A 50t ring designed to "mate" with 34t small ring will shift better than a ring without ramps and pins. This matters more since you are using brifters, whereas friction front shifting (with bar-ends or downtube) you'll always be able to shift fine. You live in Napa and have some nice bikes, and I'd recommend getting a chainring with ramps and pins. When you do, it's important that the orientation matches the smaller chainring correctly. With another brand, you may have to rotate the chainring to match the orientation of the Shimano.

A side note on terminology: the gears on the crankset are typically called "chainring" while "cog"or "sprocket" usually refers to gears on the rear wheel.