DTLA and Ramen

Downtown Los Angeles or DTLA, like in many other larger cities with “downtowns”, it is a central hub for the chaotic spur of city life. Therefore, the food echoes the glow of city life.

I take my journey in the cool night of Southern California to DTLA Ramen, a quaint little ramen shop across from the ACE hotel Theater. It is surrounded by the glow of neon lights, though not as impressive has Hong Kong or even Las Vegas, enough to keep the nightlife mood present. I stumbled into the restaurant close to 8:15 pm where the wait to be seated was none existent, a plus for anyone wanting to grab a quick bite at night. The waiters were “chill” definitely ready to close up shop and enjoy the rest of their night, but not rude in any way. The menu offered its standard affair of ramen with the most expensive for 13.50$ being the Tsukemen, a type of dipping noodle dish that replaces the soup broth for a concentrated soup base on the side allowing the person to dunk their starchy strings to whatever intensity they want. I settled for the Shoyu Ramen, a soy sauce based traditional Ramen. A simple and delicious dish that strikes balance between richness and flavor. As opposed to Tonkatsu Ramen where the soup base is made from simmering pork bone, with tweaks here and there from each restaurant, creating a much heavier and richer taste. The Shoyu Ramen I selected was made with a combination of soy sauce and kelp base creating a smooth umami sensation. It was paired with two “ok” sized slices of Chicken Chashu; although there wasn’t anything Chashu about the chicken, it was tender and “clean” tasting although, it looked more like boiled chicken that had been seared with a blowtorch, still delicious nonetheless. In addition, there is an option to select either a hard or soft-boiled whole egg making it a touch bit better since most ramen shops offer soft-boil and only half the egg for the aesthetic appeal. Such a welcome sight to those who have picky friends. The ramen was delicious a light yet satisfying broth, acceptable protein, and nicely textured noodles with the soft-boiled egg actually being one of the best parts if not the best soft-boiled egg I have ever had! The egg was soft-boiled to perfectly and the taste was absolutely a flavor EXPLOSION! To my surprise, the ordinary looking soft boiled egg had flavor inside the egg yolk similar to a tea egg, a slightly salty and subtle herbal flavor.

Overall, the experience was perfect for a late night bite and it definitely hit the spot without a food coma. The atmosphere of the restaurant was modern with a slight industrial theme basically less cozy more street life if that makes sense. For all you ramen fanatics I would highly recommend checking out DTLA Ramen!!