tsukemen — Wine & Dine

Everyone went crazy when Daikokuya opened in Monterey Park. The whole 'Yay we don't have to drive to little tokyo!' or 'Yay we don't have to wait that long!' perception will be crushed in a matter of seconds that moment you start writing your name on the wait list. Along with the line of other groups ahead of you. As you slowly count up and realize you are not number 1, but number 15. And then you start reflecting on your life. Have you ever been number 15? It's worse than a midlife crisis. Or, you're all happy pulling up to see tons of parking spaces. But then you see the crowd of people huddled outside like it's below 0 when it's hot as a mother F'er.

Honestly, I have no idea where that rant came from. This is what happens when you have hot noodle soup during a hot summer day. You start seeing and saying sh*t.

Luckily, my friends and I got here in time where we didn't have to wait over an hour. Maybe it was 30 minutes, but it's fine since I ran into really good friends of mine.

I wouldn't say famous, but this is a very delicious bowl of salad that comes with an order of Ramen. It's their own house dressing which you can also purchase a bottle to take home. A must have.

I ordered their Tsukemen which is all the fixings; Seared Chashu, green onions, sprouts, soft boiled eggs and ramen that has been cooked and cooled under running water. Served with a bowl of pork broth.

Salmon sashimi with housemade carpaccio sauce, passer leaf, salsa and parmesan cheese. A lot of flavor, but quite tasty.

Honestly, chicken Karaage is the ultimate beer food. I take that back, it's the ultimate food to have with any alcohol. I love this stuff. With a lot of lemon. And when I am really hamming, over a bowl of rice. Sitting on the floor, with stretchy pants..

This is their signature Tonkotsu Ramen (Ton-KO-t-su, not katsu please). The tonkotsu (pork base soup) is infused with their house blended soy sauce. Served with boiled chijre style egg noodles, kurobuta pork belly chashu, marinated boiled egg, bamboo shoots, bean sprout, green onions and a dash of sesame seeds.

Their famous shredded pork bowl. Ok I'm not sure if it's famous, but it's extremely popular. Tender kurobuta pork belly that's grilled and served over rice with green onions, pickled ginger and a sweet sauce. If you are hungry, and want something extremely umami like, this is it. It's hard not to get this and even harder not to take a bite when someone offers.

111 N Atlantic Blvd, Ste 241, Monterey Park, CA 91754

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It was a beautiful gloomy Saturday when we went to an Audiophile event in Newport/Costa Mesa. We checked out a few headphones and earphones. But honestly, I was spending most of my time finding a place to eat for lunch. It's pretty much because I was really hungry. All I'm waiting for are the words "ready for lunch?" (who is with me on that?).

My go to place in Costa Mesa is normally Santouka (check it out NOW) and that will always be one of my favorites until I can find another ramen shop that brings me back to a drunken night I had in Japan.. But today, today was a different day. I wanted Tsukemen.

We decided to try Kitakata Ramen in Costa Mesa. In no time, we were seated. I immediately ordered my Tsukemen with some appetizers to accompany our meal. My Tsukemen came out pretty quickly. You eat Tsukemen by dipping the noodles in the broth you see in the corner. I like to mix mine with the grated radish and ginger. I'll dip the pork in when I am ready to take a big slurp. I also like to squeeze some lime into my dipping sauce which is also provided with this meal. I like that the noodles were kept in a warm bath to keep it consistent with my hot option. I highly recommend this if you've never had Tsukemen. It is NOT comparable to a tonkotsu/shoyu/miso Ramen, so please enjoy this as a different category.

First and foremost it's Tonkotsu, not Tonkatsu. If you ever want to become a ramen connoisseur, you must get this right. It Pains me, to hear people say they love tonkatsu broth for their ramen. Please Google the difference now, and look that much more amaze-balls in front of your friends next time when you are eating ramen. Trust me, it drives me NUTS. The chashu was very tender and flavorful. Their tonkotsu was very light for this style. Tonkotsu normally has a beautiful meaty, hearty and fatty flavor due to the many hours breaking down the collagen in pork bones. This on the other hand, was good, but not what I would expect for a Tonkotsu ramen. If I have Tonkotsu, I want to feel that fat in my neck and put me to sleep. The flavors, still, was well balanced.

Their chicken Karaage was pretty good as well. What makes good Karaage is the quality of the chicken, light seasoning and batter to enhance the flavor of the chicken. It's very different from your american fried chicken. It has ginger, mirin, and many other asian flavors. This is always one of my favorite Izakaya items to order when I'm drinking or just to enjoy with a big hunk of rice. When I was in Japan, the chicken Karaage was prepared from one whole chicken. We actually received a whole chicken (cut up of course), and that was definitely the BEST Karaage I've had because the chicken they used was really fresh.

Pork Gyoza with Yuzu Kosho. My favorite was the Yuzu Kosho! It was not overly salty like the other ones I've tried and it also had a strong spicy punch that is lacking with the ones I've had before. I actually mixed a little of the Yuzu with my Tsukemen as well. I like to eat my Gyoza with a lot of vinegar, splash of soy, splash of chili oil, and a whole lot of shichimi chili.

Because you can never have enough good pork. I eat this with a lot of shichimi togarashi too.

If you are ever in the area, do give this place a try. There's so much more than just Ramen. If you like a certain cuisine, don't be intimidated to try more dishes further. Most of the time, what you like is the only scratch on the surface.

Happy Eating!

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Wine & Dine

Daikokuya - Monterey Park

Kitakata Ramen Ban Nai