Sequoia Ramen
Sequoia house ramen is pork (above); there’s also a vegetarian version.
Years ago I fell prey to a ramen addiction, a dark but flavorful time in which I consumed enough springy noodles to last me into my golden years. I still approach fresh ramen sources with great anticipation.
Sequoia, billed as a ramen sushi lounge, opened this June where Brocach used to stand on Monroe Street. It first appealed to me for the ramen, but the restaurant throws its weight behind the sushi. The menu offers two kinds of ramen, pork and vegetarian, plus a kids’ ramen, and more than a dozen sushi rolls and nigiri or sashimi options. The server may even suggest the sushi over the ramen, as ours did, and she’s probably right.
The space still bears the dark pubby wood of Brocach, but the room is large and serene, the walls textured with aquatic ivory waves. A little nook sits on one side of the door and several window tables on the other.
The sushi rolls that anchor the menu are artfully composed, genuinely pretty dioramas of jewellike fish and shrimp, dolloped with bright tangerine or golden fish roe and cradled in avocado, rice and nori. Supple sheets of rosy pink soy wrap are wound around the busy Monrose roll, while the rainbow roll boasts an array of coral salmon, dark pink tuna, pearly escolar and delicate shrimp.
Feeling perilously low on lean protein, we tried yellowtail and albacore nigiri from the a la carte menu, too. Every one of these items arrives looking beautiful, and the kitchen has a light touch with the creamy add-ons that leave a lot of specialty sushi rolls feeling like they were conceived for Taco Bell. The Monrose could do with less hoisin sauce, which is too thick and sweet for the delicate raw fish that ought to be the star, and the menu’s heavy reliance on imitation crab meat feels perplexing and dated.
For me, unfortunately, the weak link was the fish itself. The fish I had at Sequoia often seemed a little too soft, or a little too bland, just missing the cool oceanic firmness, saline freshness I was hoping for. The fish feels imperfect only by a few degrees in one direction or another — but sushi is all about getting it right by those tiny degrees.
Some of the best dishes I had here were the most unexpected. I ordered a Sequoia salad and a vegetarian roll out of curiosity and because sushi restaurants sometimes leave you wishing for more greenery than the odd sheet of nori. This is no problem at Sequoia, where the signature salad is a substantial blend of creamy avocado, toothsome seaweed, cool julienned cucumbers, unimpeachably crisp salad greens, and a generous peanut dressing. The vegetarian roll isn’t a back-up but a pleasure, layered with tamago egg, cucumber and avocado, and enlivened by a delightful crunch of fried sweet potato and a touch of spicy mayo.
As for the ramen that first tantalized me, it arrives in a deep white bowl with rich-looking broth, a scattering of corn kernels, a twirl of nori, a bundle of firm menma or bamboo, and half a soy egg. The veggie ramen is perked up by kimchi and baby bok choy, while the pork ramen has, of course, a few slim disks of roast pork. The noodles, especially in the pork option, had the bouncy spring you want in a ramen noodle. In both bowls, however, Sequoia’s broth is oddly bland. It looked so golden, rich and promising that I kept going back to see if it had gained flavor since the last spoonful. No dice.
There are plenty of ways to round out a meal at Sequoia. Vegetable gyoza had delicate green wrappers and a sprinkle of furikake, but the filling had a lot in common with those egg rolls that come with lunch specials, mostly cabbage and carrot but not much texture. The buns have promise but could use a little variation. The same rich brown hoisin sauce that marries so nicely with roast pork in one bun does nothing for the tempura shrimp in another. Something cool, herbal, and spicy would have been delicious on that one, and some vinegary pickled element would have been a great addition to both, but the soft steamed buns are just what they need to be, as white and smooth as a cartoon moon.
There’s no shortage of precision and care at Sequoia in both the menu and the execution, but the restaurant’s central items could use some tweaks to ensure everything tastes as good as it looks.
Sequoia
1843 Monroe St. 608-630-8933; seequoia.com
11 am-9:30 pm Mon.-Thurs., 11 am-10 pm Fri.-Sun.
$5-$28
