Yuzu: Restaurant Guide 2014

Yuzu
By Matthew Korfhage

4130 SW 117th Ave., Beaverton, 350-1801

[HIDE THE NOODLE] Yuzu is about as conspicuous from the outside as a mafia betting parlor; multiple friends have wandered aimlessly nearby, convinced their GPS malfunctioned. But look for the tiny YUZU printed on the glass, and press through the darkness of the tinted door to find a homey ramen-ya with packed tables and a deep sake list. The pages-long small plates menu ensures you'll never have the same meal twice, but skip the variations on katsu and the stoner-ready mashed potato dish and stick mostly to the "just to start" and grill menus—you're going for flavor, not bulk—in particular a thin-sliced albacore tataki ($10.50) and the delicate yakinasu, an eggplant dish topped with ginger and those same little bonito fish flakes you might give your cat as a treat. Each dish just heightens the anticipation, because you always know how each meal will end. Flirt with the saltily satisfying syouyu soy-brothed ramen. Pretend you're having a hard time deciding. And then, for the 12th time in a row, get their hallmark kokuni ramen ($11.50), a giant bowl of grotesquely savory tonkotsu broth white with pork-bone marrow, with dropped-in squares of tender pork belly and about a pound of al dente housemade rice noodles. It is a dream of richness that even the French wouldn't dare make public. MATTHEW KORFHAGE.

Pro tip:

It's just to the left of the Cricket wireless store. You're welcome.

11:30 am-1:30 pm Monday-Friday, 12-7 pm Saturday. $$-$$$.

WWeek 2015

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