Mendoki Ramen - Costa Mesa

Americas - USA West Los Angeles
5

Costa Mesa is basically Ramen City now.

3 Likes
6

Sat outside. They had 3 2-tops and 1 4-top.

Ramen is definitely ERTAT.

1 Like
7

Thanks for the report, that is looking like a mighty fine bowl of ramen. Definitely on my radar in the not to distant future.

1 Like
8

Ok. So, I did it. Then I took a nap. Now I am here reporting.
As anticipated, this Jiro ramen is legit and it is a beast.

For all of you people that have trouble with ramen from Tsujita being too fatty, stay away! This is on a different level.

Here it is (my photos from today):

image

Oh and what is that hiding behind the mound of cabbage and bean sprouts?
Oh, it’s just an entire head of minced garlic.

image

Here are the noodles. Thick with that mochi-mochi chewy texture that the Jiro style is famous for.

image

Jiro-style is also famous for thicc chashu. Here is a close up of the chashu. You will notice this is a pork belly chashu and is completely different that the chashu from my Chuka Soba yesterday.

image
image

She got the Tsukemen:

image
image
image

Of course I had some too! Man, this Akimoto can execute great versions of all of these styles. The tonkotsu-gyokai soup is thicker with a touch of sweetness for the tsukemen soup. As always, don’t forget to order soup wari when you finish your tsukemen noodles!

15 Likes
9

Ohmigod, how is it possible to be fattier than Tsujita?!?!?!?!

Is fish stock unusual for ramen? I don’t recall hearing discussions of this b/f, but it sounds like a sublime combo…

Thanks for the report. Looks and sounds delicious.

1 Like
10

My bad. I was only thinking of Tsujita’s main shop and totally forgot about Annex. Annex serves a twist on Jiro-style ramen and it is damn good. If you have had Tsujita Annex’s ramen, this is on a similar level. However, Mendoki is more true to the Jiro style. If I recall correctly, Tsujita adds chili powder?

Yeah, fish stock is common. It is also common to add dry fish to other stocks. See the Nagi thread for further discussion on niboshi (baby sardine) ramen stocks.

11

10th heart - THIS ramen requires a pilgrimage. Thank you for such a quick report back! They got the industrial grade white pepper powder there for customers to tailor to their palates? Or is it BYOIGWPP?

3 Likes
12

I didn’t see any pepper on my visit, but I also wasn’t looking for it. I am sure they have some, but you may want to BYOIGWPP, just in case.

13

I see they have a vegan ramen. I may have to plan a day down to OC to try it.

1 Like
14

No kidding
Santouka
Zetton
Mendoki
Kitikata
Ikkousha
Yamadaya
HiroNori (right across in Irvine)

3 Likes
15

Someone told me there is now a Silverlake Ramen at Irvine Spectrum, and Bella Terra as well. Well shit, after many years passing by the crowds on Sunset Blvd in front of Silverlake Ramen and heading to other restaurants (Needle, Night and Market, Pine and Crane) and places, am I missing something?

16

No, Silverlake Ramen is nothing special. They set up their franchise system, so they are expanding. That’s all.

1 Like
17

You can add Kashiwa as well (chicken ramen)

@hanhgry Kashiwa has some veg options:

image
image1242×2208 701 KB

3 Likes
18

Thanks I thought I was maybe missing out on something, just another tonkotsu place I suppose?

19

I wonder if anyone would be willing to do a Costa Mesa Ramen Bang Bang and risk the sodium bloat for us lol actually please don’t

20

Yep. Tonkotsu & soy milk soup. Maybe Silverlake Ramen was good once upon a time, but it is not worth consideration at this point with all of the other delicious ramen joints around.

21

I recommend 405 ramen multi-bang going south to north:

Mendoki (Costa Mesa)
Tao (Buena Park)
Josui (Gardena)
Venice Ramen (Marina Del Rey)

2 Likes
22

How do you like Iki btw?

23

@JeetKuneBao wow! Kashiwa’s options sound really good. I’m excited to see the vegan and vegetarian ramen options popping up. I still need to try Iki Ramen’s veg ramen. I make a point to try the veg options at places that you wouldn’t expect to offer any, because it can help encourage restaurants to keep the options around.

2 Likes
24

Still haven’t been to Iki.

Fair or not, I dismissed them out of hand for a few reasons:

  1. pictures were not especially delicious-looking
  2. menu items were not original
  3. they seemed to gain their popularity through their n/naka relation and influencers

I will give them a shot one day. I haven’t been eating ramen at all recently–the Mendoki visits were a bit of a fluke.

2 Likes