Tsujita Annex Replaces Miso Ramen w/ Tsukemen

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The reaction to Tsujita’s new “Annex” across Sawtelle has been pretty schizophrenic in the few weeks it’s been open.  For every ramenologist excited to discover that they’re serving an almost exact replica of Tokyo’s super famous Jiro style Ramen, there was somebody complaining on Yelp about how many ways the Annex’s bowl of soup is different from the original Tsujita location across the street. How different?  Well, it’s fattier, the noodles are thicker, it’s loaded with cabbage and bean sprouts (the horror!), they fill the bowl up so much the soup falls over the edge, and, the real crime, it’s not going to make the line at Tsujita any shorter. Did we mention how fatty Jiro style ramen is?  It makes the original Tsujita ramen from across the street seem watery.

And even though Tsujita Annex’s ramen is expertly constructed for those who appreciate this kind of ramen, complainers will be happy to know they’re not filling the bowls up to the rim as much as they were at the beginning. And yesterday they started serving their miso ramen…

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The miso ramen has the same unbelievably rich and heavy pork bone base as the regular ramen, only instead of shoyu (soy sauce) they add miso.  You still get all the fat globules floating in the soup, and finishing the whole bowl of broth will still likely make you sick.  The cha siu is the same, as is the soft boiled egg, the super thick noodles, the cabbage/bean sprout mixture, and the recommended condiments (fresh garlic and red chili pepper.)

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UPDATE 5/21/13: The Miso Ramen is being taken off the menu and replaced by… wait for it… wait for it…

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Tsukemen!  These dipping noodles are half the reason why the original Tsujita across the street became so popular so it’s no huge surprise that they’ve decided to do it at this location as well.  But just like the ramen, the Annex’s tsukemen is nothing like the original.  The noodles are the same curly yellow noodles you get across the street, but there’s no lime wedge, and no bonito/seafood flavor (as in traditional tsukemen). Instead the shoyu/tonkotsu broth they use in the Annex’s ramen has been doctored to give it a sweet and vinegary flavor. You also get the same thick cut char siu, and the pile of bean sprouts, but they add a big scoop of chili oil for spice.  The best way to eat it is to dip around the chili oil to eat the first half of the noodles, letting the heat gradually build up in the broth, then mix it in for the second half of the noodles.

Hopefully these will last long than the miso ramen! (Thx to Gourmet Pigs for the tip.)

Tsujita Annex, 2500 Sawtelle Blvd. 310-231-0222

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