6 ramen spots that keep the winter blues at bay

For many people, ramen is the ultimate comfort food—a warm hug in a bowl. With indoor dining limited throughout the state, some Japanese eateries have come up with inventive ways to ensure that their customers still get to enjoy a piping-hot bowl of ramen at home.

Ramen Musashi features the option of thin or wide noodles and a variety of ramen soup bases that include a classic tonkotsu, a vegetarian dashi, and a chicken broth with spicy yuzu citrus topping.

The eatery recently expanded its selection of cold noodle dishes that are perfectly tailored for the scorching desert heat, including hayashi chukka, a chilled ramen dressed with shoyu sauce and garnished with imitation crab, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, carrot, egg, and shredded chicken or ham. Or try the zarusoba, cold buckwheat noodles served with a dipping sauce.

In addition to more than 10 ramen eateries in Japan and Taiwan, this award-winning chain from ramen master Takashi Endo also has two locations in San Diego. Currently open for limited dine-in service, both shops also offer DIY tonkotsu, miso, and cold tantanmen kits for takeout. Each kit includes servings for four people and comes with cooking instructions.

Made daily in Menya Ultra’s central kitchen, the fresh noodles are a particular standout. Try the miso ramen, swimming in a long-simmered pork broth flavored with house-made miso and topped with pork char siu, wood ear mushrooms, grated ginger, and black garlic oil.

With more than 60 outposts, Kitakata Ramen Ban Nai is considered ramen royalty in Japan. Kitakata specializes in a style of ramen that originated in the city of Kitakata, in Japan’s Fukushima prefecture.

Its distinctive noodles are flat, wide, and hand-crumpled for a chewy texture, and best accompanied by a delicate shoyu-based soup. The restaurant is also known for the toro char siu (marbled pork belly) that crowns its ramen and is also stuffed in steamed buns and draped over rice bowls. Don’t forget to add a side of boiled gyoza, drizzled with scallions and yuzu chile sauce.

Shin-Sen-Gumi is a homegrown restaurant group with a variety of eateries—serving yakitori, shabu-shabu, robata, and ramen—throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties. Its fast-casual, express ramen shop in the South Bay has an all-American twist: a drive-through window.

This location’s menu includes Shin-Sen-Gumi’s famous thin-noodle Hakata ramen, made with a rich pork broth, as well as the Satsuma ramen—thick noodles with char siu pork, bean sprouts, and a broth of chicken, pork, and vegetables. Other convenient take-out items include curry rice, yakitori, fried rice, and onigiri (rice balls).

Acclaimed in Santa Barbara County for its traditional ramen, including the “kuro” tonkotsu, a black garlic oil–enriched pork broth that simmers for 24 hours, Nikka Ramen also serves a culinary mash-up that puts a highly portable spin on ramen.

The takeout-friendly ramen burrito takes a tortilla and stuffs it with ramen noodles, rice, sour cream, avocado, and pico de gallo. The wrap comes with a choice of pork shoulder, pork belly, or chicken char siu, plus a side of ramen broth for dipping.

Primarily as a hub for takeout and delivery, the Tsujita storefront on Fairfax Avenue spotlights some of the greatest hits from the well-regarded ramen chain’s Tsujita Artisan Noodle. The to-go menu features variations of its porky, ultra-rich tonkotsu ramen, including a spicy version.

Also great for takeout is Tsujita’s other specialty, tsukemen, a soup-less ramen that you dip in a bowl of flavorful, concentrated sauce.

Candice Woo is San Diego restaurant critic of Westways and editor of Eater San Diego.