Los Angeles

Cultural Enrichment in DTLA

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Hi friends, Joan here!

Long time no see! But I just went to a new ramen spot over the weekend and wanted to quickly share about it.

One of the things that I love about LA, especially Downtown LA, is that you can transport yourself to different countries within a 1 mile radius. I brought my friend, Elena, who’s originally from Saint Petersburg, Russia, and has not visited DTLA yet.

As I was googling ramen spots that had vegan options in Little Tokyo, I stumbled upon Okiboru House of Tsukemen. It’s summer, it’s hot… and tsukemen will hit the spot! Heh. That rhymed. Anyway… Okiboru was located in China Town instead.

Welcome to China… Town

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Anti-Vegetarian

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Hello friends,

Joan here. I’m doing something that I haven’t done in a long time… write a blog post shortly after a ramen run! AGH!

Saturday night, I had a ramen dinner with my brother, Mark, who’s visiting LA for the weekend. It’s been a while since I’ve been to Ramen Hayatemaru in West LA and I was craving their awesome tsukemen. Also, Hayatemaru is not only great at ramen but they have amazing appetizers. We started off with some gyoza and spicy cucumbers. Be careful, those cucumbers definitely had a kick to them!

IMG_3619 … well you can have good gyoza at Hayatemaru!
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Never Too Early for Ramen

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Hey everyone, Joan here.

Just a quick post for you about another ramen spot in West LA. Forget Little Tokyo, (even though I love DTLA) the Westside is definitely where all the good ramen is at! All within a 5 mile radius.

I finally got around to checking out Ramen Yamadaya in Westwood. I’ve been to the other restaurants of its chain so I had an idea of what to expect there. My friend, Lisha, and her cute son Iari (ya-ree), joined me for an early ramen lunch. I don’t normally eat ramen so early in the day (11 am), but I was starving and had not eaten breakfast. Lisha is a very talented photographer and took some photos for this blog post!

IMG_1084 Ramen Yamadaya

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My One True Love

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When you can’t seem to stay away from that one thing/person and you just have to keep coming back, it must be love…. or an addiction.

This is Joan and I have found my true love… and it is Kotoya. I ate there every other day for about a week! Yes, I fell in love with Kotoya before but had to distance myself because it was too good to be true. But I went back and became addicted to a few new items on their menu. I could not stay away.

IMG_9468BUNNIES!!! Continue reading →

BFF!

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Hey everyone, Joan here!

Sorry it’s been a while! As you might have read in one of our last blog posts, (Here’s to a New Year) things have been crazy busy with Tanya and I. We’re still busy, but we are always doing our best to keep up with the blog! So don’t worry, we ain’t goin nowhere!

Tanya came out to Santa Monica for the day to hang and we checked out a ramen restaurant that my coworker told me about. He grew up in West LA and have been going to this place all his life. So we thought we’d check it out!

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Funky Ramen Trio

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Hey friends,

Just writing a quick post for ya!

Before a gig, my friends, Max and JohnPaul, joined me for dinner at Tsujita Annex. The last time I went there I had their tsukemen, which was delicious yet overwhelmingly heavy. So I thought I’d give their bowl of ramen a try this time. The three of us ordered the Ramen with Soft Boiled Egg.

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Hipster Ramen

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Hi everyone, Joan again.

Here’s another overdue post! I finally got to see what all the fuss was about with Silverlake Ramen and I have to say… it was awesome! So awesome that I went twice! So… here’s a post of my two visits.

The first time I had heard about this place was from my friend, Chris, who described Silverlake Ramen as “not too bad for hipster nipster!” He had been there several times so I had to take his word for it. Chris, his girlfriend Jenny, and my friend, Stacy and I, all met up one cold evening and joined the long lines of the hip ramen joint.

IMG_7291Ramen unite!

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Police Force Ramen

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Did you know that the Shinsengumi were a special police force of Japan during the final years of the Tokugawa shogunate? The Shinsengumi kept the peace in Kyoto between 1853 and 1867, when Japan opened up to the West and their political situation became very chaotic.

I sound like I know what I’m talking about….

Hey everyone, Joan here. Last Friday, I went on a ramen run with my friend Max (ramen run celebrity wannabe and Bodhi Rock trumpeteer) at the new Shinsengumi in West LA. With the stiff competition of ramen restaurants in Little Osaka, I was surprised that Shinsengumi found a home on Sawtelle Blvd. It was located several blocks north of the Little Osaka area where there’s a ramen spot on every corner. But at least the West LA folks won’t have to make a trek down to Little Tokyo in Downtown LA just for some customizable ramen!

IMG_7132Shinsengumi is located in a very unusual area…

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Haaayatemaru! ROUND 2!

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Haha sorry! I couldn’t help myself.

Anyway, Joan here. I’ve had a pretty bad cold all week and have been craving a good bowl of spicy ramen. Last night, my brother and I visited our cousin, Michelle and wanted to check out Kotoya for their awesome spicy ramen. There was quite a wait and I became a bit anxious so we decided to switch to Hayatemaru, just a few minutes away. I’ve been here with Michelle and Tanya before and thought it was pretty good. I also had a chance to try their new Ebiton ramen at the Ramen Yokocho Festival so I thought we’d give the restaurant a second try!

IMG_7093 Can’t have ramen without beer!

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Ramen Converts

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Hey friends, Joan here.

I have acquired new converts to join my ramen cult. Muahaha!

After a Matthew Jude Band gig at the Joint in LA, I thought I’d take some friends on a late night ramen run at Tatsu. Half of them have never had ramen before so I was pretty excited to be part of their first ramen run!

There was actually a large group of us there, but I didn’t take any photos of myself, Matthew Jude, and Angie. You’ve seen enough of our faces anyway.

IMG_0142       Newbies Matt (different Matt & groupie)
& Kelly (awesome lady and MJBand supporter!)

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