^ Ha, I said
very very good or groundbreaking. I don't claim to be an expert on ramen, though where I could tell what is innovative vs traditional.
IIRC my food at Ramen-san was nearly as good as what I had at High Five, and way better than what I had at Furious Spoon. I'd put Ramen-san and Strings on a similar level. I've had some mediocre ramen as well at random sushi or poke places, so I think I've had the gamut and I really like Ramen-san.
It's not like Chicago has some authentically Japanese neighborhood (well, in city limits anyway) where you can go and get ramen the way your baba used to make it. All ramen places are gonna serve food that's filtered through the lens of American expectations.