"Pork ramen has dominated Chicago for years. But now, this Logan Square restaurant’s beef broth has propelled it to the top spot in our ramen rankings. Their specialty is hard-to-find gyukotsu, and only one other place in the city serves it. And our first spoonful of Monster Ramen’s soup shocked us into consciousness like we had been idling asleep in a pod of goo. The gyukotsu is full-bodied yet light (is a ramen sommelier a thing?). And it’s the perfect foundation for each bowl’s combination of chewy housemade noodles and toppings, whether it’s their simpler shio tokusei or the Monster bowl loaded with three kinds of beef." - adrian kane, john ringor