“Top ramen”

Posted: 03 Sep 2010 06:01 PM PDT

A restaurant doesn't have to be expensive to be incredible. Ethnic cuisine doesn't have to be unfamiliar and intimidating to give you a real taste of the nation it represents. And a cute and cozy dining room is often more inviting than some opulent space designed by a trendy architect. These were all truisms that helped me learn about food while flat broke and living in New York 20 years ago. I had no problem finding dirt-cheap, intriguing little ethnic restaurants offering new adventures in dining.

Las Vegas, of course, is another beast. The restaurant scene reflects the same obligatory need for glamour that dominates just about everything else in this town, while prices are out of control. And most of the great, inexpensive ethnic cuisine is found in hole-in-the-wall dives where you'd never dream of taking a person you want to impress. That's probably why Monta has quickly surpassed Bachi Burger as the most talked-about restaurant of the year among local food fanatics.

Monta sits just two doors down in a strip mall from the recently expanded Raku. And much like its neighbor, it's starting small and quickly gaining a huge reputation among people in the food industry. The place seats roughly 20 people and offers a handful of dishes. The first page of the two-page menu offers three types of the classic Japanese noodle dish ramen, with a handful of "toppings." Trust me, if you're only familiar with ramen through the instant-food version we all survive on during cash-strapped periods, you don't have any idea how brilliantly delicious an authentic preparation can be. And I doubt you'll find a version better than Monta's anywhere in the valley.

The ramen options are fairly simple: three different broths packed with a massive supply of noodles and adorned with various cuts of meat or other options. Tonkotsu ($6.95) is a cloudy, milky looking version made by boiling pork bones, fat and collagen for several hours. The miso version ($7.25) is made from bean paste blended with pork broth. And shoyu ($6.95) is made from chicken and vegetable stock with soy sauce.

Once you've selected a broth, you can pile on extras. Extra noodles will run you $2. Four slices of roasted pork are available for $2.50. Corn, butter or green onions cost 50 cents each. And mustard leaf is $1.50.

But as delicious as the extras may be, the ramen holds up fine without them. On my first visit, I had the shoyu and was surprised it arrived with two or three slices of pork. The meat melted in my mouth. The broth was perfect -- subtly spiced in a way that, at first, seemed deceptively simple but betrayed more layers of complexity the more I slurped. And the huge portion of incredible noodles provided a solid base for the dish.

The exceptional noodle dishes are clearly the reason to visit Monta. The restaurant also offers a handful of other options. Fried rice ($3.95 - $6.95) is available plain or spiced with either kimchi or takana mustard. You can get an entire bowl of the same succulent roasted pork that adorns the noodles ($3.95 or $5.75) or an entire entrée of pork belly ($3.95 or $5.75). The Japanese dumplings gyoza are available for $5.15. And they offer something known as "mini mentaiko" ($2.95), which is a presumably an order of the pollock roe the Japanese consider a delicacy. I have had the kimchi fried rice, and it is absolutely phenomenal.

The restaurant also offers both domestic and imported beer for either $2.50 or $2.95. That means you can enjoy a full meal and a beer and rarely spend over $10 before tax and tip.

I should mention that while the dining room is tiny, it's also cute and cozy. It's nice enough to go on a date, and comfortable enough to visit with a group of friends before a night of partying (or after if you wrap things up prior to the 11 p.m. closing time). The staff is incredibly friendly, and the waitresses are drop-dead gorgeous -- if you're into petite Japanese women who look like they were pulled right out of an anime film. (And who the hell isn't?)

I know 2010 isn't over yet, but I predict Monta will be my favorite new restaurant of the year. With exceptional food that you can't find at a lot of other places, a great atmosphere and staff, and prices even students and recession-ravaged grown-ups can afford, I predict they'll be looking for room to expand very soon.

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