Restaurant Review: Tiny Shoku offers big-time Japanese noodle flavors on Alhambra

We are living through the era of Sacramento’s Great Ramen Flowering. That shouldn’t come as a surprise. Noodles are good, broth is good, and we have “ramen” right there in the city’s name. What does surprise me is that we have not one but two pairs of ramen restaurants whose names vary only in their vowels: Rai and Ryu Jin (which share the same owners), and now the venerable Shoki and tiny newcomer Shoku.

I wouldn’t want to say Shoku is putting the U in ramen, because that would make it a rumen, which is something else entirely. But it is odd they picked a name so similar to a place that’s been around, in different locations, for more than a decade. (I reviewed Shoki, in its original, tiny 24th Street location, for the Sacramento News & Review in 2007.) The name similarity seems ripe for confusion in meetups and ordering. At least if you confuse Rai and Ryu Jin, they’re across the street from each other.

Shoku occupies the spot off Alhambra Boulevard that was for many years the home of Café Morocco. It’s also next to another Japanese place, Sushi Café, and a stone’s throw from the Selland Group’s busy Obo’ and Billy Ngo’s upscale Kru. Ngo has also just opened, you guessed it, another ramen place downtown, Hokkaido. As someone who used to live across the street from what’s now the parking lot for Obo’, I’ve been bemused to watch the formerly placid Alhambra-corridor restaurant scene take off.

Is this concentration of places good news or bad news for Shoku? Of the four geographically closest restaurants in the area, three are offering different takes on Japanese cuisine. Shoku is, by far, the most modest of the lot, with a quiet and casual vibe and a small space that seems to gesture toward the feel of noodle spots in Japan. It’s a far cry from dark, loud Sushi Café or serene, upscale Kru.

I was especially taken by a charming, line-drawn mural of people cooking noodles under the watchful eye of peaceful cats. (East Sacramento has been down one cat mural since Burr’s Fountain closed; this one restores needed balance.) The cat theme continues with flags and wallpaper of lucky cats. Blond wood tables, black chairs, and well-padded booths round out the interior, which is quite a change from the rather dark look of the previous occupant.

Service is as understated as the atmosphere, with a single server generally working the small room. Though sometimes that made ordering a little slow or meant that one meal came out awkwardly sooner than another at the same table, our server seemed genuinely to care about how we were liking the meal.

I did spot one amusing service glitch: Not long after the time change from Daylight Savings to standard time, a man came in right at 1:30 p.m. for lunch – only to have the server tell him they were just closing and say he had to leave. (The restaurant closes for a one-hour break between lunch and dinner service from 2:30 to 3:30.) He was clearly taken aback and there was some who’s-on-first-style confusion about what time it was, but it all ended in amity, a bowl of noodles for the customer, and I imagine also a clock adjustment in the kitchen. I mean, who among us hasn’t been thrown off by a time change?

So about those noodles. The appeal of Shoku lies in its simplicity. There are thick, toothsome udon. There are thinner, crinkly ramen. There’s shoyu (soy) broth, which is slightly one-note and sweeter than I expected, and a rich, savory house pork, chicken and veggie broth that comes with the chashu-black garlic combinations. There’s also a vegan broth, served with the mixed veggie ramen, and a miso version with tofu. Ramen can come plain or with chicken, tofu, or beef.

This house broth, to my mind, was the star; it can be either spicy or not. The spicy version is more piquant than I’d have expected, with a great body and depth of flavor. The slices of pork added savor, fresh corn added pops of sweetness, and shredded cabbage provided some crunch. Not all the ramen bowls come with an egg, but I advise adding it on regardless of what you order; it was excellent, with a creamy soft-cooked orange yolk.

One thing I’d have liked in all the bowls I tried was a little more broth; they were so full of noodles (a good thing!) that the broth seemed a little low. I wanted just a little more to spoon up, especially in the case of the hefty tonkatsu (fried cutlet) ramen, with shoyu broth and a considerable slab of crispy-chewy fried pork.

Don’t sleep on the udon, even though the restaurant name highlights the ramen. The chicken udon, with savory chunks of chicken and lots of very finely shredded cabbage, was brothy and excellent. I’d happily go back for this or the spicy chashu-black garlic ramen on any of the rainy days that I hope will someday come this winter.

It’s rare to find Japanese-style sandwiches on a Sacramento menu, and they are one thing Shoku offers to set itself apart, in chicken or pork tonkatsu iterations. Amusingly, these modest little squares mean Shoku is also part of the other big restaurant trend of 2019: fried chicken sandwiches. Each so-called sando is small and precise, on square, soft, sweet milk bread, with a good dollop of very faintly spiced mayo and finely shredded cabbage, plus the breaded pork or chicken. A far cry from the fried-chicken behemoths at other new spots, they’re pleasant but not earthshaking.

Other appetizers here include edamame, a couple of salads, the tonkatsu on its own, and a lineup of gyoza (including veggie). We tried the pan-fried pork gyoza, which could have used a little more sear but had delicate wrappers and a nice gingery filling.

Will Shoku Ramen win the noodle wars that have heated up in Sacramento? I doubt it. They seem like they’re trying to hold their own in a small, pleasing, not overly ambitious way. But there’s something appealing and homey about their lack of flash. Shoku is more neighborhood restaurant than destination, and it will never upend the world of noodles, even in Sacramento. But when you need a break from chasing the trendiest or the newest thing, you could do worse than slurping up a bowl at this restaurant that seems like it almost accidentally fits the latest trend.

Email Kate Washington: beediningcritic@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter: @washingtonkate. For an archive of all her reviews: kwsacdiningreviews.com

Shoku Ramen Bar

1221 Alhambra Blvd., Ste 107. 916-882-6888. Shokuramenbar.com

Hours: 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday though Sunday

Cuisine type: Japanese, with a focus on ramen

Price range: Appetizers $4.50 to $7.50, ramen and udon soups $5 to $13

Rating: ☆☆1/2

Food: Simple but appealing, with a purist-style limited menu of ramen, udon, and not a lot more. The noodles are good; of the broths, the black garlic chashu has the most complexity.

Service: Occasionally a little slow to take orders (there’s usually just one server for the small dining room), but food comes out quickly.

Ambiance: Unpretentious but cheerful inside, belying the somewhat unpromising strip-mall exterior. Murals with cats, a surprising amount of light and comfortable booths.

Accessibility considerations: Parking in the neighborhood is difficult at busy times despite a dedicated parking lot, but handicapped-accessible spaces are right outside the door. The restaurant is small, but there’s some room to maneuver and booths are reasonably roomy.

Noise levels: Moderate.

Drinks: Soft drinks only, including milk tea and ramune, for now, while they wait for a liquor license.

Vegetarian options: Salads, ramen and udon with a vegan broth, and vegetarian appetizers are available.

Allergy and dietary considerations: With its focus on noodles, this place isn’t ideal for the gluten sensitive, and those avoiding soy will be challenged as well.

This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 12:41 PM.