Ramen in Decatur: Taiyo

Taiyo is located in the Courtyard Decatur Hotel, just up from the square on Clairemont. (Yes, I know it's Clairmont further north where you're thinking of it, but inside the Decatur city limits it's Clairemont.)

We both had exhausting Mondays for our own individual reasons, so decided to treat ourselves to noodles. Serendipity! As we were
being seated, our excellent waiter, Hannah, let us know Taiyo is running a fall special. Ramen is 2 for 1 on Mondays! It seems to be working for them; we got there early and it took a minute to get seated; within a few minutes the place was full except for one or two stools at the bar.

I ordered the "Tonkotsu" and Margaret decided on the "Shoyu." We had an order of fried sweet potato dumplings to start. Think "pumpkin pie wonton" and you've nailed it. They were served on a bed of creamed tofu that somehow tasted like cream cheese. A bit sweet and rich, not a propitious beginning: too much like corporate hotel food. Still, tasty and well-executed. 

Then the noodles came. WOW. In both cases, the broth was the star of the show. The tonkotsu broth was like a liquid version of the best roast pork you've ever tasted. When I was a child of 10 or so, one of my first stirrings of awareness of the aesthetics of food and eating came as I watched my mother sear the outside of a pork shoulder at the beginning of making a roast. The roaring sizzle and acrid smoke alarmed me, but when she turned the meat to let another side sear, she had me smell and taste the newly browned surface. That's my earliest memory of caramelization. This broth has a wonderful note of it, and a silky texture, as well as a great full richness which doesn't begin to cloy even as you reach the bottom of the bowl. In my memory now I keep thinking of excellent gravy, but at the time "gravy" never crossed my mind. This broth is itself, and when you're slurping it down, all you're thinking of is the broth.

The shoyu broth is thinner and clearer, amazingly rich and complex for a vegetable broth. Plenty of ginger and soy and garlic, but all cooked beautifully, nothing tasting raw or dominating. Along with the noodles came local summer squash and some fantastic collard stems that must have been briefly blanched, then stir-fried with lots of garlic. Delicious! Also some very good mushrooms, I think shiitake. 

The tonkotsu had fewer non-noodle ingredients: several generous slices of tender roast pork and some bamboo shoots. I was relieved to get a perfect poached egg instead of the soy-marinated soft-boiled job Margaret got in the shoyu. The pork was sliced thin and was tender and mild, yet still was very distinctly roast pork.

Having had ramen at several other places since our experience at Brush, I now feel confident to say their noodles were slightly undercooked the night we were there. Here at Taiyo, while they may not have been perfect, they struck a good balance between chewy and tender. 

Taiyo's ramen bowls are slightly less expensive than Brush's. With our hors d'oeuvre and 2 sakes (instead of the 1 we split at Brush) our bill came to $40 before tip - - - of course that reflects the 2-for-1 ramen.

As we thought over the meal, Margaret's impression was that THIS is comfort food, while ramen at Brush is art. The Brush bowls continually called attention to their own virtuoso performances; Taiyo seems to concentrate on making the comfort-food aspects of ramen as comforting as possible. Margaret found the decor at Taiyo cold and lacking, which works against the comfort. Brush, oddly enough, has a more welcoming atmosphere.

Next up: KBBQ. I actually had ramyun there last week, but I had a cold and was using their spicy broth as a sinus aid. It worked, but I was in no condition to appreciate the taste. So I'll have to go back.