diggydrew "bacon....droool"

All parts of this dish are amazing. The noodles are cooked fresh to tender perfection. Usually ramen noodles are undercooked making them too chewy. These noodles are cooked when you order your dish, so they are not over or undercooked. The texture of the noodles are pretty good.

Equally important, if not more, the soup is made from scratch from pork bones that have been simmering for hours. The result is a soup that is savory, rich, and surprisingly refreshing. The seasoning of the soup is not overpowering, but has overtones of a light soy sauce leaving room to experience the essence of the pork. A caveat: this ain’t no regular ramen; this is a real meal. You’ll find that this will fill you up, and goes very nicely with some Japanese beer. If you want more pork fat, just ask the waitress that you want your soup “kotteri”.

On top of the soup, they add thinly sliced green onions, sesame seeds, bean sprouts, slices of fatty pork, and a seasoned boiled egg with a yolk that is slightly runny. The yolk really did me in when I had the ramen the first time.

What you have in the end is a masterpiece tantamount to the experience you see customers raving about in the movie “Tampopo”. After finishing the noodles, I guarantee you’ll be slurping every last drop of this ramen.

Get the beef larb. It’s vinegary, sweet, and spicy all at the same time. Very good. Very flavorful.

Wow. You get 3 or 4 different cheeses, nuts, a fruit spread, and bread. You choose the cheeses out of their generous selection. The dude at the counter lets you taste whatever cheeses you’d like. The cheeses are excellent, and the decision to settle on 3 or 4 is very difficult.

Unbelievable. Compared to the other burgers I’ve had here, this one takes the cake. It’s one of their new ones. The highlight is the pepper-crusted patty—it’s very noticeable. The fried onion strings and the jalapeno sauce takes the burger to another level. The Pasadena restaurant really gets the buns right too—really buttery. In sum, this is one of two burgers I think about…often.

With the new trans-fat free oil they use, the fries are not only crispy, but they’re healthier! I love the cut of the fries, and they go swell with ketchup and Tabasco

When you see the taco, it’s disappointingly, but deceptively simple. “Just a tortilla and meat???” Don’t be fooled. Go over to the salsa bar and top it off with the onions and cilantro mix and one of four salsas. On a good day, the meat is charred just right, with a kick to it. Other days, the meat has flavor but lacks the kick. The tortilla on the other hand carries this taco through. Ever since I found this joint, this has taken over as number 1 for me.

The fish is crispy, but the guacamole is a bit overpowering. The tortilla is, as always, really good, but for some reason it doesn’t work as well with the fish. Go to Whittier instead…

Unbelievable!!! MUST TRY. This is a tortilla sandwich, with melted cheese, guacamole, and the magical asada. The result is this fluffy, rich, unbelievable morsel of latino goodness. It’s not quite as heavy as a torta, but it’s something in the middle. I usually put salsa on my mexican food, but adding salsa would do it injustice. I can’t say enough about this one. GO TRY IT.

Although this dish was tasty, I wouldn’t say it was really good. The presentation was impressive, since it came in a banana leaf. Inside I found the fried egg, noodles, rice, fried chicken, and chunks of meat. The chicken was pretty darn good. It was seasoned in curry and fried to a nice crisp. The noodles and the diced meat were also tasty. The meat was like sweet Chinese sausages. I had a problem with the rice though—it was too dry and choppy, although it was quite fragrant.

This was clearly the better dish. I had the same problem with the rice here—too dry and choppy. Also, the coconut flavor was too subtle. I thought it would be stronger. This plate also comes with the diced meat and chicken.

This was amazing. “Smoothie” is misleading, it’s really a slurpie. It was made straight from the fruit. It was so refreshing and fresh—unbelievable. I originally ordered the mango smoothie, but I was told the mangoes were too young. I can imagine how good the mango one must be. Highly recommended.

The pie has lots of vegetables in it (onions, bell peppers). This offsets the generous amount of finely diced bulgogi (Korean BBQ) that hides inside of the equally generous amounts of cheese. Korean BBQ tends to be somewhat sweet and savory, so the result you get is something akin to a BBQ chicken pizza, but more Asian. This is best eaten immediately when the pizza is hot. Each pie is made to order! I partially gave this a four because of its novelty. It’s worth at least a trip, if you’re curious.

The burrito was mostly chorizo (spicy ground pork sausage). There were also refried beans in there. If you have a hankering for chorizo, this does the job, but I wouldn’t say it was the best I’ve ever had.

This burrito is one of the best breakfast burritos I’ve had in LA. They fill it with potatoes, scrambled eggs, and a breakfast meat of your choice. The tortilla is usually soft, but thick so nothing leaks out. The amount of food inside this burrito is astounding for the price you pay.

I know this really isn’t a dish, but I had to put this one down because I’ve had dreams of this ever since I was a kid visiting Koreatown with my parents. This is like Orange Julius (a creamy frothy orange drink) but better. When I re-discovered it when I came down to LA, it was like the heavens parted. Every time I get a chance to get this drink, I always go for it. It’s simply the best orange drink in the world.

This is a spicy Korean noodle soup. The color of the soup should tell you that it’s spicy; it’s bright red. Most people will choose not to eat this, but if you do, the taste is standard fare. The soup is refreshing, but somewhat salty. The shredded beef they use is too tough and sinewy. The green onions are supposed to be chopped coarsely, but I didn’t particularly like it. Overall, the soup is perfect for sobering up.

I’ve tasted quite a bit of tonkatsu before. This is not the best tonkatsu, but it works because you can get it at 3AM. A lot is given, but the breading is just par. For the price you can get much better elsewhere…at an earlier time of course.

If you’re in the mood for something substantive, this would be it. This is rice, topped with pickled vegetables, julienned carrots, spinach, lettuce, dried seaweed flakes, Korean BBQ, and a fried egg—all sizzling in your own stone pot. You can add the sweet red pepper sauce to taste (highly recommended). Again, I have tasted better, but this is probably the best and most impressive dish here.

This is the quintessential Mexican dish down to its purest perfection. The dish is very simple and addicting. The cooks start with a small warm round corn tortilla, add some carne asada (or your meat of choice), and throw on some diced onions mixed with cilantro. That’s it. Oh, I forgot the special ingredient—the salsa. Watch out, the red salsa creeps up on you. It’s very spicy, but unbelievably good. Ask for the green one or just completely to the side if you’re risk averse.

Once you start, you’ll start ordering a few of these…often.

This is the same as the soft taco, except this comes on a crispy corn tortilla at the bottom and crumbly Mexican cheese on top. Equally exceptional. Try it with beer.

This dish is perhaps the best dish I’ve tasted so far. It’s very addicting. This is basically a sopa, except buried inside with the meat are a slice of tomato, avocado, Mexican sour cream (crema), and sweet(!) and moist white onion slices in the middle. The result is a series of crispy, meaty, sweet, and cheesy bites. Add some of the red salsa on it, and you’ve got something really special. I personally would highly recommend getting this.