Shinsengumi 2go, the no-nonsense faster food outpost of SoCal’s most popular purveyor of Hakata-style ramen, takes a left turn towards Tokyo with a limited-time trial run of tsukemen dipping noodles! Money can’t buy happiness, but for $3.33, you really can’t go wrong, can you?

Rameniac is kickin’ it old school with Umemura, the ramen shop he grew up with. Well, that might be stretching the truth a bit, as he’s one of those guys that hasn’t really grown up all that much. But has one of Southern California’s oldest and most venerated ramen shops matured any over the years? That’s a good question…

There’s something looming in the water, and it’s come to take a bite out of your wallet! Chef Kenji Chiba of Chibaki-ya returns to Los Angeles with a taste of his exclusive shark’s fin ramen! Terrorizing customers at $18 a bowl, is it worth its weight in political incorrectness? Rameniac sure hopes so!

Rameniac’s headed to Japan! Along the way, he gets a head start on his slurping with a quick, last-minute bowl at one of his favorite local watering holes. Don’t forget your passport aboard the Hamada Orient Express, LAX’s finest (well, only) old-school, mukashii-shoyu ramen depot.

You know things are foo-bar’d when a cheap knock off can sully the reputation of a perfectly fine ramen shop. Tucked into the middle of nowhere, the original Foo Foo Tei serves up a menu of David Lynchian weirdness that sounds worse than it really is. Like Twin Peaks, nanchatte paitan ramen isn’t for everyone!

Intrigue plagues the existence of dual Foo Foo Tei in the San Gabriel Valley. Spite and litigation apparently abound, and rumor has it that the Monterey Park branch is merely a cheap knock-off of the Hacienda Heights original. All theatrics aside, are its noodles even worth fussing over?

Hakata Shin-Sen-Gumi brings the flavor of Fukuoka to an otherwise arid city of dysfunctional pop tarts and baked, rappin’ hot dawgs. If I ruled the world, I’d just ship over an entire fleet of food carts, complete with drunken salarymen and grumpy old ramen masters. Until then, we’ll just have to make do with these guys.

Sandwiched in a strip mall in West L.A.’s Little Osaka, Kinchans’s svelte location on Sawtelle is within proximity of boba shops, giant robots, and Asian hipsters galore. The place has been around forever, but does anyone actually eat there? If so, excellent. But if not, there has gots to be a reason why! 

At long last, rameniac gives a thumbs up/down/sideways to Daikokuya, arguably the most popular ramen shop in Los Angeles ever since Jonathan Gold gave it his seal of approval in the LA Weekly. Curious how you fend off hipsters to get a bowl of your very own?

Cafe Asa is the greatest thing to hit Los Angeles since… well, since my exchange student friend came for a homestay earlier year. But that’s another story. This hidden gem of a place recently appeared out of nowhere to thoroughly own most of the other ramen shops around town! The secret’s out starting now!

It’s that time of year again! This year’s Hokkaido Fair at the Torrance Mitsuwa Marketplace featured Sumire, all the way from Sapporo! The great buttery north of Japan is home to miso ramen and one of the most popular noodle styles on the planet. How does it play in LA?

In the shadow of the Giant Robot empire stands Asahi Ramen, a neighborhood institution on West L.A.’s Sawtelle Blvd. But the times they are a-changin’. How does a once popular ramen shop stack up in the new era of specialized soups and regional styles?

Rameniac takes his first, tentative steps behind the Orange Curtain to uncover the treasure trove of ramen shops in Los Angeles’ neighbor to the south. Does Chinese Restaurant Kohryu yield a pot of gold at the end of the 405 freeway?

“Made in China” is the scarlet letter for 21st century goods. What happens when you take an enterprising Kumamoto ramen shop, franchise it across Asia, and expand it into Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley? You might get a fiasco of ill-prepared portions. Or something like that.

Finding Eastern Hiroshima-style onomichi ramen on a menu in Los Angeles is like finding a gatefold pressing of Scott Walker’s Scott 4 in the dollar bin at your local record store. It just doesn’t happen. Or does it? All things are possible with love and Shin Mama…

The gentrification of the ramen shop is upon us, and San Mateo’s Himawari is a prime example of what can happen when you let loose an interior decorator in your soupy pork bone kitchen. But can the food measure up to such an extreme restaurant makeover? Let’s find out!

Finally! Rameniac takes a seventh-inning stretch from his San Francisco chronicles to revel in the glory of quite possibly the best, most authentic example of regional ramen outside of Japan, certainly in Southern California at least. Presenting the food court phenomenon that is Santouka!

Santa Ramen inspires a cult-like following in and around the environs of San Mateo, California. There’s a perpetual wait to get in the door, but is this temple of Bay Area noodling worth it’s weight in m. glutamate? Check in with rameniac as he checks it out!

Why is this kid smiling? Could it be because he makes the best shoyu ramen in the Bay Area? Kahoo Ramen is the sudden heir to the Do Henkotsu throne in San Jose’s Mitsuwa Marketplace, and Sou Nakano is filling some mighty big shoes. I’m jealous, wunderkinds like him get all the girls!

Ryowa ramen is an old-time favorite in Mountain View, the relatively new heart of Silicon Valley, CA. What horrible accident might befall the stray Google engineer who wanders too far off campus for lunch?