ippudo every time I wanted ramen. This was why we decided to make the trek out to Brooklyn to try Chuko Ramen, which had received complimentary reviews from food critics and Yelpers.

We took the subway to Bergen St. and walked for about 10 minutes to Chuko Ramen, dodging multiple postings of ACLU activists imploring us to sign petitions, all the while being eyed by local Brooklynites sitting on their stoops with seemingly nothing to do in the world. Just when I was convinced that we were headed in the wrong direction, Chuko Ramen appeared at the end of the block.

The atmosphere inside was decidedly non-traditional, as I couldn’t spot a Japanese server in sight and the decor was sparse and modern. None of this mattered to me, though. I was there to satisfy my ramen needs. So did Chuko Ramen deliver?

Sadly, I was quite disappointed. The appetizers were delicious, but the ramen itself was worse than mediocre. I’ll go into more detail below:

Spicy pickles. Korean chili, sesame. The spicy pickles made for an excellent prelude to our noodles.

Kale salad. Crispy sweet potato, raisins, miso. This salad was a pleasant surprise. I didn’t want to order it, but I’m glad that we did. Everything about this salad came together perfectly: the lemony vinaigrette gave the fresh kale exceptional flavor, and the crispy sweet potato and raisins added texture and variety.

Pork bone ramen. This ramen didn’t cut it for me. The broth was bland, and the pork was unmemorable. The noodles, however, were memorable for their disagreeable chewiness: they tasted severely undercooked and floury. I struggled to finish most of this ramen.

Miso ramen. This was my boyfriend’s order, but judging from his comments, he wasn’t a happy camper either.

Overall, Chuko Ramen was a letdown because we had reasonably high expectations going into the meal but were disheartened by the less-than-stellar ramen we were served. In fact, the ramen was so dissatisfying that I could specifically point to the reasons why it was so bad (the chewy noodles, the uninspired broth), whereas at most mediocre ramen joints I just shrug and say, “It didn’t wow me”.

Chuko Ramen, 552 Vanderbilt Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11238