Orochon Ramen

Orochon Ramen
123 Onizuka St # 303
Los Angeles
213-617-1766

On January 28, 1986 the Space Shuttle Challenger, exploded 73 seconds into flight. The Challenger crew was the most diverse crew in history. The crew included an African-American; Ronald McNair, two women; Christa McAuliffe, who was also the first civilian in space, and Judith Resnik who Jewish, and an Asian-American; Ellison Onizuka. Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair, and Gregory Jarvis were the other members of the Challenger crew. Little Toyko in Los Angeles has honored, Ellison Onizuka with a memorial plaque and a replica of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

President Reagan, who would made one of his best speeches ever that night, called for an investigation, that was headed by the Roger's Commission. The commission was greatly helped by the testimony of Roger Boisjoly, an engineer at Morton Thiokol. Morton Thiokol produced the "o rings" that failed, which lead to the Challenger explosion. Mr. Boisjoly is a hero and Chapman University in Orange, CA, has all his memoirs, that should be on display soon. Why is Mr. Boisjoly a hero, for having the guts to be a whistle blower. He saw something was wrong, said something was wrong, but his bosses, who wanted to keep the NASA money line, coming, did not listen to Mr. Boisjoly.

So why the history lesson about the Space Shuttle Challenger? Orochon Ramen, is located in the building just to the west of the Ellison Onizuka Memorial. Orochon Ramen is well known for it's spicy ramen challenge. Many TV shows have featured this challenge. I wasn't going anywhere near the challenge. But I wanted to try their ramen.



$6.95 soy sauce ramen. At first, I was impressed with the size of the bowl but when I got my ramen, I noticed very quickly the ramen was only filled half way. Not good. I tasted the broth first, and at first, I thought it was a bit salty, but after eating the ramen, I felt it was seasoned just right. The ramen was cook perfectly but there wasn't that much ramen. There were large mushrooms, green onions, and some pieces of thinly cut pork.

Service, at the table was pretty good. But the way they handled seating, was pretty bad. I asked for a table for 12 people. I arrived about 30 minutes before my party was suppose to arrive. A half hour later, 3/4 of my party had arrived. I told them, how about seating us right now, since we have 8 people and the other four were running just a bit late. They seated the eight of us, but did not leave room for the other four people, even though they said they would and there was plenty of room. Luckily the table next to us, which had three people gave up one of their tables for our group.

The address listed is a bit confusing. The actual street is 2nd St., but that portion of 2nd St. is named in honor of Ellison Onizuka. The official street address is Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka St. Orochon Ramen is located in the Weller Court, 3rd floor, at the corner of 2nd St. and San Pedro.

I would not go back to Orochon Ramen. I didn't think the ramen was anything great and I wasn't happy with the small portion.

Ramen California-Closed

Ramen California 24231 Crenshaw Blvd Ste C Torrance 310-530-2749 If you're expecting real ramen at Ramen California, you're going to be disappointed. This is a ramen fusion restaurant. They use organic, whenever they can. I'm not much of a ramen fan, matter of fact, this is the first review of a ramen restaurant on The New Diner. Shrimp wonton, $8.50, regular size, with chicken broth and green onions. Regular size is 20oz, which was more than enough. This was in interesting combination. First the broth; very bland, with not much flavor, needed more time or less water. The shrimp wonton, had baby shrimp and pork inside. I have never seen shrimp wontons filled with pork. Weird. They were ok but when I pay for shrimp, I want bigger shrimp, not shrimp, with pork used as a filler. The wonton wrappers were a bit thick, chewy, and tough. Yes, they need to hold up in the broth but I thought they were a bit too thick. Service was friendly but a bit lacking. The young lady was nice and friendly. But a table that was seated about ten minutes after us, had their order taken before we did. Our drinks were not refilled. Nobody came by and asked how everything was. I would not go back to Ramen California again. The prices are good, the portions are good. But the broth is too bland and there wasn't enough shrimp.