Restaurant review: Kodaiko offers a hidden, heartwarming gem on busy K Street

Sometime in the early 1990s, I went to London and, on a tip from a friend, ventured to a downstairs restaurant in Bloomsbury, dishing out huge, brothy bowls of noodles sparkling with bright flavors. In a city that had just barely begun to emerge from a terrible food reputation, it was a delightful shock. I’ve retained a feeling of fondness for that place — Wagamama, which has now expanded into a global chain found even in airports — and indeed for underground dining ever since.

I haven’t had the pleasure of visiting any tucked-away ramen-yas in Japan itself, but I was reminded of that long-ago feeling of dining adventure recently when I walked down the stairs to Kodaiko Ramen & Bar’s brick-lined little warren deep beneath K Street, brushing aside the twine curtain to peek into the bar. (Although the stairs are on the steep side, there is a lift for accessibility purposes, immediately apparent when you walk in the door.)

Am I saying Kodaiko is poised to become a global chain? Certainly not. And of course Sacramento is all but awash in brothy noodle soups. But something about this underground spot makes it a literally hidden gem in K Street’s continuing and rather rocky renaissance. Its coziness, its warming soups, and its equally warm welcome all make Kodaiko an ideal destination for this chilly season.

As I’ve pointed out in this space before, Sacramento is in the midst of a ramen boom. What sets Kodaiko apart? For starters, its pedigree: some of the brains behind the operation is Billy Ngo, known not just for the high-end Kru but also for the tightly focused, excellent Fish Face, which remains the best, most interesting poke in town.

Ramen, like poke, is trendy enough to inspire quite a few cookie-cutter places; Kodaiko rises above them with not just strong execution but also distinctive ingredients, unusually complex flavors, and an emphasis on integrity. The menu is limited to just a few broths: the rounded tonkotsu combines pork and fish; the mushroom paitan derives lush texture from cashew cream; and the clear smoked shoyu broth has a leaner body but still offers a hit of wagyu fat.

All can be ordered spicy (with house-fermented sambal paste) or not, and they come with minimal accouterments in gorgeously rustic, conical earthenware bowls. A note on the table settings: they’re great. Not only are the bowls beautiful, but the rounded bellies of the stainless-steel spoons are perfectly shaped for sipping broth, and a lip in the handle ensures the spoons don’t slip into the soup. I wish every restaurant chose its flatware with such a keen eye to both form and function.

The basic dinner ramen offerings — with their tangle of chewy, on-point ramen — come minimally adorned, with green onions and a slick of the dark, garlicky house “trinity oil.” You’ll want additions dunked in your bowl. Not because the existing soup is lacking on its own, but because the options are so good. The seasoned ajitama egg, soft and savory, is one of the best in town, and I’m telling you that as a former avowed egg hater; maybe all I needed when I was a kid battling my mom at the breakfast table was one of these. The “coppa chashu,” a mouth-filling piece of fatty, melting cured pig collar, is a succulent pick for meat eaters; a chicken slice is similarly tender, if leaner.

A word about the weekday lunch menu: it’s quite different from dinner, though no longer, featuring two ramen sets (chicken shoyu and mushroom) with more preset additions, such as a half egg. The sets come with tea and a side salad, the latter — a crunchy, refreshing sesame-soy slaw — a highlight that I’d love to see at dinner. The lunch menu also has two donburis (mapo tofu with pork and a chicken chashu bowl) and a chicken katsu sandwich.

The bowls are on offer at dinner as well, though the pork and tofu was a special on one of my visits. I tried it, and my feelings were mixed. The rice in the generous portion was pearly and perfectly tender, the tofu was creamy, the spice level was on point, but there was an odd, distracting grit under my teeth in the meat. My daughter’s chicken chashu bowl, another lavish portion, was barely sweet but a tad bland.

Kodaiko has an interesting — and again, focused — bar program, with a number of specialty sakes by the cup or bottle. There’s also more than a dozen draft beers, including a collab with Urban Roots: a blonde ale called Little Drum, the meaning of Kodaiko. The wine list is quite short, but includes a rarely seen lambrusco (sweet sparkling red), a nice pairing with meaty, spicy ramen. Soju cocktails, served in highball glasses, are some of the more interesting spins on the concept I’ve seen; I enjoyed a tart “umeboshi chuhai,” with salted plums and lemon.

Though the ramen is the star, and the main dining room is comfortable and cozy with its exposed brick and kitchen. You could make a fun evening out of hanging at the bar with the appetizers, which are sleeper hits. On one busy Saturday night with a wait for a table in the dining room, my party ate in the bar under the watchful yellow eyes of a fox-mascot mural.

The high seats were unusually comfortable, the service speedy, and the starters were compulsively snackable, including salty-sweet miso Brussels sprouts with the unusual light crunch of puffed buckwheat. And they served the best rendition of karaage chicken (which often clearly comes straight from a freezer to the fryer) I’ve had in Sacramento. I avowed in a recent column that I wouldn’t eat fried chicken again for months, but these chicken nuggets, with a light crisp breading and juicy interior, got me. Potato croquettes and an absolutely fantastic block of custardy local tofu with nori, ponzu and ginger rounded out the appetizer options.

Kodaiko’s cozy underground location in a renovated old building can be a delight or a mild liability, as on one of my visits when a ventilation system in the kitchen failed and the dining room got a hit of smoke. I assume that’s a minor kink that will be worked out by summer; for now, the warm rabbit-warren feel is comforting on a raw January day and a nice escape from the ground-level block of K Street, which still feels seedy despite all the new places opening there and the glittering proximity of DoCo.

Maybe Kodaiko has the right idea: go underground not just to get away from the street’s drawbacks, but to create an aura of intrigue and being in on a secret. It’s a trick that has worked on me for a quarter of a century. I’ve been skeptical about some of Kodaiko’s newer neighbors on the 700 block of K, but between its cool setting, its clear focus and its strong (if short) menu, it seems possible this little drum can keep beating steadily for a good long time.

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

Kodaiko Ramen & Bar

718 K Street, 916-426-8823, kodaikoramen.com

Hours: Monday 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 9 p.m., Wednesday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 10 p.m, Saturday and Sunday noon to 10 p.m.

Cuisine type: Japanese, with a focus on ramen

Price range: Appetizers $6-10, ramens and rice bowls $11-13 (plus upcharges for added items)

Rating: ☆☆☆

Food: The tightly focused menu specializes in complex, rich ramen bowls with deeply savory broth, house-fermented sambal to spice it up, but don’t dismiss this as “just” a ramen spot; the rice bowls and especially the appetizers, such as the chilled local tofu, are very strong.

Service: Attentive and quick; the friendly servers have strong knowledge of the menu and can explain the options lucidly.

Ambiance: Feels like a hidden underground gem, a vibe played up by the exposed brick, simple blond-wood tables, semi-open kitchen and a ravenous, yellow-eyed fox painting in the bar.

Accessibility considerations: Parking in the neighborhood is difficult and K Street can be offputting for pedestrians. Although the restaurant is downstairs, there’s an easily accessible and obvious lift for getting up and and down.

Noise levels: Loud when it’s busy, thanks to echoing brick arches downstairs.

Drinks: Draft beer (including a custom brew that’s a collab with Urban Roots), strong sake offerings, brief but pleasing wine list and well-crafted soju cocktails, plus specialty sodas and tea.

Vegetarian options: Excellent plant-based ramen bowl and several vegetarian appetizers.

Allergy and dietary considerations: This is a tough spot for anyone avoiding soy; those with nut allergies should note the slightly unusual presence of cashew cream (called out on the menu) in the veggie-based ramen.

This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 4:00 AM.