Nojo Ramen Tavern
Nojo pours chicken paitan on Franklin Street. Most San Francisco ramen shops pour pork. The soy sauce bowl finishes with a whole slow-braised chicken leg. The Japanese chain that owns it runs more than 200 shops at home and opened here, its first American room, in 2017.
Why go
Paitan is chicken simmered hard enough to go opaque and rich. The house builds its soy sauce bowl on it. Corn or spicy miso will push it further. Dianne de Guzman's Eater ramen map is where the leg comes from, whole and braised, in the bowl.1
Matt Tillquist writes Eater's Hayes Valley map. He points at the salmon and mentaiko mayo bowls as the cheap way in. The izakaya small plates reward a table with several people at it.2
That is the standard California pitch, and I have not found a critic who has tested it.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the soy sauce paitan, with the chicken leg.
- Order: a few small plates if there are more than two of you.
What locals & experts say
- The kitchen's own account of how it builds a bowl:
We partner with local producers to bring the freshest ingredients to every bowl, combining Japanese technique with California's seasonal bounty.
3 - Matt Tillquist, Eater SF, on the neighborhood's options:
If you're in Hayes Valley and you're craving ramen, you don't have a lot of options. Thankfully, you do have one clear frontrunner.
2
Good to know
- Getting in: walk in.
- Where: 231 Franklin Street, in Hayes Valley.
Verdict
could-visit — Judge it on the broth. Everything else is company.