Review: Youta Ramen in Mineola

You can't throw a soft-boiled egg without hitting a ramen shop these days. But Youta stands out from the crowd with its adorable atmosphere and steadfast attention to detail. This little corner storefront, which housed a succession of short-lived Peruvian restaurants, is now a bright blend of wood panels, Japanese banners and masks. One wall is devoted to an anime-inspired ode to ramen.

The Mineola restaurant is the brainchild of Thanontuch Tyler Laiamnuay, the chef, and Pat Boon, a seasoned restaurateur who worked at Sripraphai in Williston Park. Thai by birth and ramen by choice, the friends have created a shrine to their shared love of the savory Japanese kitchen in general and tonkotsu ramen in particular.

Laiamnuay cooks his tonkotsu (pork) broth for 16 hours, stirring every 10 minutes so it doesn’t scorch. Because he’s not prepared to stay at the restaurant the entire time, he divides the simmer into two eight-hour shifts. The last hour or so, the pot is stirred every three minutes. The end result is a creamy, rich broth markedly less salty than the norm.

The noodles, made in New Jersey by Sun, are both delicate and sturdy, and they share the bowl with "ajitama," eggs soft boiled into custardy submission; scallions sliced so thin they look like translucent threads; "menma," fermented bamboo shoots, here served whole rather than in strips; and slices of "chashu" pork that are rosily tender.

Have your ramen the classic way, or enlivened with spicy chili paste or black garlic. For vegetarians there’s a soy-truffle broth as well.

Laiamnuay was a sushi chef at Manhattan’s Masa and he hasn’t completely left raw fish behind. Among Youta’s starters is a salad of barely seared amberjack on a bed of mizuna (Japanese greens) with lotus-root chips and watermelon radish.

Youta’s menu also includes filled steamed buns and five "donburi," rice bowls topped with fried chicken, sliced pork, shrimp and vegetable tempura, or freshwater eel. The last bowl, "una don," is a real triumph, the tender, barbecued eel arranged in a checkerboard with gossamer-light shreds of cooked egg and cucumber.

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By Andi Berlin

andi.berlin@newsday.comAndiBerlin

Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.