At Ebisu, They’re Ravin’ Over Ramen

Ebisu Ramen is standing proof that real Japanese men don’t always eat sushi. Do a head count--even a suit count--in this narrow place, and you’ll discover the proportion of male Japanese diners far outstrips that in any local sushi bar.

Forgive me if I’m stretching, but there is a point. Ebisu Ramen serves some of the most popular foods of Japan, dishes you can get all over that country at any hour of the day.

Ramen , for the record, are long, skinny Chinese-style noodles served in garlicky broth, and they can be slurped aloud even in polite society. But ramen isn’t all you can eat at Ebisu Ramen. This is the only Orange County restaurant with first-rate okonomiyaki-- theomiyaki grilled, stuffed pancakes typical of Osaka and Hiroshima--not to

mention a slew of a la carte tavern foods such as nira-reba itame , which is liver fried with bean sprouts and chives.

Some people (some Japanese people, that is,) would even go so far as to call Ebisu Ramen a chuka-ryoriya-san , or purveyor of “Chinese-style dishes.” We won’t quibble about the fact that most of the dishes are unfamiliar to Chinese palates. Gyoza , for example, are Japanese pot stickers, but their delicate minced vegetable and meat stuffing makes for a most un-Chinese lightness. Cha-han , the Japanese version of fried rice, is practically oil-free.

The restaurant, it turns out, is Japanese to the heart. Owner Kazuto Takeda is from Kagoshima, a city on Kyushu, the southernmost island of the Japanese chain. He’s fashioned a ramen restaurant remarkably similar to one you would find in Japan. (Takeda-san also runs a successful Japanese market in the same mall complex, not to mention the Bonjour French Bakery for you pastry lovers.)

The first thing you notice as you walk up to the restaurant is a huge purple neon sign reading “Ebisu Ramen” in hiragana , a phonetic method of writing usually reserved for Japanese words for which there are no Chinese characters. Squint and you’ll see the English translation, taking up a far smaller space on the sign.

Then you are bound to catch sight of a wax display of food-filled wooden bowls and ceramic platters, a display that is bound either to entice or repel the neophyte Japanese gourmet. This is a tradition carried out by every modest restaurant in Japan, where waxworking is still a thriving business. Only the proudest and most exclusive houses of fine dining, in fact, refrain from the practice of displaying models of their wares in the front window.

As are most ramen houses, this is a noisy, boisterous place, with none of the refinements of more upscale Japanese restaurants. The decor consists of nothing more than salmon-colored walls, a few partitions crafted from white ash wood and the vinyl booths with their Formica tables. Both waitresses and customers--the latter often hard-charging Japanese businessmen looking for a cheap meal and a large bottle of ice cold malt liquor--make quite a ruckus.

Ramen is the plebeian, carbo-rich everyday fare of the Japanese, typically eaten from enormous plastic bowls with rustic wooden spoons. The portions are hearty--even the real ramen veterans don’t quite finish their bowls.

Sutamina (“stamina”) ramen makes a good introduction. It consists of ropes of the long, chewy noodles, fried cabbage and carrots swimming in a powerful broth and wafer-thin sliced pork. On the side is a raw egg, still in the shell, which you’re supposed to crack into the broth. Champon , the characteristic dish of the city of Nagasaki, is another good choice. It’s a Portuguese-inspired bowlful of salted noodles with a variety of toppings: shrimp, pork, squid, vegetables and kamaboko , the squiggly, colorful fish cakes that the Japanese revere (I find them bland).

Okonomiyaki is a kind of exotic pancake. It’s not sweet, of course, but a salty, wheat-and-egg pancake with savory fillings ranging from oysters to beef and squid. It can be unreasonably doughy in the wrong hands, but these are light and crisp (though perhaps a bit heavy-handed with a sort of thick Worcestershire sauce), and bound to change your perceptions about Japanese cuisine.

Takoyaki also merit attention. These golf ball-sized dumplings, stuffed with bits of steamed octopus, are made from a super-light batter in a molded griddle and are literally as light as a feather--like air balls, really. They come six to an order, served on a wooden plank.

The thing to watch out for is that both takoyaki and okonomiyaki are topped with katsuobushi --dried, shaved bonito fish, a condiment that literally wiggles before your eyes as it absorbs moisture from the steaming batter.

“I make it a point not to eat anything that moves,” said one friend as the waitress put down the dish. Ask them to leave the katsuobushi off if you’re squeamish.

There’s lots more, though, including the great spicy tofu and ground pork on rice that the Japanese know as ma-bo ; tonkatsu , which is fried, breaded pork cutlets no one would ever mistake for schnitzel, and an entire line of rice bowls known as donburi , consisting of meats bound up with lightly scrambled eggs. In short, Japanese comfort foods deluxe.

Do reserve room for one of the bizarrely seductive desserts. Anmitsu is strictly for children, a glass dish of a big scoop of the red bean paste known as anko , various canned fruits, zeri (cubes of Japanese jelly made from agar-agar) and the elegant addition of, I swear it, gum drops.

In chocolate “puffet” (parfait), the fruits come without the zeri and anko , but with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and whipped cream.

Best of all are the little, fish-shaped sweets known as taiyaki , a fun food for kids that Japanese adults sneak a bite of themselves from time to time. They’re made from sweet pancake batter and a red bean filling, and most real men, Japanese or non-Japanese, find them delicious.

Ebisu Ramen is inexpensive. Ramen is $3.95 to $5.75. A la carte dishes are $3.75 to $6.95. Desserts are $1.75 to $3.75.

EBISU RAMEN

18924-A Brookhurst St., Fountain Valley.

(714) 964-5993.

Open Sunday through Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday till 10 p.m.

MasterCard and Visa accepted.