Tokyo Strike ramen bar and diner to open in Los Angeles

Chefs have been establishing a migratory route between fine dining and comfort food for the last few years, particularly in Los Angeles. Mostly that path has led from white tablecloth restaurants to crab shacks, fried chicken joints and hot dog stands. This fall, add ramen to the list.

Kuniko Yagi, a veteran of Sona, Comme Ca and Hinoki and the Bird, as well as “Top Chef,” is partnering with David Irvin and Rudy Moujaes of Folklor (an L.A.-based creative agency whose clients also include Gjelina, Gjusta, Tasting Kitchen, Pot and Locol.) to open a ramen shop and a larger Japanese American diner that will feature ramen in addition to a full menu, a dessert program and cocktails. Both called Tokyo Strike, the ramen shop will open in downtown L.A. in the fall, while the diner will open in a location yet to be announced, likely in July.

“This is the most difficult thing I’ve ever done,” Yagi said the other day from her home kitchen, where she’s been working on the new menu while the 350-square-foot ramen shop at 4th and Main is being constructed. “Ramen is so complicated and meticulous and very technical. I’m like, ‘What did I sign up for?’ Japanese people are the only people who could develop a bowl of noodles to this level; it’s crazy.”

Yagi, who is from Gunma Prefecture, north of Tokyo, first started talking to Irvin years ago, when both were working on Hinoki and the Bird. Irvin had become fascinated by the rockabilly culture in Japan, as well as the popularity of American diners in Tokyo. They loved the idea of reverse engineering Japan’s take on American diners, back in America. Thus the name Tokyo Strike, and its logo.

Tokyo Strike’s ramen shop will go into the Medallion Building complex, just south of Little Tokyo, in a tiny space: a kitchen with only outside patio seating.

“It’s very similar to Santouka,” said Yagi, referencing the beloved take-away ramen shop inside Mitsuwa markets. “Not the style of ramen, but the service. There’s only a kitchen and two windows. It’s casual — not a gorgeous, gigantic restaurant like I used to do.”

Yagi said she won’t be making her own noodles, but will be concentrating on making the broths and, most important for her, the tare, which is the ramen’s seasoning. “For me, the secret is tare; that’s the difference that you can make in your ramen.”

The Tokyo Strike ramen shop will have three kinds of ramen: a signature bowl, a spicy ramen variation of dan dan mien, and vegetarian ramen. There will be a very limited menu of side dishes, as the focus will be on the bowls of ramen. There will be a beverage menu, which will feature a shochu program and beer slushies.

Yagi, who has been traveling to Japan for research, said that a lot of the ramen in Los Angeles “is for Americans; we add too much fat to ours. It’s not necessary if you can introduce the flavor through tare and stock. Japanese ramen is really advanced, like the next generation of iPhone.”

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