US has \'ramen moment\' as chefs, foodies embrace Japan\'s beloved ...

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Shortly after Chang's debut, Ramen Setagaya, another popularJapanese ramen chain, opened here, winning New York magazine's"best ramen" award this year.
The essence of ramen is a rich broth, often made from pork bones,and thin, slightly chewy noodles, garnished with such toppings assliced pork, hard-boiled eggs, seaweed, scallions, fish cake,mushrooms, even corn kernels.
The dish originated in China; the very name comes from the Chinesewords for hand-pulled wheat flour noodles.
"Like most things, the Japanese imported the idea from anotherculture and have taken it to the extreme," says Chang, who is knownfor insisting on only the finest ingredients for his soups,including specially bred Berkshire pork.
But for years, most Americans settled for much less — instantramen still can be had for as little as six packs for $1.
Last year, 738 million pounds of ramen (or 4 billion individualpackets) were devoured in the United States, a 4 percent increaseover 2006, according to Nissin Food Products Co. of Japan.
And worldwide, the demand for instant noodles is huge —Nissin sales of more than $3.2 billion annually. China consumes themost, followed by Indonesia and Japan, according to the WorldInstant Noodles Association.
But it's the ramen restaurants, or ramenya, that are most reveredin Japan. It boasts 80,000 of them. There's also a famous ramenmuseum near Tokyo, as well as a Japanese television program whereramen chiefs compete — Ippudo's founder, Shigemi Kawahara,has won it three times.
Americans may have gotten their first inkling of Japan's obsessionwith ramen in 1987, when the Japanese film "Tampopo" was releasedin the U.S. and became a cult hit. The so-called noodle Westerntells the story of a truck driver who rides into town and helps ayoung widowed noodle shop owner perfect the art of making a bowl oframen.
Ken Sasahara, president of Nissin Foods (USA) Co., which opened itsfirst factory in California in the early 1970s, credits instantnoodles with helping spark the wave of ramen bars that have sprungup across the country. The arrival of Ippudo has raised the stakes,he says, and could trigger intense ramen battles similar to onesfound in Tokyo.
Rickmond Wong, a Web designer and self-proclaimed ramen expert whowrites about his favorite topic on at rameniac.com, has closelymonitored the gradual emergence of high-quality, authentic ramenshops in the Los Angeles area.
He believes it's tied to the growing economic clout of Asiannations and American enthusiasm for all things Japanese, includinganimation, video games, cartoons and food.
"These days people are interested (in Japanese pop culture) in amuch more sophisticated manner than in the past, when aspects of aforeign culture were typically exoticized and viewed through apost-colonialist lens — 'Oh, look at what strange thingsthese people eat,'" he says. "It's high time for ramen to take itsplace in the pantheon of a multicultural American diet."
Wong, who eats about 200 bowls of ramen a year and has samplednoodles at many of the dozens of ramen restaurants in Los Angeles,complains that "the bulk of them" are "fairly mediocre." But hedoes have his favorites: Santouka, a branch of a Japanese chain, aswell as two independent shops, Asa Ramen and Gardena Ramen.
In New York, ramen lovers compare notes on places likeMenchanko-Tei, Menkui-Tei, Rai Rai Ken, Ramen Setagaya andMomofuku, many of them clustered in the East Village but somelocated in prime midtown locations.
While the pricier joints may charge as much as $16 for a bowl oframen, it's also possible to slurp a bowl, shoulder to shoulderwith a mostly Japanese clientele, for well under $10.