Yeah, they opened up an Ajisen Ramen at Century City Mall...its ok...there are so much better places though. I go to the places around Sawtelle for that fix. BCD Tofu is pretty gangster. Dunno where that Diamond Jamboree center is, gotta peep it.... http://www.diamond-jamboree.com/?page_id=6 oh crap, i think my cousin used to live in one of those highrises out there.
Yeah, if I want ramen I go to Mitsuwa. It's a japanese market off the 405 and Bristol, opposite side of the freeway from South Coast. It has a food court, with a korean vendor, a chinese vendor, a ramen vendor, a curry vendor, and a udon vendor. I ate there today before I had to coach, good food always, just during lunch rush good luck finding a table. If you come down to Diamond Jamboree, I'll have to treat you to lunch someday.
So long as it isnt a Tuesday or Thursday (I'm a junior at CSUF), I'm usually free. Just PM me before you come down.
Its a vietnamese soup/broth with noodles and protein...some veggies, you can throw in a bunch of stuff inside too.....its popular...dunno why, its pretty filling and hearty....
The broth is quite strong, but yeah, I usually add some lime and some hot sauce into it....depends on where you get it, there's a big basil leaf flavor you can add to it, a lot of the time they give you some veggies to throw in to help flavor it..... I'm not a "superfan" of it and think its a tad overrated for the popularity of it.....again, I find Ramen much better with a better depth of flavoring in the broth especially.
It tastes pretty good, and for $5-$7 (Regular-Large), I can't complain. Garden Grove used to have a $2 Pho place. The portion itself was pretty decent, and for $2!!!
I only really eat Pho, cause it doesn't taste like crap, quick to the table after ordering, and cheap. I honestly prefer any fast asian food over any american fast food, but that might be because I dislike bread, cause it makes my mouth dry (I chew alot).
I like the Pho Dac Biet (acording to the wiki)....i'm not a fan of the tripe but I guess it helps flavor the broth a bit?
Speaking of food: Kappo Honda and Honda-Ya Japanese yakitori (skewers). It only gets expensive if you order non-stop. Great food, simple food, and for you drinkers (I don't drink alcohol, nor am I old enough to if I wanted to), its good food to go with alcohol.
There's a location of Honda-ya I go to in little tokyo sometimes after dodgers games....oh man, they have these fried baby octopus which are just AWESOME.
Totally forgot they have another branch in Little Tokyo, which is closer to you. Those places are just great, I need to come up to LA sometime, I haven't been by the area lately, unless its to drop off or pick up someone at LAX.