Ramen!

All right, I'm not in the hood. The new job took me out to LA for the week so I thought I'd post a short report. Had my second meal of the week tonight in LT -- yes you're right, that's Little Tokyo. Even though I come from Italian and Mexican stock, Japanese food is way up there for me.

My first LT meal of the week was a bit disappointing, was good, not great. I had some izakaya at a place called Izayoi. Was a lot better the last time I was in town. Was gonna try another izakaya place tonight, but when I walked up the place was dead. So I thought, what are my options? I knew there would be ramen places nearby, so I pulled out my phone and surveyed the scene.

Lo and behold, what did I find -- Orochon Ramen! This place has a bit of a following since it is both really good, but it was also highlighted on a Travel Channel show called Man v. Food not that long ago. A main draw for the show was the Special 2 ramen.

This is an extremely spicy ramen. And I think if you actually finish an entire bowl you get some kind of special prize. I am not that loco, but I did want to push it a bit and I ordered Impact - Orochon 3. It would have been better if I didn't start with a couple small dishes -- the spicy scallops and the cucumber with miso -- but hey, I was hungry. Both dishes were good, but the ramen is very filling. Especially when all the broth is combined with a couple big Sapporo's.

You can choose from 3 styles, miso, soy sauce and salty. I chose miso.
I can't imagine what salty would have been like. I'm already gonna have to double up on my blood pressure medicine after that meal.

And all the prices are cheap, around $6 to $7. Same for the small plates; mine were less than $4 each. I also added tofu to the ramen ($2 extra), but it obviously comes with ramen noodles and veggies. I thought it also might come with pork - since the menu said that - but mine didn't. Just as well since I know it was not happy pork.

Now doesn't that look good?

And the spice level didn't kill me. It was hot, but not so much it wasn't enjoyable, But for sure, as I made my way down to the bottom of the bowl it did get hotter - or liquid lava as my fellow ramen eater next to me called it.

And even though I tried my best, I could not get all the way to the bottom of the bowl. It was a bit of heaven and hell, agony and ecstasy. I was so full, but the ramen was so good. I didn't want to stop, but I had to. I did make it pretty far. I would highly recommend this place if you're out in LA for any reason. It's on the 3rd floor of a little mall called Sutton Court - has a lot of other restaurants - at the corner of 2nd Ave and San Pedro.

I wish I knew of a place in the metro area that did ramen like this. Given the low price of serving ramen, I bet it would do well. I read the other day in SS Singular that Langano is losing its lease. Is there any way a ramen place could take it over?? If so, I would be one happy man.