Restaurant: Orochon Ramen

In Japan, noodle slurping's the norm. In the US, it's considered rude. At Orochon Ramen it's irresistible.

Food: 10/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Service: 7/10

My subjective Grade: A
Best for: A lunch time savory, salty fix
In a perfect world I'd dine here: Weekly



Details:
Weller Court 3rd Floor
123 S. Onizuka Street #303
Los Angeles, CA 90012
www.orochonramen.com

There's been a lot of fuss made about downtown LA and the loft revival. Many are saying that Downtown is going to be converted into a hip place to live, and, more importantly, investors are beginning to buy into the idea and invest in cleaning the city up. The result is a bizarre juxtaposition: You get expensive luxury highrises that look out onto skid row. In the humble opinion of this LA resident however, the city's a long way from being habitable.

That said, Little Tokyo is a bastion of convenience and comfort in an otherwise dicey city. Within Little Tokyo lies Weller Court, an unremarkable building from the street-side that actually opens onto a three story open-air shopping center/plaza (and home to several great restaurants). It's one of the very few places in LA where you can eat your meal outside without being hassled by a single pan-handler.

It's also home to the best ramen I've ever had.

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Food: 10/10

• Ramen is the unsurprising key to Orochon Ramen's success. For those whose experience with ramen has been limited to Cup'O Noodle, I hope I can express to you the full spectrum of ramen available. Cup'O Noodles and the like are to ramen what chicken bouillon cubes are to your grandma's homemade chicken soup.
• Orochon has other items on its menu, but there's really no need to order any. If you look around the place, every face is going to be firmly rooted a few inches above an enormous bowl. Orochon proudly explains that they begin with pie water (they claim it's the purest water available), add a blend of 13 spices, and make every bowl to order. For the consumer this means a choice of one of three bases (miso, salt, soy sauce), one of nine levels of spice (finishing the hottest bowl in a set time-limit lands your Polaroid pic a place of envy on their wall), and up to nine toppings (ranging from melt-in-your-mouth Cha-Shu pork slices to bamboo shoots). Of course, the above are added to a mix already including a healthy serving of ramen noodles, tender pork, wood-ear fungus, and more.
• The end is a savory, filling, euphoric meal. And leftovers.

Atmosphere: 7/10

• Orochon has a small cafe feel to it. Unfortunately, during peak hours it draws quite a crowd. For the consumer this means two things:

1. They've crammed as many tables as they can into the place, so you'll be slurping shoulder to shoulder with everyone else in the joint.
2. You're going to have to choose between waiting inside (standing) in the very little floor space available (and risk getting bowled over by the scurrying waitstaff) or waiting outside with any other groups milling about in hopes of rameny sustenance.

• Still, once you're seated it's not like you'll be looking up from your ramen bowl, so it hardly makes a difference to me. If it's available, the outside seating and view of the Weller Court are quite nice.
  

Service: 7/10

• It may take a little time before the waitstaff acknowledge you (at which point they'll tell you to write your name on their waiting list). Everyone's quite nice, but they only have a few waiters handling the crowds. Don't expect a refill; you're going to have to fight for that second iced Oolong tea.

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Eating Orochon Ramen:

Iced Oolong tea. Miso base. Number seven (non-spicy). Cha-Shu Slice x 2 (one for there, one for the leftovers), corn, bamboo shoots, garlic.

It's that easy. Now it's time for me to polish off yesterday's leftovers.