Midtown Lunch

One can’t help but feel like there is a full scale ramen invasion going on in Los Angeles right now.  Jinya attacked the woefully unoccupied Valley and Mid City territories, while Yamadaya took their Torrence army north into a Westside previously dominated by Santouka– and will soon dispatch another force to Westwood, where Wakasan is the only ramen lunch to be had.  We are all eagerly awaiting Tsujita’s first move in West L.A., and even Hollywood seems to be under fire.

But none of those battles compare to the throw down that is about to take place in Downtown L.A. Love it or hate it, there is no dispute that Daikokuya is the best bowl of ramen in DTLA. But now that Shin Sen Gumi, a Hakata style ramenya with locations in the South Bay and San Gabriel Valley, has opened up an outpost in Little Tokyo that is all totally up in the air.

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My dearest Santouka,

We had a nice run, but I’ve met somebody else.

Love,
This Fat Guy.

After months of construction, and weeks of countdown signs with questionable math, Ramen Yamadaya finally opened their doors on Washington & Sepulveda on Saturday. A Torrance transplant, with the highest endorsement there is in the ramen world, the excitement for Yamadaya has been pretty intense- even though the westside is not the ramen deprived wasteland of, say, the pre-Jinya valley.  After all, while some ramen snobs get positively burger’ish about the best bowl noodles in Southern California, most people choose their ramen spots by location.  If you’re Downtown, and have a lot of time on your hands, you go to Daikokuya. Mid City? Robata Jinya.  The Valley? Ramen Jinya. Westside has always been owned by Santouka. And if you live in Torrence you go to- oh, who am I kidding. If you live in Torrence, you’re not reading what a short fat Jewish guy thinks about pork bone ramen.

In other words, I’m not here to proclaim Yamadaya the greatest bowl of ramen in the entire universe. Better than this. Better than that. (I’ll leave that to the experts.) But, as a resident of Culver City, and a lover of tonkotsu ramen, I can safely say that it was good enough on day 4 to (easily) be in consideration for go-to ramen king of the Westside.

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If you were to create a ramen compass of Los Angeles it would be fairly simple… any of the places in Torrance to the South, Santouka to the West, Daikokuya to the East (in Downtown), and the new’ish Ramen Jinya to the North (Studio City). For most people the decision over where to ramen is one of proximity, but what about those who are smack dab in the middle? That problem seemed to be solved thanks to the news that Ramen Jinya would be opening a new spot, Robata Jinya, on 3rd Ave. and Crescent Heights. And when I read yesterday that they were now open for lunch and serving up ramen, I rushed right over to check it out.

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Is there a better area of Downtown to work near (or eat lunch in) than Little Tokyo?  It almost makes me want to get a job at City Hall just so I could work near all the great Japanese food that lines the streets between Main St. and Alameda.  I’ve already tried the porky bowl of goodness that is Daikokuya’s ramen, and the Little Tokyo Marketplace (on 3rd & Alameda) is on my radar.  But when Profiled Lunch’er “Nguyen” (who also happens to own Starry Kitchen in the Downtown Water Court) called Chin Ma Ya’s ramen one of his favorite dishes to eat Downtown, the Weller Court (nr. 2nd and Los Angeles) leaped to the top of my list.

Chin Ma Ya isn’t known for their typical Japanese ramen.  You can order a shoyu or shio ramen, but their specialty is something called “tan tan men” a Japanese ramen with a Sichuan twist (imagine a bowl of soup with dan dan noodles dumped into it, and that’s the dish.)  I love ramen.  And I love Sichuan cuisine.  So there was pretty much no way this was going to be bad…

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Ever since I was a kid growing up in Miami I have had a soft spot for mall food courts. Where else could I enjoy a pork lo mein dinner (thank you random Dadeland Mall Chinese food spot) while my brother ate a bowl of matzoh ball soup (Bain’s Deli represent!) I’m ashamed to admit it, but I still love a little Daphne’s, or Hot Dog on a Stick, or Panda Express (the king!) from time to time. But those aren’t Midtown Lunches. Food courts are havens for your lazy co-workers, who don’t want to venture just a bit farther for something good. In other words they’ve become the very thing this site is meant to fight against.

Unless it’s an Asian food court! When I hit up Daikokuya in Little Tokyo the first week I was here, the ramen recommendations started pouring in. “Daikokuya is overhyped! Go to Mr. Ramen.” “Drive down to Torrence!” “Take the Orochon Challenge!” I plan on doing them all… but first on my list was a visit to the “West L.A.” branch of Mitsuwa, the giant chain of Japanese grocery stores. Every location has a food court, and nobody is serving samples of chicken teriyaki.  There was actually a giant (and awesome) Mitsuwa in New Jersey that we used to take the bus to once in a blue moon (hello giant bluefin tuna!) but somehow I never tried Santouka- the famous Japanese ramen chain located in their food court. Thankfully they have them out here as well!

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Ever since I told people I was moving to L.A. the recommendations have been pouring in from everywhere, and when a good friend/chef told me I had to hit up Daikokuya in Little Tokyo I wasn’t about to argue with her.  Unlike great thai food (which is scarce in Midtown Manhattan), there is no shortage of great ramen joints where I came from- from the places in Midtown that cater to Japanese businessmen (like Sapporo, Men Kui Tei, and Menchanko Tei) to the more expensive downtown spots like Ippudo and Momofuku.  I love them all.  But there was one part of the menu at Daikokuya that I couldn’t help but instantly fall in love with:

Uh… extra back fat in my pork soup?!  How could I not?

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