Los Angeles Confuses Me - Please Help

the observatory (i'm guessing you mean observatory) is inside Griffith Park and worth checking out, if you've never been . great views from up there and hiking if you're up for it. Tony's is a great bar. Mohawk Bend, in my opinion, is even better. They have the same menu style as Tony's (lots of vegan and vegi options) but more taps. Can't go wrong with either. Will get some great beers at both.

Despite getting flack, I'd say Golden Road is worth checking out. They have a very chill indoor-outdoor space there with pretty good food. not far away is the Glendale Tap and Eagle Rock Brewing

don't want to inundate you, but if you did that you could squeeze in more places


for my money, at some point in your trip you need to do the Torrance breweries and you will not be disappointed. Beachwood goes without saying

 

Make sure you hit up Brodard Chateau in Garden Grove for some nem nuong and sizzling sole. You could probably hit up the newly opened Din Tai Fung in Costa Mesa in between one of your beer-related destinations too, though, plan ahead because the wait time might be a deterrent.

 

if you like vietnamese food, in santa ana there is an awesome vietnese/chinese noodle place. Crazy packed. Trieu Chau. Get the house special noodles with thin egg noodles and thin rice noodles. Thank me later

Also for dinner check out Playground in Santa Ana. Decent beer on the occasion and they let you BYOB for free, so you can bring your own stuff as well

 

If you're at the double tree in DTLA you're surrounded by awesome ramen joints. Daikokuya, Shin Shen Gumi, Oro Chan. My personal favorite is Shin Shen Gumi but Daikokuya is probably the most popular. All of them are in very short walking distance to your hotel

 

For ramen in dtla, I'd go to Men Oh Tokushima Ramen over all of the others. Daikokuya used to reign supreme back in the day but the bar's been raised considerably since 10 years ago. You can also go to Marugame Manzo, which is located right next Daikokuya in Little Tokyo, for a an awesome bowl of handmade udon noodles.

 

Men Oh is nice because there's usually never a line, but i don't think their pork is that great. Shin Shen Gumi was promising, but their ramen is never hot enough for me. on top of that the extras you order are often cold, making the ramen colder when you put it in. and the way they do the soft boiled egg is a tragedy. also, the yelling is absurd. as it turns out, when i'm hung over i often want ramen, so Shin Shen Gumi is not a 1st choice.

all those places do the trick but after Tsujita it's hard not to be disappointed with anything else.

i 2nd the udon at Marugame Manzo. if you don't want to wait, the nabeyaki udon at Oomasa is an excellent and affordable option

 

A truer statement has never been made! I am forever ramen-ruined because of Tsujita.

 

If you go to the Playground in DTSA you can check out Native Son Alehouse, a new beer bar just across the street with a nice little rooftop bar and solid tap list.

 

Make sure to ask for the bottle list - not quite up to BWBBQ's Seal Beach list, but very solid.

 

I don't think I've ever had complaints with the pork at Men Oh. If there's one complaint I'd make, it's that the last time I came away feeling disoriented probably from the sodium explosion. Other than that, there's no contest between Men Oh and Daikokuya.

As for Tsujita, the tonkotsu at the original location is good, but not mind-blowing. The tsukemen, however, is fantastic and is the best I've had in LA. If I were to choose ramen from Tsujita, I go with a bowl from The Annex, which is incredibly layered especially when you add the red spice condiment to an already impressive broth.

 

Do you not consider tsukemen to be ramen? Honestly curious as to how others see the difference between the two styles. I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment on Tsujita's tonkotsu vs tsukemen. But I guess I always considered both to be "ramen", and hence...since having their tsukemen, I can no longer truly enjoy ramen of any kind from other establishments quite the same.

 

I think grilledsquid agrees that tsukemen is ramen when he says he'd choose the one from the Annex. Personally, I can enjoy ramen in most all forms. Tsukemen has the added benefit of an extremely concentrated broth blowing you away with flavors right off the bat not to mention the noodles don't get soggy since you have to dip them & Tsujita does this exceptionally well as compared to other tsukemen joints.

As far as choosing between Tsujita LA & Tsujita Annex.. for tsukemen the choice is easy ANNEX hands down!!

 

To bad Hop Ramen isn't still around.

 

disagree. The original is handsdown the best choice for tsukemen.

 

I loved the Congregation in Pasadena, not too far from Downtown. Plus many, many restaurants and bars to see in that neighborhood. Always had great selection at the Congregation.

 

And since everything is so close in LA (ha ha), don't forget to drive down to the OC breweries that kick ass too, like the Bruery, Bootleggers, and Bottle Logic. Great food trucks as well to go with great beer.