I may have missed the recent LA Ramen Yokocho Fest due to an unavoidable trip to Ohio, but I lucked out into finding out about Mitsuwa Market’s Hokkaido Festival in Torrance. It was this past weekend and the next best thing to actually being in Hokkaido — which I was, just a few months ago. I’ve […]
Author Archives: Will VanderWyden
September 6, 2013
The Ramen Shaman: Jiro (Kabukicho, Tokyo)
This was one for the ages. Jiro is legendary. It’s spawned a slew of imitators, one of which crossed an ocean. Many think it’s an entity unto itself, like tsukemen, rather than a type of ramen. I’ve known about Jiro since the very beginning of my ramen journey and although I’ve visited a few jiro-kei (aka […]
August 21, 2013
The Ramen Shaman: Bunsuke (Asakusa,Tokyo)
I went to the future the other day and found this synopsis on an IMDB page from 2018: A lonely Tokyo ramen shop proprietor secretly pines for a local bar owner and former model. His three most devoted customers, two wacky foreigners and their Japanese friend, fear the ramen master will die without passing his […]
July 17, 2013
The Ramen Shaman: Shhh, It’s a Secret!
Two years ago, bored at work with nothing better to do but read through American ex-pat ramen journals, I decided to start my own ramen blog. I didn’t tell anyone about it for a year because I was only using it to learn more about ramen and chronicle the bowls I downed. I never would […]
June 26, 2013
The Ramen Shaman: Tsujita Annex (LA)
I’ve written plenty about Tsujita. It is easily the best ramen shop in LA (both their hakata-style tonkotsu and tsukemen dipping ramen) and is, in my opinion, the best shop in America. But since opening in the fall of 2011 there has been one glaring flaw — they only serve ramen at lunchtime. Last call […]
May 20, 2013
Postcard from Hokkaido: Here’s Looking at YOU
This squid was swimming around, minding its own business just a couple minutes before this photo was taken. Its tentacles were still moving and all those black spots were flashing on and off while we ate it sashimi style. Then they fried the head for tempura.
May 16, 2013
The Ramen Shaman: Miso Ramen at Sumire (Sapporo)
Los Angeles to San Francisco. San Francisco to Tokyo. Tokyo to Sapporo. Plane to train to subway to foot. 33 straight hours of travel and my first meal in Japan made it all worthwhile. Welcome to ã™ã¿ã‚Œ (Sumire). My couch-surfing hosts initially thought my ramen fixation was a cute diversion but quickly realized they were […]
April 24, 2013
The Ramen Shaman: Mr. Ramen (LA)
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a man embarked on a quest was to eat at every ramen shop in Los Angeles. Mr. Ramen was on the list from Day One, but the man never visited. You see, Mr. Ramen has a certain reputation. To put it bluntly, the man has […]
March 27, 2013
The Ramen Shaman: Men Oh (LA)
Men Oh hails from Tokushima prefecture on Shikoku Island, the smallest and least populated of Japans’s four main islands. Until the completion of the first of several bridge systems in 1988 the island was only accessible by ferry or plane, and to this day the mostly rural island flies under the radar. Their ramen is […]
February 27, 2013
The Ramen Shaman: Fuunji (Shinjuku)
On a dull, drizzling day in Tokyo I set out for my second-ever bowl of tsukemen (ramen dipping noodles). After its introduction in the early 2000’s, tsukemen has boomed in popularity, rising to a crescendo a few years ago and still going strong. Many, many shops in Tokyo offer both standard ramen and tsukemen, and the consensus […]