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Largest ramen festival in the US coming to San Jose Convention Center in October

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X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Coverage from Eater SF:

http://sf.eater.com/archives/2014/09/15/the_directfromjapan_ramen_fest_is_coming_to_san_jose.php

Ramen Yokocho Festival, the insanely popular gathering of direct-from-Japan ramen makers that spawned two-hour lines at Japantown's J-Pop Festival in July, is returning to the Bay Area—and this time, it's coming to San Jose. Held over two weekends (October 3-5 and 10-12), the event will have a larger and totally different coterie of Japanese ramen shops from the J-Pop Festival's, including Kohmen, a leading Tokyo shop that specializes in tonkotsu and chicken ramen; Hide-Chan and Tatsunoya, two of the most famous tonkotsu ramen shops in Hakata, where the dish originates; and Chanpon-Tei, which is known for its unique seafood broth. Some American spots will also be on the schedule, including Tsujita, generally considered to be one of L.A.'s finest spots for a bowl of ramen.

To accommodate what are sure to be blockbuster crowds, the event will be held at the San Jose Convention Center. Admission is a reasonable $5/person (kids 12 and under free), and bowls of ramen will go for $8 a pop; you can also buy a $60 VIP pass that includes two bowls of ramen, a souvenir, and access to express lanes for slurping. And if that wasn't enough of an enticement, the inventor of the ramenburger, Brooklyn-based Keizo Shimamoto, will be on hand to debut a new invention: burger ramen, a soupless, burger-centric noodle dish.
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http://www.ramenyokochous.com/#!san-jose-ramen-yokocho/cm2l

6BG9nJQ.jpg


I guess the last ramen festival that was in SF Japantown was so crowded they opted for convention center space this time around.
 
gimmmick

gimmmick

Member
Monta is the best Ramen joint in Las Vegas, always hard to get a seat and the wait is always at least 15 - 30 mins to get a table / seat.
 
X

xxracerxx

Don't worry, I'll vouch for them.
Fuck...now I want ramen.

gimmmick said:
Monta is the best Ramen joint in Las Vegas, always hard to get a seat and the wait is always at least 15 - 30 mins to get a table / seat.
Click to expand...

Waiting 15 to 30 minutes does not sound that hard to get a seat.
 
J

Jake.

Member
i find ramen to be really overrated (and i've eaten across japan) - am i crazy? its probably because i don't like pork very much, but i'd much rather some decent soba or something.

edit: actually, that clam one looks good.
 
R

RuGalz

Member
went to the one in SF, waited 1 hour for a bowl of over priced ramen... and I was there from the beginning too. hopefully this one in SJ will be more organized.
 
G

Gentleman Jack

Member
Uchigatana said:
WTF?! Finally something cool happens in my city. I hope the food is great

=D
Click to expand...

If this is anything like the ramen fest they had in los angeles (and I see a lot of the same noodle shops represented) then the best way to experience it is to go with a medium sized group of people and split up into each line that everyone wants to try, buying enough for everyone before returning to your meeting spot and chowing down family style. Otherwise you're going to spend 6 hours waiting in lines and 30 minutes eating.
 
U

Uchigatana

Member
Gentleman Jack said:
If this is anything like the ramen fest they had in los angeles (and I see a lot of the same noodle shops represented) then the best way to experience it is to go with a medium sized group of people and split up into each line that everyone wants to try, buying enough for everyone before returning to your meeting spot and chowing down family style. Otherwise you're going to spend 6 hours waiting in lines and 30 minutes eating.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a great idea. I should do that.
 
R

RoyaleDuke

Banned
I wish I was rich and I could go to this...

It sounds like a dream come true! :(

I hate being broke, and 2000 miles away from the greatest thing ever.
 
X

Xelinis

Junior Member
Considering how the San Francisco Ramen Festival went a couple of months ago, I'm not too optimistic, but we'll see.
 
N

Nelo Ice

Banned
Hopefully they learnt their lesson from last time. Of course I will be said either way since I'm currently across the country and won't be able to attend regardless :(.
 
G

guek

Banned
gimmmick said:
Monta is the best Ramen joint in Las Vegas, always hard to get a seat and the wait is always at least 15 - 30 mins to get a table / seat.
Click to expand...

DAMN STRAIGHT, my fellow Las Vegas resident

Had the displeasure of going to Ramen Sora last week. Wont be going back.
 
O

olympia

Member
When they had the SF one, it was such a shit show. Pretty much impossible to get a bowl unless you want to wait in line for 6 hours. No thanks. Maybe I'll check this one out since I live in West SJ, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be crowded as fuck.
 
D

dakkumauji

Member
I imagine that 5 dollar admission charge will probably lower the amount of people going compared to the one in Japantown since that was free (and also during the JPop Festival).

Tempted but it is basically 13 dollars for a bowl of not very much ramen, hmmmmm
 
M

midramble

Pizza, Bourbon, and Thanos
This thread is making me drool... I'm going to go make some miso ramen now to curb the hunger.

Btw, anyone know where to get cheap dashi in the bay area for ramen base? Most of what I've been finding isn't that cheap. Good cheap miso paste... just not cheap dashi...
 
H

hipbabboom

Huh? What did I say? Did I screw up again? :(
Living in socal, I really want to go to this but for three days of hotels and travel expenses, it'd literally cost ten times as much to make this trip than I would spend at the festival. Two bowls a day for three days...hmmm...
 
T

TheSaddestSort

Member
I went to the event in SF. The lines were pretty long and the shoyu ramen wasn't that good (tonkotsu was OK). You have to water down the broth to feed that many people.

The view from the shortest line (shoyu):

eTtDY6g.jpg
Click to expand...

The white tents in the distance on the right are where you bought your ramen. Wait was about an hour and a half I think.
 
shira

shira

Member
TheSaddestSort said:
I went to the event in SF. The lines were pretty long and the shoyu ramen wasn't that good (tonkotsu was OK). You have to water down the broth to feed that many people.

The view from the shortest line (shoyu):



The white tents in the distance on the right are where you bought your ramen. Wait was about an hour and a half I think.
Click to expand...

That's a good point. I feel bad for the last people to get served.
 
H

hipbabboom

Huh? What did I say? Did I screw up again? :(
TheSaddestSort said:
I went to the event in SF. The lines were pretty long and the shoyu ramen wasn't that good (tonkotsu was OK). You have to water down the broth to feed that many people.

The view from the shortest line (shoyu):



The white tents in the distance on the right are where you bought your ramen. Wait was about an hour and a half I think.
Click to expand...

Yikes! No thank you!
 
S

sca2511

Member
Will be most likely going to this since my GF and I missed the one in SF. I'm hoping it's organized differently since I've read/heard how long the lines were at SF, though I'm unsure how that'd work.
 
X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
TheSaddestSort said:
I went to the event in SF. The lines were pretty long and the shoyu ramen wasn't that good (tonkotsu was OK). You have to water down the broth to feed that many people.

The view from the shortest line (shoyu):



The white tents in the distance on the right are where you bought your ramen. Wait was about an hour and a half I think.
Click to expand...

There's a cover charge to get in to this one though, whereas the SF one was out in the open during the Jpop festival. Hopefully that means less crowds, but we'll see.
 
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