Alongside pho, ramen is a hot bowl of Asian noodles perfect for cold weather. My favorite new contemporary-style ramen place is Shoku Ramen-ya, located next door to one of my favorite burger joints, Bachi Burger, and under the same ownership. I’ve dined at Shoku twice, once for dinner and then for lunch. The return visit sealed the deal.

At lunch, which was packed (we snagged the last table), I had the spicy miso ramen, which includes chashu (roast pork), negi (green onions), fried garlic, kikurage (wood ear mushroom), menma (bamboo shoots), umeboshi (salt plum) and chili threads. I ordered it as a combo, which included onsen tamago (a poached hen egg) with the ramen and a half-order of gyoza (savory dumplings). The bowl of ramen was a work of art, a beautiful display of the ingredients tasted as good as it looked.

The secret to any ramen, alongside fresh noodles, is broth. Shoku’s pork-bone broth is cooked for a minimum of 20 hours. My lunch buddy, a former food writer, said he liked Shoku, too, and would return.

I’m personally throwing down the gauntlet: I like Shoku more than Monta Ramen in Chinatown. Yeah, I went there.