The 15 Best Ramen Shops in Los Angeles Eater LA

Table Of Content

• Essential Ramen Shops in Los Angeles
• Jidaiya Ramen Dining
• Leading L.A. vegan restaurant goes un-vegan. ‘I knew the vitriol that would come my way’
• Beyond Erewhon: Inside the L.A. grocery store where all the cool vegans are flocking
• He protested in a clown suit outside a restaurateur’s home. The owner pulled a gun on him
• Killer Noodle
• Tsukemen Aizen

In 2018 she and her husband bought a family farm and started fighting food waste, transporting the compostable byproduct from her restaurants to their farm and placing it back into the soil. After selling their family farm in California, they moved to Texas and built Sovereignty Ranch, which also hosts workshops for practices such as homesteading and dome building. Restaurants have opted to include meat and dairy on menus in recent years, including Hot Tongue and Burgerlords, citing financial viability. If you want a classic, hearty bowl of ramen and don’t mind waiting, Daikokuya is a staple in Little Tokyo. Daikokuya’s tonkotsu ramen is probably what you’d imagine if you were asked to think of a bowl of ramen. The slightly curly egg noodles paired with a thick tonkatsu soup base and tender chashu are the epitome of comfort food.

Essential Ramen Shops in Los Angeles

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This focused ramen shop in Torrance serves polished bowls with a garlicky broth. Chashu pork melts in one’s mouth, while the noodles are of the thin, wheat variety common at Hakata-style shops. The chef-owner considers herself vegetarian while at home, opting to make her own yogurt, sour cream and kefir from her cows’ milk, but she is vegan when dining out as ingredient provenance and farming practices are less clear. Tokyo’s famous Afuri opened in LA after first expanding to Oregon. Sporting a yuzu-tinted seafood and chicken broth, this lighter style of ramen still packs plenty of flavor with soba-like noodles made on the premises and high-quality toppings. The cocktails and minimalist ambience makes the whole affair a pleasant experience.

Jidaiya Ramen Dining

This Michelin-recommended ramen shop has a slightly more upscale and polished feel than competing shops, with some bowls reaching and surpassing $30. The results are terrific for those willing to shell out a few extra bucks, especially the signature shina soba ramen with an intense broth, wontons, and chashu. For a more creative combination, try the whole lamb chops swimming in spicy red soup. “I saw them calling me a murderer like my father because my father has a small dairy farm in Idaho,” Engelhart said.

Leading L.A. vegan restaurant goes un-vegan. ‘I knew the vitriol that would come my way’

Previously, she served as the restaurants and bars editor for Time Out Los Angeles, and prior to that, the award-winning food editor of Richmond magazine in Richmond, Va. To be the finest food city in the country and might be biased on that count but doesn’t believe she’s wrong. Originally from Tokyo, Tonchin LA takes over a prime Melrose Avenue location with sleek vibes, a cocktail bar, and upscale ramen bowls.

Beyond Erewhon: Inside the L.A. grocery store where all the cool vegans are flocking

What’s different about Killer Noodle is its homage to the spicy, Chinese-inflected tantanmen. With sesame- and pepper-laden noodles, the ramen is served as a noodle soup or “dry” on a platter. According to Engelhart — who operates Sage with her husband, chef-owner Elias Sosa — in years past the restaurants would do $7 million in annual business.

He protested in a clown suit outside a restaurateur’s home. The owner pulled a gun on him

Instead, he leveraged the 100-year-old building's unique ambiance to offer a nostalgic ramen experience. Despite the initial American perception of ramen as a cheap cup noodle, Takaaki's relentless work - including a year of barely sleeping, living in the restaurant, serving customers until 4am - slowly changed this view. Aided by positive social media reviews, the restaurant's fame skyrocketed. Yet, for Takaaki, the journey isn't over as he continues to refine Daikokuya's taste.

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Killer Noodle

The collaboration between chefs Hiroyuki Masato, Andy Juliady, Sebastian Karyadi, and Jeffry Undiarto (the former manager of two-Michelin-starred n/naka) offers modern updates on familiar classics. If you’re craving something on the lighter side, Iki’s yuzu shio is bright and refreshing. Their soup base is flavored with house-made dashi and chicken broth. It has pork belly, menma (lacto-fermented bamboo shoots), nori, green onions, and a soft-boiled seasoned egg. Daikokuya Main Branch, born in LA's Little Tokyo in 2002, quickly became the city's top ramen hotspot. Under Takaaki's skillful management, the eatery overcame early financial struggles without resorting to renovations.

Menu

Her father, Matthew Engelhart, is a co-owner of vegan restaurants Gracias Madre and Cafe Gratitude. The ranch’s supply chain is still in planning phases with the exception of its corn, used for masa, which will make its way into Sage’s tortillas. Origin Milk, based in Ohio, will produce some of Sage’s dairy products, including cheese.

Tsukemen Aizen

That topic first caught her attention more than a decade ago via a TED Talk by author and agricultural consultant Graeme Sait, which touched on soil degradation and studies linking it to climate change. It sent her on a years-long mission to dive into regenerative agriculture, a term with no one-size-fits-all definition that could apply to a number of farming practices. It often encapsulates closed-loop soil and feeding systems that offset and capture carbon, usually relying on a number of animals, natural fertilization and other factors to improve the land. Fried eggs and carne asada can be added to existing menu items. Additionally, a new initiative to remove seed oils from the restaurants will mean a switch to nut-based vegan cheeses.

“I understand their passion and I understand their sadness and I understand their anger,” Engelhart told The Times. “I had the same views of the world that they did before I shifted my ideas based on my experience in farming, and I have compassion for what they’re feeling. I hope that the vegan community and the regenerative community can really come together because I think they’re both powerful, powerful pathways for change. Slow-cooked Tonkotsu (pork) broth, finished with a perfect blend of 11 bold ingredients. Thin noodles served with Tatsu Egg, scallions and fried onions. This tantanmen specialist on Sawtelle comes from the prolific Tsujita group, which already has two standout noodle restaurants on the block.

If you’re downtown, Ramen Hood inside Grand Central Market is an excellent option for vegans and non-vegans alike. The least traditional bowl on the list, Ramen Hood’s broth is made by simmering shiitake mushrooms, kelp, white miso, and roasted sunflower seeds. Their chewy, slightly curly noodles were perfectly-cooked and satisfying to eat, but the real star ingredient was their treatment of oyster mushrooms. I’m not sure how they’re able to pack so much umami flavor into a king oyster mushroom, but they’re savory, complex, and deliciously meaty.