Top Picks: Rameniac's Best LA Ramen
Recently featured on KCRW's Good Food with Evan Kleiman, Rameniac is a certified noodle freak who eats, sleeps, and dreams the soupy, squiggly stuff. A former English teacher in the hinterlands of Japan, his obsession with ramen goes far beyond the 6 for $1 packages that starving college students live on. Now based in Los Angeles and dedicated to spreading the gospel of good noodles across the English-speaking world, he loads up on countless unnecessary carbs and lives to tell all about it at Rameniac.com. His top six Los Angeles ramen houses follow. Pastafarians rejoice!
Orochon Ramen
123 Astronaut E S Onizuka St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 617-1766
Orochon Ramen's nine levels of spiciness are most definitely not for the faint of heart. Finish a bowl of the "special #2" within thirty minutes, and you'll get your … picture taken for the infamous "wall of bravery." Bring milk. Your stomach will thank you the next morning. [link]
Daikokuya
327 E 1st St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 626-1680
This popular ramen shop in Little Tokyo features a rich, shoyu and pork-bone noodle soup and some of the best potstickers known to man. Be forewarned: Ever since Jonathan … Gold reviewed the place for L.A. Weekly, lines have been out the door. Good food comes to those who wait. [link]
Shin-Sen-Gumi Hakata Ramen
2015 W Redondo Beach Blvd
Gardena, CA 90247
The Shin-Sen-Gumi family of restaurants exists to promote little-known Japanese culinary traditions throughout Southern California. Hakata Ramen brings a popular taste of … Fukuoka -- pork bone soup and al dente noodles -- to the South Bay. Customizable toppings and an extremely enthusiastic staff make dining here an exceptional experience. [link]
Gardena Ramen
1840 W 182nd St
Torrance, CA 90504
(310) 324-6993
Isao Nakamura's low-key ramen shop is a one-man operation through which he continually hones and perfects his craft in the tradition of Japan's top noodle masters. … Nakamura-san boils his soup, a frothy blend of pork knuckle and chicken bone, for days on end, achieving an unparalleled complexity rarely found this side of the Pacific Ocean. [link]
Santouka Ramen
3760 S Centinela Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90066
One of the few shops in town to feature an authentic regional style of ramen, Santouka serves up a luscious pork bone and seafood soup from the far reaches of northern … Japan. Rumor has it that they freeze the stuff and fly it in direct from the motherland. The best ramen in town can be had right here, in a Japanese supermarket food court a stone's throw from Venice Beach. [link]
