sawtelle
january 29, 2005
^ window seat from asahi ramen watching my car. car in photo is not as clean
as it looks. :p
i've been meaning to visit the sawtelle area & the giant robot store for a long time now. but i never seem to get around to the westside much in recent years as i'm typically lazy and dread driving on the weekends. maybe it's the recent jaunts out to west la that has made me reassess my hermit-like state. afterall, life is too short and LA is too big to not explore more. shit, i live in LA and it's embarassing to be out of touch with the places there are west of downtown LA. i gotta stay up to date with the masses you know?
the weather was really amazing today as i drove out to the sawtelle area. i of course know of this area only because of the giant robot store that's located there. if it wasn't for that, i wouldn't really even notice it as it's tucked away on a somewhat quiet street.
i figured the store was quite small (from what i saw on the webcam) but i didn't know it was *that* small. it was pretty packed in that two row store of theirs. i started checking out all the teeshirts, books and all those kubrick toys that i dig. i literally bumped asses with several people because we had a traffic jam in the two narrow rows. but after about 20 minutes, i walked out with 2 teeshirts, 3 kubrick toys and a couple plush toys. if it wasn't so crowded i would have stuck around to look at their books more. there's always next time.
after i paid a visit to the other giant robot store across the street from the first one, it was already dark and the winds were slicing my face to shreds. i decided to take refuge & have dinner at asahi ramen, a couple doors down from the yuuki restaurant above.
i should iterate here that i'm NOT a big fan of ramen. i never have been, never will i think BUT i don't mind some of the other things served at ramen-yas. if it's ramen that i have to order, i will usually get the cold japanese noodles, hiyashi chuka. but during this time of year, it's typically not available at some ramen places.
i started off with the hiyya yakko - cold tofu cubes served with bonito, green onions & grated ginger. this is one of those things i make at home all the time since there's no need to really make anything. but occasionally i like to blow my money on stuff like this and try out how the restaurants serve it. pour a little bit of shoyu over it and you're ready to eat.
this dish is called ban ban ji or something like that i think. it's basically shredded chicken meat mixed with julienned cucumbers, sesame seeds and all tossed in a light dressing. surprisingly this turned out to be the dish that i liked best at asahi ramen tonight. it was light but flavorful and in some ways cleansed your palate in between bites of ramen.
chashu ramen is usually one of the most popular ramen items on any ramen-ya menu. i didn't really try this out because like i said, i'm not a big ramen fan. but i took a bite of the cha-shu and found it rather dry and tough. and the soup base wasn't exactly something to rave about. it's of course edible in many ways but if i had to compare, i would only feel lukewarm about it. i was however impressed by the number of chashu slices there are floating on top of the ramen.
gyoza is a typical accompaniment to ramen. they kind of go hand in hand. these potstickers are to be dipped into a self-made mixture of shoyu, vinegar & chili oil. although they look burnt, they aren't and i was somewhat impressed that the filling for these were quite tasty because i've had plenty of gyozas elsewhere where they lack a lot of the necessary substance.
i really didn't know what to get because i'm not a fan of those big steaming bowls of ramen in either the miso or shoyu soup base. and i also am not a fan of fried rice or friend noodles - yes, i know i may be the only asian who doesnt like those things. i ordered the mabo tofu rice bowl but the waitress asked if i wanted to try what she usually eats - which is the mabo tofu ramen without the soup base but with the mabo tofu mixture on top. that sounded intruiguing and so i was game, as long as there wasn't a soup base sloshing around. when my ramen arrived, i was surprised to see the same big bowl of noodles hiding underneath a thick mixture of the mabo tofu. there wasn't any soup but the mabo tofu slurry eventually watered down a bit and became the soup base actually. this turned out to be a great way to eat ramen. the spiciness of the mabo tofu combined with the neutral taste of the ramen give it a completely different taste to it than mabo tofu on white rice.
all in all, asahi ramen was an ok place to eat. i definitely can't say that it's the best ramen i've ever had but it hit the spot on a very chilly & windy winter night here in LA.
asahi ramen
2027 sawtelle blvd.
los angeles, ca 90025
310.479.2231
giant robot
2015 sawtelle blvd.
los angeles, ca 90025
310.478.1819
