HE WASN'T AN alcoholic. He just didn't drink.

"I can't wait for 20 years from now," he said, "so I can drink." –All he talked about was drinking, 20 years being a long time to not be able to wait for a thing. The other four people at his table took turns changing the subject to subjects other than drinking, such as sports. But Soberman would not go there.

"I remember the last day I drank," he said, and he named the day: Sept. 10, 1993. He remembered what he drank, Long Island iced tea, and he explained Long Island iced tea to his table.

He remembered on Sept. 10, 1993, going into the bathroom to go to the bathroom and the next thing he remembered, he said, his roommate was waking him up. It was morning. He was 25 years old, just out of college.

I did the math: 35 now, 55 by the time he stops talking about drinking and just shuts up and drinks. Again. I felt sorry for his friends.

He wasn't an alcoholic, I don't think. He didn't not drink because he drank too much, or because he passed out that one time in the bathroom. As I understood it, from one table away, eavesdropping, he had simply made a plan and was sticking to it: he would drink while he was in college, and after college he would quit drinking and not drink – not until he retired, which he figured to do at 55. He was a control freak. Sober, and in command. I wondered what he did for a living.

Personally, I'm a restaurant reviewer. Across the table from me, eavesdropping on the same conversation, sat my nephew and godson and good buddy the Bomb. He was three hours away from being 21, and we'd just been camping for a couple of days, so we smelled bad and didn't have much to say to each other.

The restaurant was Yo-Yo's favorite noodle place, Katana-Ya Ramen, closed Mondays, which took some years off of some lives last Monday, as I think I mentioned (last week), on account of Yo-Yo's insanely hungry driving. This time, on account of mine, the city of El Cerrito is one red-light violation richer.

Don't drive hungry. Never mind drunk, don't drive hungry, if you're me. I mention it, in spite of all the regret and embarrassment in the world, because now, having mentioned it, I figure I can write the goddamn ticket off on my taxes.

Katana-Ya Ramen is a fine, fine Japanese noodle joint, but I can't say that it's worth all the trouble to get there. Maybe if you eat first, in which case you'll drive a lot better – but, on the other hand, you'll have eaten already, which tends to spoil some people's appetites.

Nothing spoils mine. Moving violations ...

"Do you like beer?" Soberman asked one of the guys at his table. "What kind of beer do you like?"

We were slurping up big bowls of ramen, me and the Bomb, no thanks to our waitressperson. "Have you ever tried our combination dinners?" she asked, after we'd already both ordered ramen. She opened the menu, which is elaborate – sushi, soups, stuff in general – to a page full of combination dinners. "They're kind of complicated," she said.

"Do any have ramen in them?" I asked, scanning the list of lists of things and not seeing ramen.

"Oh, you wanted ramen?" the waitressperson said, as if we'd just ordered it out of lack of imagination, or peer pressure or something.

I could have killed her. I'd just gotten a goddamn ticket, and now this. What did she think? It says ramen in the name of the place. It's Yo-Yo's favorite noodle place. Is it stupid, or even unusual, to want ramen? I could have killed her, but I didn't want to set a bad example for my nephew, who looks up to me.

I look up to him too, and he's never killed anyone that I know of.

The soups were great. The noodles in particular were exceptional. House special ramen, with sliced pork and wontons, goes for $5.95. The pork was super tender and tasty, and the wontons were bursting with inside-out deliciousness. The other stuff – half a boiled egg, couple o' fish cakes, a sheet of seaweed, bamboo shoots, green onion, and corn – was all good too.

The Bomb ordered chicken teriyaki ramen ($6.20), which also featured bok choy. It wasn't as good as my soup, I didn't think, but it was good, and I enjoyed finishing off what the kid could not.

"One time on a really hot day, I remember," reminisced Soberman, "I was working outside and my brother brought me a cold beer." He paused for dramatic effect. "Man, that was good," he said.

Katana-Ya Ramen. 10544 San Pablo (at Moeser), El Cerrito. (510) 528-1678. Lunch: Tues.-Wed. and Fri.-Sun., 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Dinner: Tues.-Thurs., 5-9:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 5-10 p.m.; Sun., 5-9 p.m. Takeout available. Beer and sake. Discover, MasterCard, Visa. Wheelchair accessible.