Midtown Lunch

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any crazier on Sawtelle in West LA, signage went up a few months ago announcing that Daikokuya would be opening just down the street from Tsujita, considered by many to be serving the best bowl of ramen in Los Angeles.  It’s enough to make ramen geeks squeal because while Tsujita is clearly serving the noodle bowl of the moment, Daikokuya’s ultra popular downtown location could be considered the ramenya that started it all here in Los Angeles.

A month ago the new West L.A. location of Daikokuya soft opened for dinner, but they didn’t start serving lunch until two days ago. And by day two the place is already packed. Check out the menu after the jump…

They’re still in soft opening mode, serving a menu that’s fairly limited compared to the Downtown location.

The Daikokuya ramen is the same  bowl of tonkotsu goodness you get downtown, with curly yellow noodles, slices of super tender pork and a soft boiled egg.  I still prefer Tsujita’s ramen (their broth is more refined and their noodles are waaaay better) but I can see how some people would prefer this salty, porky, easy to eat bowl of soup that is twice as big as its Tsujita counterpart. They’re also serving a spicy miso ramen if that’s your thing.

The place where Daikokuya really laps the competition is their rice bowls.  They have a ton of different options all available as full meals or add ons, include fried rice, oyakodon, sliced pork, sliced beef, eel, salmon egg and katsu- plus the go-to sweet and salty shredded pork bowl you see above.

It’ll be interesting to see whose lines get longer during lunchtime.  Tatsu and Tsujita’s Annex have clearly benefited from proximity to the new king, while Olympic provided a chasm too wide to cross for the ramen at Jinya.  But Daikokuya is no Jinya.  It’s a destination in and of itself, and with the benefit of a large, free parking lot will Olympic prove to be the thing that causes Daikokuya fans to just resign themselves to waiting?  And will this battle once and for all answer who serves the best bowl of ramen in Los Angeles?

Or do we have to wait for Shin Sen Gumi to open?

Daikokuya West L.A., 2208 Sawtelle Blvd. 310-575-4999