Midtown Lunch

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…

Read more »

When Tsujita first announced that they’d be taking over the old Miyata Menji space to open an “Annex” it made total sense.  The  popular ramen spot on Sawtelle has been perpetually packed for lunch since word got out that they were serving the best bowl of ramen in L.A.  Plus, the original space turns into a ramen-less izakaya at night so having a replicon across the street would not only lessen the lines during lunch but would also give Tsujita’s legions of fans an opportunity to eat their ramen for dinner.

Well, the Annex had their grand opening yesterday after a 4 day invite only trial period and you might be surprised to hear that the bowl of ramen they’re serving is absolutely nothing like the original.  The good news is, it’s nothing like any of the other bowls of ramen in Los Angeles either.

Read more »

I want to stop eating ramen.  I really do.  But the city won’t let me. First, popular Torrance transplant Yamadaya opened around the corner from my house.  Then Shin Sen Gumi did the same Downtown.  Surely after my Tsukemen round up, I would take a slurp break, but no.  After months of teasing, Tsujita L.A., a Tokyo mini-chain popular for its tonkotsu ramen and citrus spritzed tsukemen, decided to finally start serving lunch last week.  How could I not?

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

Read more »

Ramen fanatics… our wait is finally over.  Tsujita L.A. finally opens for lunch today, and will begin serving ramen and tsukemen- the dishes they are famous for in Japan. Normally you might want to give a place like this time to get settled, but they’ve been open for two months for dinner while clearly holding out on serving their ramen!  Clearly it’s ready for public consumption, and  if the Tanaka pop up at Mitsuwa last week (which was reportedly a testing ground for the ramen chefs at Tsujita) was any indication, it’s going to be amazing from day 1.

But that’s not the only new lunch I’m excited about this week…

Read more »