Did we mention that Costa Mesa is OC’s Ramen Town? We did, but in case you weren’t listening, here’s even more proof. Two new ramen joints have opened to join the ranks of Santouka, Zetton, Ikkousha, Yamadaya, and Kitakata.
The first one is called Toraji Ramen, and it opened about two months ago inside Tokyo Central market, which, you may remember, is the rebranded Marukai. So far, Toraji offers only three flavors: a tonkotsu, a tonkotsu shoyu, and a shoyu. It may eventually expand its menu to match the branch of Toraji in Gardena, which opened in 2014 and offers a seafood champon ramen. The noodles in champon, unlike most ramen, are prepared in the same wok as the broth and meat.
The second ramen restaurant to open recently is Aoki No Chuuka in the space that was formerly Tabento. Since it’s more an all-encompassing Japanese-Chinese restraurant than ramen specialist, Aoki No Chuuka offers over ten varieties of ramen, including a curry ramen and a mabo tofu ramen, but also udon, yakisoba, stir fries and rice dishes.
So go ahead, El Niño; bring your worst. We’ve already got us some ramen!
Toraji Ramen, 2975 Harbor Blvd, Costa Mesa
Aoki No Chuuka, 1525 Mesa Verde Drive East, Ste 112, Costa Mesa
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.