Daikokuya in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo is pretty much the definitive ramen place in Southern California. They only have one soup base, and they essentially serve it until they run out for the day. If you’re gonna eat here, be prepared to wait. We showed up at 4:45pm on a Sunday thinking we’d beat the dinner rush and ended up waiting 45 minutes before we sat. But once the eating started, yum city. The ramen noodles are cooked perfectly. And I mean perfectly. As in this is the exact texture ramen noodles are supposed to be. If there’s a Japanese equivalent of “al dente”, this would be it. The soup base tasted just as good as any I’ve had in Japan, and the half cooked egg was downright delicious. So much so that I ended up swiping the eggs from two of my friends’ ramen. Just doing my part to save them from a horrible life of high cholesterol. I would’ve saved them from a horrible life of obesity and eaten their ramen for them too, but alas I was too slow and couldn’t reach their bowls in time.
The salad dressing has a bit of a fishy flavor to it, but if used in the right ratio, it works well with the bitterness of the greens.
Yeah, Daikokuya is a ramen place, but their fried rice is equally amazing. Get whichever combo has both the ramen and the fried rice. Why? Because when given the option of eating one delicious thing or two, you always choose two. Unless you’re stupid, in which case forget about everything I said and go back to eating your Elmer’s glue.
Daikokuya
327 E 1st St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 626-1680
www.dkramen.com
