Best Ramen, August 2011

While Gardena's Mottainai Ramen serves a thick, rich shoyu and pork bone concoction with a dollop of spicy red miso paste that smacks of Tokyo, the premier bowl in Los Angeles skews less traditional and satisfies even more. Shige “Sean” Nakamura is renowned for making authentic-tasting ramen noodles without a key embargoed ingredient. At Torrance's Ramen California, the strand wunderkind has crafted a menu with haute sensibilities. His California Ramen stars 30 farmers' market vegetables in an organic chicken soup, and his experiments (he's come up with a gooey invention he calls Reggiano Tofu) turn humble broths into far-out compositions.