Did we call Costa Mesa OC's Ramen Capital already? I believe we have. I think it's time to reiterate that fact once again as the city's ramen shop total goes up again by one.
Daikokuya, an outlet of the Little Tokyo shop at Marukai's food court finally folded after struggling for a while, but it has just been replaced with Ramen Iroha, a Japanese brand that touts it won several awards in Tokyo. Another Iroha opened a few months ago in the Gardena Marukai.
Iroha's chicken-based ramen broths come in three colors: black, white and red. The black gets that way from soy sauce, fermented black beans and black pepper. The white is plain and unadulterated. The red is walloped with chili powder.
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Then there's Ramen Zetton, which takes over the space recently vacated by Sage Cafe, next to Ikko. Their menu features a tsukemen, shoyu or shio ramen, and a spicy miso.
Ramen Iroha, 2975 Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Ramen Zetton, 735 Baker St., Unit B, Costa Mesa, CA 92626
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.