Orochon Ramen
123 Astronaut E S Onizuka St (In the shopping center with the supermarket, third floor)
Little Tokyo
(213) 617-1766
Daily 11:30am-10:15pm
$
Sweet baby Jesus. That’s what your mouth will be saying when you’re done eating here. Your guts, on the other hand, will be cursing your name most foul. I won’t even talk about the next morning.
Orochon is a ramen place. And it’s a good ramen place. Simple, no frills, very straightforward ramen. Choose one of three soup bases - Soy, Miso or the enigmatic Salt - then choose your toppings - egg, corn, a slice of pork belly called Cha-Shu, garlic, whatever.
Why is it so special? Well, two reasons:
1) I am a pork lover. Bona fide, dyed in the wool, die hard pork lover. As my father reminds me on an almost daily basis, “Life is bitter, but the pork is sweet.” So my main draw to this little hole-in-the-shopping-center-wall is the mouth-watering cha-shu. It’s like they took a slice of gold from heaven, fed it to a pig, then fed you the pig. To say it melts in your mouth is an understatement. It transforms into angel tears of joy in your mouth. Keep in mind the slices are a bit large. I usually get two knowing I may or may not finish them.
2) This place is a spice-lover’s dream. In fact, for most people it’s the main draw to the place. Orochon has a gimmick: They have a Spice-O-Meter on the menu. When you order your dish, you also indicate your desired spice level. It goes from 7, which is not spicy at all, to 0. For reference, 6 is my desired spice level. If I’m feeling adventurous, I get a 5, but I have to pace myself, because that’s spicy!
But wait! As if 0 wasn’t evil enough, there’s also the Special 1, and above that Special 2. The Special 1 is essentially a bowl of liquid spice, literally red from it all. The Special 2 is basically the same thing, they just toss in a handfull of minced habañero peppers!!! And so this is how the gimmick goes: if you can finish an entire Special 2 in 30 minutes, they’ll take a little Polaroid snapshot of your grinning, sweating mug and slap it up on the wall.
So once again: 5 is my absolute highest spice threshold. Basically a 2 out of 9.
I’ve witnessed numerous people attempt the Orochon challenge. Some have succeeded, many more have failed. But if you pop on over to the place, you might very well happen upon a photo of Cityzines’ very own Emberly, looking slightly pained and disheveled, but brandishing her very own empty Special 2 bowl.
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0 responses so far ↓
1 Jon // Oct 8, 2007 at 6:43 pm
I’m going just to check out the photo…
2 Emberly // Oct 10, 2007 at 2:51 pm
I freaking own that place, and will challenge ANYONE to out ramen me!!!!!!!!
3 malielfman // Oct 10, 2007 at 3:16 pm
How do I get the picture as my screen saver?
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