2013 Los Angeles Ramen Yokocho Fest
RAMEN TIME!
Last Sunday, I was helping out my friend
Keizo Shimamoto and the Original Ramen Burger
and Today I'm at the Ramen Yokocho Fest!
I have to admit, I haven't really had a lot of
ramen lately, if you follow me on Instagram,
you know I eat more Vietnamese pho.
I do have my ramen favorites.
When I do eat ramen, my favorite is tonkotsu (pork broth)
Our goal today was to try places
from outside of the Los Angeles area.
Hearing and seeing pics of yesterday's madness,
we decided to get there early, about 9:15 am.
About a 100 people in front of us.
The gates open at 10 am.
By the time we got in, it was just
after 10:30.
After you purchase your food and drink tickets,
you enter the festival grounds.
Ramen = $8
Sodas = $2
Water = $1
With tickets in hand, you look for the
end of the line of the ramen you want to try.
I wanted to try the only vendor from Japan,
Kitakata Ramen Bannai
and the hand crumpled noodles.
Wonder if they're really hand crumpled?
I happened to find the end of the line right away,
the girl in front of me handed me the sign
that said, "End of the Line for Kitakata"
which I handed to the 5 people now standing
behind me.
See What Jay Eats...
Gomaichi
from Honolulu, HI
It was a cold offering, with the noodles
in a sesame and chili oil paste.
Overheard the couple behind me say that
if they wanted a salad, they would not
have come to a ramen festival.
Guess they weren't fans of the greens...
I did like the flavor, I wouldn't have
used the greens that they dressed the noodles with,
maybe they didn't think they hit the $8 price point.
I would've garnished with micro greens if felt the need to use greens.
Monta
from Las Vegas
Broth made from pork bones with some
chicken stock for this event.
Good broth and enjoyed the noodles.
I'm not sure why they added the chicken stock...
Orenchi
from Santa Clara, CA
Broth from pork bones, chicken bones, and vegetables,
but light flavor.
I liked the noodles on this one
and went well with the light broth.
Tsujita LA Artisan Noodles
This was the only local place we tried,
only because they had something special for the festival
Tokyo Hiyashi Niboshi Ramen
It was a cold preparation, I love citrus and
was one of my favorites of the day.
Because of my catering experience and
have served 300 - 1,200 people all at one
time, I really don't get doing everything
one at a time.
Sorry, occupational hazard.
Sorry, occupational hazard.
OK, from cooking the noodles to the precise
amount of time, I get it, please no DMs.
I will have to say that Kitakata was cooking noodles
by batch and then dividing it into 10 bowls at a time.
Daikokuya was there,
another Los Angeles local ramen chain...
But I was here for something I can't get
in Los Angeles
AND
the LONGEST Line!
Kitakata Ramen Bannai
from Japan
The wait was close to 2 hours, at least
that's what the friend of the two guys in front of me
said, as she kept bringing them water and ramen.
I was going to say this was the longest I've waited
for food, but I do believe that we waited over 2 hours
just as the Kogi truck hit it big...
If we had only gone a week before, would have
waited 10 minutes.
So the pork is "Hand-prepared",
sounds like a good tag line.
"Toro-Chashu", I'm assuming it's pork belly,
and according to the ad, "will melt in your mouth"
So after waiting in line for about 2 hours
and having tasted 4 bowls of ramen,
it's finally time...
Hand Crumpled Curly Noodles
with the Toro-Chashu.
The noodles were thick and reminded
me of saimin noodles
And the pork was tender and flavorful.
The broth was good, but not the best of the day.
I was satisfied with this one
and the line didn't seem to
bother me by the time I
tasted the chashu.
We had an extra ticket and ended up
getting two bowls,
so we each got 2 pieces of pork,
SCORE!
The is my souvenir from Kitakata Ramen
for waiting about 2 hours in line
for a great piece of pork!
I have no idea what it says,
but my guess is
"I waited in this lousy line and
all I got was a great piece of pork"
With that said,
we were outta there by 12:45 pm.
I want to Thank my friends who
came along and we were able to
taste 5 different ones in about
2 hours of time.
I didn't get a chance to walk around and take
pictures or see the other ramen booths,
because I was in line most of the time.
Yes, there were other 9 other ramen vendors,
but only so much time we wanted to spend there.
We did see a couple of vendors knocking off the Ramen Burger,
I did see a girl who bite into it and it fell apart in the wrapper.
Images of Hamburger Helper came to mind...
Kezio Shimamoto's Ramen Burger falls apart, but in your mouth.
The Original looked so much better.
Yes, I'm bias...
Pass the Chopsticks!
Photos by Jay Terauchi
Jay Eats Worldwide
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