Checking Out DTLA Ramen

I was pretty excited to see DTLA Ramen open up by me. I no longer would have to trek “so far away” to Little Tokyo for ramen.

It’s right across the street from The Ace Hotel so they’ll do very well since they have a variety of ramen styles and a vegan option.

You order at the register by the front door which leads to a clump of folks hovering outside waiting to get in. This makes it look like there’s always a line but it’s actually relatively spacious inside. DTLA Ramen is in the old Alma space.

The gyoza were these ginormous dumplings! I was a bit grumbly at first when I saw the order was $6 for four of them but they are massive and it felt like you had way more fillings than a typical order of six normal sized gyoza. These were a blend of chicken and pork. I do have to say there are a ton of Chinese leeks (chives). I would have liked them just a bit more gingery.

The karaage (fried chicken) were white meat and on the drier side. I was confused by the oddly smooth batter. Later I heard the food runner tell another table they had three kinds of spicy sauces and that table immediately ordered all three. I suppose they felt the provided sauce was a bit lackluster as well.

My friend doesn’t eat red meat so her only option was the vegan broth. She could have had the chicken broth shoyu ramen but it comes with a piece of pork (which doesn’t make much sense). The vegan ramen comes with a variety of veggies including a huge scoop of corn, bamboo, cabbage and bean sprouts. She described the broth as very grassy. She could have added tofu if she wanted some protein with the noodles. You can also add an egg (either hard boiled or the soy injected soft boiled egg) but that means the bowl is no longer vegan (still vegetarian, of course).

I got the spicy miso ramen which comes with a piece of pork. I added the soy injected egg and also got a side of ground pork and seaweed. My friend also gave me her bamboo so by the time I was done customizing my bowl, it looked more like the one below.

I liked the egg quite a bit and the broth was actually spicy. I got spicy– oddly you can pick mild for the spicy miso and you can also get it “extra” spicy. If I were to get this again, I’d probably get it mild and ask for additional chili oil to achieve my own level of spice comfort.

The broth was somewhat thin. I would probably try the tonkotsu next time to compare. I got the thick noodles and they were a little softer than I’d like. Granted, I did take pics but the noodles should still have a bit of a chew to them.

Overall, despite it being so close to me, I would go the extra mile and half over to Little Tokyo for my ramen fix.

DTLA Ramen

952 S Broadway St., Los Angeles, CA 90015  — (213) 265-7641

 

© The Minty 2017