Gold Dig #35

Tsujita is the ramen spot that makes Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list, and is also on pretty much every “top 10 ramen spots in LA” list that you can find. It’s easy to figure out which of the many Japanese restaurants in the Little Osaka area on Sawtelle is Tsujita… it’s the one that always has a line outside.

There’s always a wait for Tsujita because the ramen is awesome, and also because it’s a pretty small place – 2 booths, a few small tables, a handful of counter seats, and 3 tables outside. Because of its popularity they opened Tsujita Annex across the street, but don’t be fooled by the name – the broth and noodles are actually different. I prefer Tsujita. Also be aware that it’s cash only, though they do have an ATM inside – convenient!

The Dish

Tsujita does tonkotsu ramen, which has a thick broth made by boiling down pork bones. They say they simmer their broth for 60 hours and then add the seafood for further thickness and flavoring. They also do tsukemen, which is cold noodles dipped in broth. You can choose from a handful of toppings for a few bucks more. That fairly well covers the menu. There are also a few rice bowls, but I’ve never seen anyone order them. You go here for the noodles and broth.

Char Siu Ramen

The ramen comes plain, with green onion, or with char siu (BBQ pork). The char siu version also has green onions, so of course that’s the one I got. The broth is rich deliciousness, and the noodles are really delicate. You get to choose whether you want your noodles hard, medium, or soft – they suggest hard and I agree. You can get KAEDAMA, which is a noodle refill for $1.50, and they’ll give you more broth to go with it. I recommend doing this, as I definitely found myself wanting more noodles.

Char Siu Tsukemen

There are three options for tsukemen – plain, with a soft-boiled egg, or with char siu. Once again, the char siu version also comes with the soft-boiled egg, so might as well get the char siu as far as I’m concerned. Tsukemen is meant to be eaten in three stages – eat 1/3 of the noodles by dipping them in the broth; squeeze the lime on the remaining noodles and dip those in broth; ask for SOUP WARI to be added to the broth that’s left and then drink the soup. Don’t worry – the menu includes instructions. The tsukemen noodles are heartier than the ramen noodles, and the broth is even thicker. I like the tsukemen noodles dipped in the ramen broth – I’m probably committing some kind of major faux pas, but I do it anyway.