But the improbably fluffy tofu-pork meatballs catapulted themselves into my mouth at the slightest encouragement, and little do-it-yourself handrolls of nori spread with sushi rice and pulled roast pork, as slick and rich as carnitas, were gone almost before I noticed the bright, sweet-sour relief they got from roasted tomatoes.

As our server promised, roasted tomato performed the same favor for a cheese mazemen, a kind of Japanese alfredo. Servers at Ivan Ramen are always pushing add-on garnishes for the noodles for an extra $2 or $3. “All our ramens are improved by an egg,” we were told one night. If Mr. Orkin thinks his ramen is better with an egg, he should put an egg on it, and charge accordingly.

Value is a sticky issue with ramen. Because it is served in a minute and eaten almost as quickly, it seems to call for fast-food prices. It takes more than a minute to prepare, though, particularly at Ivan Ramen, where the noodles are made in the kitchen from rye or whole-wheat flour. Springy and hearty, they are exceptional. The broths are painstakingly simmered until their flavors are deep and focused, particularly in the vegetarian ramen’s soy-mushroom stock and the shio ramen’s base of dashi stirred into a golden chicken soup that a grandmother might want to steal credit for.

The most expensive ramen is $15, or $17 with the suggested egg. The mazemens, a form Mr. Orkin has mastered more fully than anyone in the city, justify the price. (The red-hot cold mazemen, dressed with salty, spicy sesame and accessorized with two prawns, should settle any doubts.)

The soup ramens do not, at least not yet. Several times, the broth arrived well below the scalding heat that gives ramen its temporal dimension, as you race to eat the noodles before they go from slightly undercooked to al dente to overdone. The soups at Ivan Ramen barely changed, so there was no rush, no need to illustrate the art of the slurp. Maybe mine sat too long in the kitchen. The ramens shouldn’t stop just short of the finish line when so many other items on the menu sail right over it.