Newsletter: Counter: Ramen weather

Jan. 28, 2017 12:05 AM PT

If it’s been an unaccountably long week for you too, then maybe it’s time to head to the mall. Not kidding, at least if you love ramen as much as most of us do. Because not only is Din Tai Fung at the mall in Glendale, there’s now a branch of one of the best ramen shops in Southern California there too. So maybe stop in for a bowl of tsukemen at the Tsujita — Jonathan Gold’s latest restaurant review — before you head up to Mammoth or Mountain High. You may need all that pork-intensive nourishment while you wait in those long lines.

If ramen isn’t your thing (really?), then you might visit one or two of the notable neighborhood restaurants that are closing their doors, either in a few days or a few weeks. Or a few of those that are opening their doors. Or maybe one of the restaurants on Jonathan’s list of great places to celebrate the Chinese New Year. And even if you’re not heading to the slopes or to get in line at Chengdu Taste, remember to look up at the snow-covered San Gabriels.

– Amy Scattergood

Ramen in the mall

This week, Jonathan Gold heads to the Americana at Brand, where he finds creditable bowls of ramen at the Tsujita, the new branch of the Tokyo ramen shop that has drawn long lines of noodle-lovers to Sawtelle Boulevard for the last few years. So: the same great bowls of tonkotsu ramen and tsukemen, now in a swank, enormous, very well-lit dining room. And if you like to shop, as some people do, there’s a Nordstrom too.

Ramen chefs Yuta Soma, left, and Tomotsugu Kubo at the Tsujita in Glendale.

Last canelés at Canelé

After a decade anchoring the neighborhood dining scene in Atwater Village, chef Corina Weibel is closing her restaurant Canelé. But fear not: The new restaurant in the same space, Journeymen, will be helmed by two Gjelina alums, who plan to offer vegetable-oriented, farm-driven dinners, hopefully before summer. Meanwhile, time to order another omelet with herb salad or support Weibel’s Friends Cook project while you still can.

The dining room and kitchen at Canelé in Atwater Village. Chef Corina Weibel is selling her restaurant after a decade of serving the neighborhood.

When one restaurant door closes…

In other restaurant news, two more veteran L.A. chefs are closing their restaurants — Neal Fraser is closing his Beverly Boulevard restaurant BLD and Hans Röckenwagner is shuttering 3 Square Café in Venice — while the new hot chicken joint Hotville opens in Chinatown. Wait, there’s more: Mezcalero has opened in DTLA, and a hot dog pop-up finds a permanent home in Koreatown.

Diners prepare to dig in at BLD restaurant on Beverly Boulevard. The restaurant's last night of service will be Jan. 31.

Your vegan taco update

If you’re a fan of Danny Trejo, and who is not, then you’ve likely been to one of the veteran actor’s two taquerias. If you like to cook your own tacos, Trejo and his exec chef, John-Carlos Kuramoto, have given us the recipe for their understandably popular cauliflower tacos, which are vegan. Just in time for your Super Bowl party, if your idea of fun — and why would it not be — is eating tacos while watching Bill Belichick scowl on the sidelines.

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The rainbow cauliflower taco with grilled corn and cashew puree is a vegan-friendly menu item at Trejo’s Cantina in Hollywood.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times )