I had a serendipitous encounter with a bowl of ramen at Empress Tavern. I felt a wave of nostalgia because it was below the Crest Theater taking me back to my college days at Davis. As I descended down the carpeted stairs leading to the restaurant I was anticipating good food and meeting new work colleagues. After introductions and talking about our holiday plans we perused the menu. It was my first time but I had heard that the burger recently won the Sacramento Burger Battle. I was torn between that or the fried chicken sandwich until Christina asked what was the blue plate special. Prime rib ramen. We broke out in laughter. If you didn’t know I had a ramen blog it wouldn’t be so funny. Seriously this was a sign from the ramen gods I had to try it.
I can be skeptical about ordering ramen when it is a daily special and not from a ramen shop but the beauty of ramen is that you can have the creative license to make it your own. I should know. I make my own version to comfort me on those days that I need it most. Their soft boiled egg won me over. It wasn’t a marinated (ajitsuke tamago) but the ooze factor was on point. It was a hearty bowl of thick noodles with scallions and topped with a mound of thinly sliced prime rib. The flavorful and tender meat was reminiscent of having sukiyaki with a little bit of fat.
A half a bowl later I was pretty full. I took the rest home as an after school snack for ramen boy. I wasn’t sure he would like it since the noodles were already in the broth and to reheat it again would make the noodles soggy. Luckily the thick noodles survived a second heating with some added bone broth.
He liked the thick noodles, the thinly sliced meat and the slivers of pepperoncini. I think the meat is used for the french dip sandwich so the pepperoncini was an accident meant to be as it adds a dimension to an otherwise very simple bowl of noodles. He told me it reminded him of the chuck roast that I make in the slow cooker with a packet of Hidden Ranch dressing, a stick of butter and a bottle of pepperoncinis.
Cilantro was so last year in Tokyo. This is ramen’s new secret ingredient. Shhh.
Empress Tavern
1013 K. Street
Sacramento, CA
(916) 662-7694
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