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best ramen in Los Angeles

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I've lately been on a bit of a mission to find the best ramen in LA county.

not really sure what the catalyst for this is, as I'm perfectly content with my regular ramen joint. my go-to ramen restaurant is Daikokuya. it's pretty fucking good.

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I guess my only complaint with Daikokuya is quality control at some of their other locations. for example, the ramen at the Arcadia location isn't nearly as good as the ramen at the Little Tokyo location.

anyways, what say you LA-gaf? I've frequented a good amount of random ramen places throughout LA county and haven't found anything better as of yet. would love to hear some recommendations.
 
Daikokuya in Little Tokyo LA is like god pissed in the bowl himself. Fuck that line though. Make sure to order kotteri (extra fat) if you have to wait through it.
 
I like TanTan men, so even though it is kinda touristy, orochan is one of my favorite bowls.


Daikokuya is great but yeah... That line.
 
Daikokuya is great, the best I've had. I'm sure there's better, though.

Tsujita on Sawtelle is supposed to be awesome, but I haven't tried it yet. Chabuya is pretty good in the same area.
 
Has there been an explosion in the last five years? I last lived in LA in 2008 and back then it was pretty much Ramen-ya on Olympic since I was in Sawtelle. I used to eat in Little Tokyo fairly frequently too and I'm trying to remember any besides Mr. Ramen--I'd eat there and then Suehiro, East, Mitsuru for breakfast, etc.
 
Have you tried Shin Sent Gumi in Rosemead. Not the best service, but you can basically build any ramen to your liking.
 
It's awesome that they managed to capture the amazing essence of ramen with instant-packs.

Nothing to make you feel more like a king/queen than insta-meat powder with boiling water. :3
 
gnomed said:
Have you tried Shin Sent Gumi in Rosemead. Not the best service, but you can basically build any ramen to your liking.
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Been to the one in Fountain Valley. It's pretty mediocre, but the extra noodles for 99 cents keeps me coming back.

Best I've had has been at Honda-Ya in Tustin. Haven't tried any ramen places in LA, though.
 
where can I buy some japanese curry?? (mild curry as an option plz)
 
Kanpai's late night ramen has improved a lot. It's goddamn delicious now. If they start making their own noodles, they'll be one to reckon with. Plus you can start with world class sushi.
 
Silverlake Ramen

I know it's not Torrance/Gardena, and I'm all about Daikokuya as well, but....trust. Tonkotsu spicy ramen for best results.

Verano said:
where can I buy some japanese curry?? (mild curry as an option plz)
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There's a chain called Curry House with a location in Little Tokyo. It's pretty good. If you're on the West Side...there's another place called Hurry Curry in Sawtelle (near Westwood) which is coincidentally right across the street from another Curry House chain. Not sure which is better.

If you're looking for a grocery store to buy the curry itself... You could try Nijiya in Little Tokyo, or Mitsuwa in Sawtelle. Gelsons also stocks mild Japanese curry, but obviously the brands there are a lot more limited.
 
Extollere said:
Daikokuya in Little Tokyo LA is like god pissed in the bowl himself. Fuck that line though. Make sure to order kotteri (extra fat) if you have to wait through it.
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This. 40 minute wait minimum if you're not there before 6pm. But everything is great, not just the ramen. Their salad is bomb.

Great ambience. Excellent place to eat on first or second date.

Mifune said:
Daikokuya is great, the best I've had. I'm sure there's better, though.
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I feel the same way. I'm sure there must be at least one place out there that's better.

You guys gotta try NYC ramen : )

Anyone know where o can get some world class Massaman Curry in LA?
 
Secret_Riddle said:
There's a chain called Curry House with a location in Little Tokyo. It's pretty good. If you're on the West Side...there's another place called Hurry Curry in Sawtelle (near Westwood) which is coincidentally right across the street from another Curry House chain. Not sure which is better.
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Hurry Curry is objectively better than Curry House. I still mourn their very short lived Pasadena location.
 
JapanGaf here and I can vouch at least partially for Daikokuya having been there on a trip back home. It's much better than most ramen I've had in the states, but of course doesn't compare to the source.
 
OddMorsel said:
JapanGaf here and I can vouch at least partially for Daikokuya having been there on a trip back home. It's much better than most ramen I've had in the states, but of course doesn't compare to the source.
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As far as I'm concerned, most of the Japanese chow you can get here in LA doesn't even stack up against the stuff you can get in your basic every day convenience store over there. I was in Japan last Christmas, and the first thing I did was wander into the Lawsons in Haneda. A revelation.
 
Secret_Riddle said:
]As far as I'm concerned, most of the Japanese chow you can get here in LA doesn't even stack up against the stuff you can get in your basic every day convenience store over there.[/B] I was in Japan last Christmas, and the first thing I did was wander into the Lawsons in Haneda. A revelation.
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See, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you here but how is that possible? Cali is loaded with Japanese transplants.
 
shinsengumi west la. I eat there weekly and it never disappoints. It's loud though.

Hurry Curry is also amazing and the the staff are cool people.
 
