If you’re a regular to this blog or to the ramen scene, you probably already know or have heard of Keizo Shimamoto, the ramen wizard who quit his job to pursue ramen full time and who invented the ramen burger sensation. You may also know that Keizo had a thriving ramen burger stand and popups…
Kopan Ramen is a tonkotsu ramen chain that has multiple locations in L.A. county. They have one location in Fullerton, which is where I headed. The ramen is customizable: you pick the size, spice level (0 to 3), the choice of meat (pork belly chashu, fatty pork, or chicken breast). All ramen come with green…
Raise your hand if you go to places that specialize in Hawaiian and breakfast dishes and you order the ramen instead 🙋‍♂️ Is it just me? Plumeria Cafe is a cafe nestled in the Laguna Design Center that was created by the people behind Stacks Pancake House. They recently introduced a Yokohama-Style ramen that’s a…
Yoshiharu is another ramen shop that specializes in tonkotsu ramen, but interestingly enough, they don’t seem to offer a “straight” tonkotsu ramen. They have tonkotsu shoyu, tonkotsu miso, a tonkotsu spicy miso, tonkotsu black, and a tsukemen. And a vegetable ramen. They also offer a few options on the accoutrements. You can order the chashu…
Another day, another new ramen shop! Ramain39 (named after the intersection they’re on), opened just a couple of months ago and still has a slight “new store” smell. Ramain39 specializes in tonkotsu, so I went with the black ramen version. I was warned it’s spicy. Bring it! The fully loaded ramen comes with black bonito,…
Fukusuke opened last year in a location that seems to be cursed…there’ve been at least 2 different restaurants there in the past few years. Fukusuke offers a wide variety of ramen, including the majors: shoyu, miso, shio, and tonkotsu. I decided to go with the “Tokyo Style” Shoyu, with a side order of soft boiled…
Irvine has a new fancy food hall, and it has a new ramen shop! HiroNori, a “Craft Ramen” shop, is the brainchild of partners Hiromichi and Tadanori (get it?), two Japanese natives who’re apparently making everything from scratch, including their noodles. Intrigued? So am I! First, the TRADE Food Hall plaza, where HiroNori Rame is…
A new ramen shop…in Orange County…that *doesn’t* specialize in tonkotsu ramen?? It doesn’t even serve tonkotsu ramen??? YES! As much as I like tonkotsu ramen, I’m still a shoyu guy. But hmm…Torizo has yuzu shio, which is tough to find around here. And speaking of tough to find, Torizo can be tough to find from…
I have never been to Momofuku. I’ve been curious about Momofuku since they first opened, and Momofuku owner and chef David Chang’s constantly rising stardom just made me more and more curious. I’ve been to New York countless times, but there is so much great ramen there that somehow, I’ve just never made it there.…
Ippudo ramen is a world class ramen chain that seems to be on an expansion kick recently. They’ve joined up with Panda Restaurant Group (yes, as in Panda Express…) to bring Ippudo to the West Coast (Berkeley & Santa Monica, are you ready?), and now it looks like they’ve come out with nama ramen versions…
I’ve been to Iron Chef Morimoto’s restaurant in New York, and it really lived up to the hype (and I got to meet the man himself!). Skewers, his restaurant at LAX, on the other hand, was a disappointment. But still, I was excited to hear about Momosan Ramen, his newly opened ramen shop and couldn’t…
Sure, it’s a skewers restauant, not a ramenya, and sure it’s at an airport…and LAX at that…but it’s a Morimoto (of Iron Chef fame) restaurant, so it’s worth a try? There’s only one ramen on the menu: the Ramen Pork Noodle bowl (non-spicy). I’m not entirely sure why it’s necessary to call out that it’s…