Ramen Manichi Opens in Little Tokyo, LA

choi

Amy Scattergood, Ramen Manichi Opens in Little Tokyo: Black Tonkotsu, Gyoza, Salaryman lunch. Los Angeles Times, Jan 20, 2015.
www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/l ... 20150119-story.html

Note:
(a) Little Tokyo is in Los Angeles City.

(b) Man[‘]ichi  Group  株式会社満一
www.manichi1.com/
(since 1953)
(i) Its Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/manichiramen/ph ... 42/593576277385592/
(ii) 満一 obviously is shortened from 満洲屋が一番.

(c) "A thriving Japanese American community for well over 100 years, there have historically been plenty of ramen-yas there [in Little Tokyo], most notably the original Daikokuya on 1st Street "
(i) Regarding "ramen-yas." The "s" denotes plural form in ENGLISH. Then the "ya" is the Japanese noun 屋 (rarely: 家), for "shop" (preceding by what it sells).
(ii) Daikokuya 大黒家
www.dkramen.com/

, which altogether has four stores in and around Los Angeles city. (Incidentally “koku” and “kuro” are Chinese and Japanese pronunciations for kanji 黒 (noun here).)

(d) "Ramen Manichi soft-opened two weeks ago. It's the first mainland American branch (there are three in Hawaii) of a Japanese ramen company that started in Kurume in 1953. * * * filled with 16 two-top tables"
(i) Soft Openings: Practice Makes Perfect. National Restaurant Association, undated
www.restaurant.org/Manage-My-Res ... ice-makes-perfect-1
(ii) Kurume, Fukuoka 福岡(県) 久留米(市)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurume,_Fukuoka

choi

(e) “Ramen Manichi specializes in tonkotsu ramen, the dense pork-built bone broth that originated in Kurume, a region known for its pigs. The tonkotsu broth here is simmered for 20 hours, then paired with straight, chewy noodles that are somewhat thicker than those for, say, Hakata ramen, since they have to stand up to the serious broth. You can get that rich broth further fueled with red miso or with black garlic, which comes in your bowl like a happy oil slick. There are the usual accompaniments of soft-cooked egg, chashu pork (here roasted, fairly thinly sliced and spiraled like pancetta), spicy miso, pickled mustard greens, bamboo, and shrimp.”
(i)
(A) tonkotsu 豚骨 【とんこつ】 (n): "dish made with pork belly and bones, simmered with miso, sake, vegetables, etc (from Kagoshima)"
Jim Breen’s online Japanese dictionary

* Kagoshima can refer to 鹿児島県 or its capital 鹿児島市.
* The “ton” and “kotsu” are Chinese pronunciations of kanji 豚 and 骨, respectively..
* The “katsu” カツ in “tonkatsu” -- とんカツ 《豚カツ》 (n): 'breaded pork cutlet' -- is shorten from katsretsu カツレツ (katakana for “cutlet)).  (Note: Japanese romanization does not have “l”--only “r.”)
(C) What does “tonkotsu ramen” look like?

ramen
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramen
(section 2.2 Soup: Tonkotsu--It is a specialty of Kyushu, particularly Hakata-ku 博多区, Fukuoka 福岡市 [capital of 福岡県] (hence sometimes called "Hakata ramen").
(ii) miso
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miso
(section 3.1 Types: akamiso 赤味噌 or red miso)
(iii) For “chashu,” see char siu 叉燒
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char_siu
(section 5 Japanese cuisine: Japanese culture has adapted char siu and translated it as chāshū [photo caption: Chāshū Ramen])
(A) SOME prepared in Japanese style looks like, to me, pork loin in US. Search images.google.com with “Chāshū.”
(B) braising
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braising
(section 4 See also: red cooking 红烧)

(f) Owner of the Little Tokyo shop named Jason “Easton is a first generation Japanese Chinese Angeleno from Los Feliz — a fitting lineage for a ramen shop owner, as both ramen and gyoza came to Japan from China. * * * Easton has been busy * * * getting the recipes, all of which come from Manichi's Japanese headquarters * * * [Little Tokyo’s] Ramen Manichi's official grand opening will be Feb 14, Valentine's Day”
(i) Los Feliz, Los Angeles
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Feliz,_Los_Angeles
(The neighborhood is named after its colonial Spanish-Mexican land grantee, José Vicente Feliz)
(ii) feliz (adjective, masculine and feminine; from Latin [adjective masculine, feminine, neuter] felix): happy"en.wiktionary.org/wiki/feliz

(g) slide show: "Tonkotsu ramen[:] A bowl of Korumaru tonkotsu Shibori ramen in one of the bright red bowls that [the bowls, not ingredients] the owner of Ramen Manichi imports from Japan."
(i) Korumaru is a typo. It should be Kuromaru, where “kuro” and Maru” are Japanese pronunciations for kanji 黒 and 丸, respectively.

One of Ramen Manichi’s idiosyncrasies is three tastes of broth: 黒丸 (with black garlic)、赤丸 (with red miso)、白丸.
(A) One of Ramen Manichi’s idiosyncrasies is three tastes of broth: 黒丸 (with black garlic)、赤丸、白丸.
(B) 麻油 mayu (often translated as “black garlic oil”). But why? (Why is it different from Chinese one?)
* What it looks like:
www.facebook.com/ramenology/posts/736220946437514
* recipe:
J Kenji López-Alt, Mayu (Black Garlic Oil) for Ramen. serious eats, Sept 4, 2013.
www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013 ... r-ramen-recipe.html
(ii) The “tonkotsu shibori” means broth (or soup, if you prefer) wrung out from the pig bones. It is often used in ramen.  Ramen Manichi boasts of 久留米とんこつしぼり, claiming its expertise in creating local broth.
(iii) Japanese English dictionary
shibori 絞り(P); 搾り 【しぼり】(n): “[literally] squeezing” (thus: juice)

* It is usually used in ginger juice ショウガ [の搾り汁, lemon juice レモンの絞り汁, etc.
* shōga ショウガ 《生姜; 生薑; 薑》 【しょうが】 (n): “ginger”