Do you mean the microwaveable plastic lunch boxes they sell at convenience stores, or the ones with sushi in them or whatever? It'll taste more "authentic" in a sense but some of the best Japanese food I've ever had was in San Diego (Sushi Ota) and Las Vegas (Kabuto). Similarly, the best hamburger I've ever had was in Shibuya :lol
 
shadyspace said:
See, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you here but how is that possible? Cali is loaded with Japanese transplants.
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OddMorsel said:
Do you mean the microwaveable plastic lunch boxes they sell at convenience stores, or the ones with sushi in them or whatever? It'll taste more "authentic" in a sense but some of the best Japanese food I've ever had was in San Diego (Sushi Ota) and Las Vegas (Kabuto). Similarly, the best hamburger I've ever had was in Shibuya :lol
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Sushi Ota is amazing. I don't want to pull the dick head semantics card, but I said "most" not "all", haha.

I guess it has more to do with how good some of the lesser Japanese food in Japan is, combined with how easily available it all is.

There's some delicious Japanese food in California, but for me at least, it's almost all out of the way.
 
There's like no Japanese food in the OC outside of Costa Mesa :( Or if there is, it tends to be Korean owned...

I think it tends to be a battle between Daikokuya (only the Little Tokyo location... Costa Mesa one and so on are just blech), Orochon, and Shinsengumi. I see Santouka mentioned occasionally too. Basically everyone covered most of the big ramen places already :P
 
Shin Sen Gumi W. LA and Rosemead are the best fwiw. The other Daikokuya and Shin Sen Gumi locations aren't as great.

Ramen Fujisan is about the same as Daikokuya in Little Tokyo, I'd recommend it. Definitely don't go to Kosuke Ramen -- worst customer experience, food, wait-time I've ever had at a joint. Also avoid Ajisen or other chains, they're not great...

edit: I forgot about Orochon. They have a fun spicy ramen challenge, but their stuff isn't that great. I'd put it a tier below SSG/Daikokuya and even fujisan. Good if you like spicy stuff though.
 
There was a ramen shop in Cypress called Gomen that I used to love when I lived in California. Great tonkotsu.
 
Daikokuya is seriously overrated. It has good days and terrible ones

My preferred spots are Shinsengumi Little Tokyo and Yamadaya Torrance
 
Not saying it is the best, but I really liked the ramen at Tsujita on Sawtelle. Was pretty damn salty though. I should expand my ramen game when I go back home this summer.
 
Daikokuya, huh? I've lived close to Los Angeles for a sizeable chunk of my life and have never been to Little Tokyo. My friends tried to take me when I was in the city for Anime Expo last year but I turned them down because I was tired. Maybe I should give it a try.
 
Tsujita on Sawtelle is pretty amazing. The main restaurant only serves ramen at lunch, but the Tsujita Annex across the street serves ramen all day (but for some reason isn't quiiiite as good as the main restaurant).

Second place for me is a tie between Santouka at Mitsuwa Market (Torrance or Centinela) and Yamada-ya on Sepulveda & Washington Place. In fact, I like Yamada-ya's broth a little more than Tsujita's.

I'll also second the votes for Hurry Curry as the superior curry.
 
TheListener said:
Kanpai's late night ramen has improved a lot. It's goddamn delicious now. If they start making their own noodles, they'll be one to reckon with. Plus you can start with world class sushi.
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It's my favorite. Been to Tsujita Annex and didn't like it as much.
 
Tsujita has the best Tsukemen noodles, hands down. I prefer Shinsengumi to Daikokuya which was super greasy (had the one on Sawtelle, not downtown).
 
Xcellere said:
Say whaaa? The best sushi I've had in my entire life is in the OC. Nana San in Newport Beach will steamroll your testicles into heavenly bliss. And it's Japanese owned.
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That's the same general area of Costa Mesa though! A bit further south though, lol I feel like the further south you go in the OC, the more authentic Japanese places get. Like Fountain Valley has the karaoke place with Joysound x UGA and Ebisu Ramen right next to it...

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The red area is what I was talking about, but the blue area is where you were mentioning, I think.

Also we recently got this one teeny place called What's Up Men that feels pretty authentic and is Japanese owned in Anaheim next to a Pieology but outside of that single place and maybe Restaurant Alpha, we don't really have much. I get the Utopia Japanese food voucher emails (like Groupon for Japanese establishments in SoCal) every so often and almost every place on there is in LA/Little Tokyo or Newport Beach/Costa Mesa. :(
 
i managed to eat at the Little Tokyo Daikokuya twice in rapid succession with no line two months ago.

got it kotteri style both times.


my god. it was full of stars.
 
StopMakingSense said:
Hurry Curry is objectively better than Curry House. I still mourn their very short lived Pasadena location.
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This is correct. Hurry Curry is godlike, while Curry House is just okay. If I ever move away from Los Angeles, Hurry Curry will be one of the things I miss terribly.

Shin-Sen-Gumi Hakata in Little Tokyo is my preferred ramen right now, but I haven't been to several of the places mentioned in the thread, so it looks like more research is needed. Orochan is good if you want a punch of spicy in the mouth, but it's a tad bland without the spice, plus you really need to order extra noodles there if you want a decent amount. It's mostly broth.
 
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