Tsujita LA

Some say this is the best ramen restaurant. The last time we tried to go, there was a long line of people waiting to get in so we ended up at Plan Check. After seeing a movie at the Laemmle Royal yesterday, we found ourselves close to Sawtelle. It was past 1 p.m. and the traffic at Sawtelle was slow. We did find Tsujita but the next problem was finding a parking spot on the street.  We finally found a spot. Excitement started to build.

We went in and was surprised to see it was a small place and the first thing we saw was a booth with 3 Asian teenagers all busy playing with their phones. It was a funny site though more and more common these days.  The ceiling looked like wooden pegs that needed some legos. We were seated and given the menu. We had no idea what to order so I humbly asked our server what was the best ramen to order. She suggested the Char Siu Tsukemen. Tsukemen (cold ramen noodles) served with Tonkotsu soup which is slowly simmered no less than 60 hours, topped with slices of barbecued pork. There are rules and instructions on how to eat the noodles. First you squeeze some lime, then take some of the noodles with the chopsticks and dunk it in the hot soup. It was delicious. The fat noodles were chewy and had a very nice texture. The pork was tender as can be and full of wonderful flavor. There was a whole egg that was very soft boiled so when I puncture it, the orange yolk drifted into the soup.

My only suggestion is to eat fast as the soup gets cold faster since you keep dipping the cold noodles in it. I absolutely loved it. My friend Lee has never been to Tsujita either and though she liked it, she did not clean her bowl like I did. She finally told me why......it was a bit too salty for her. Ahhhh, this is probably why I loved it!

Tsujita LA Artisan Noodles is located at 2057  Sawtelle. There is also Tsujita LA Artisan Annex at 2050 Sawtelle and a Sushi Tsujita at 2006 Sawtelle in Los Angeles.