Congrats, Ren's!

Post food writer Tom Sietsema released his 2011 Fall Dining Guide today, and Ren's Ramen has the honor of being listed as a recommendation!  The only other MoCo restaurants to get a mention are La Canela in Rockville and Tavira in Chevy Chase.
I have been meaning to try Ren's for a while now, and this mention was just the nudge that I needed to check it out. 

Me and Mr. WC shared an order of gyoza to start the meal.  My initial impression was they were sauteed a little too long in the skillet - instead of being brown from the pan-frying, they were bordering on a little bit charred.  Still, the filling was very moist (and hot!) and I didn't really get a burned taste when I was eating them, so I give the gyoza a thumbs up.

For our meals, we both ordered the ramen with miso broth.  It comes with a thin slice of roast pork, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, scallions, and noodles of course.  We also both added pork belly onto our soups, which added two pieces of tasty fatty pork to the bowl and Mr. WC added an egg as well.  The broth is cloudy, fatty, and thick. I've never had 'real' ramen before, but I thought the broth was great and the noodles themselves were obviously fresh, which a nice texture to them - they had body without being too chewy.  Our meal, with the gyoza, pork belly, and egg added on came to about $32.  So, it's not a bargain, but it certainly left us both very full.  There was a nice crowd of people already in there when we came in, and I'm sure the crowd will only get bigger once more people read the Dining Guide.

Gyoza Appetizer

Two bowls of miso ramen w/pork belly