As I’ve said on numerous occasions before, my mother-in-law’s move from Koreatown to Seal Beach a few years ago has been a paradigm-shifting experience for us—one that is still ongoing. My first 10 years in the US were lived in Los Angeles—first by USC, then in West LA, then in Santa Monica, then West LA again, and finally in that stretch of Olympic Blvd. between Robertson and La Cienega that doesn’t really have a name (or at least not one I have ever known). And when the missus—raised in Los Angeles proper—and I returned to LA on our annual visits after we first left in 2003, it was to her mother’s house in Koreatown we came and which was our base. My general experience of Los Angeles County until a few years ago was thus largely contained in the polygon formed by the 10, 405 and 101 freeways (with a major exception made for the San Gabriel Valley). It’s not that I never ventured out of that sprawling zone but that was my Los Angeles, my Southern California, and also to a large extent, the missus’ as well.

And so when my mother-in-law moved just south of the Orange Curtain into Seal Beach we had to deal both with the fact that our home base was now in Orange County (once Reagan-ville, now Trump-ville), and with the fact that we were no longer in our familiar geography, in neighbourhoods we knew intimately, in terms of both street and food maps. This was not easy (especially the Orange County part) but we’ve managed to get over at least the map part. It took a few trips but now we have begun to appreciate the new geographies that have opened up to us. We may have lost easy access to the restaurants of Thai Town but we’ve gained access to the beautiful beaches of the South Bay and to the wonderful Japanese food scene in the cities of Gardena and Torrance. In particular, we’ve been enjoying exploring the ramen landscape. I’ve reported previously on meals at Jidaiya Ramen in Gardena, at Hakkata Ikkousha Ramen in Torrance, and at Josui Ramen in Gardena. Here now is a quick look at a relative newcomer to the scene: Tomizo Ramen in Gardena.

It’s a small restaurant. Maybe four tables and about 10-12 tables around a counter. We arrived not too long after they opened for lunch on a Tuesday and found it not very busy. They seem to do a fair bit of takeout/delivery app business and I expect the restaurant itself is busier at dinner. At any rate, it’s a nice space and the one server when we were there was very hospitable and attentive. Okay, what did we eat?

Tomizo Ramen’s specialty is Hokkaido-style miso ramen and that was 50% of our ramen order: the younger boy got their Spicy Miso Ramen and I got their Miso Butter Corn Scallop Ramen. The older boy got their Shoyu Ramen (adding on a soft-boiled egg) and the missus got their Tsukemen (Dipping Ramen) which comes with a bowl of tonkotsu broth. All were very good indeed—and each bowl contained different noodles—but I thought the miso broth was the clear standout (and I think I might have liked the younger boy’s spicy iteration just a bit more than my own sweeter version). Oh yes, we also got an order of karaage and gyoza each to start, both of which were also quite good.

For a look at the the restaurant, the menu and what we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down for price, to see what we thought of it vis a vis the other places mentioned above and to see what’s coming next.

Service, as I noted, was very good. The price was not bad either. All of the above plus a Diet Coke came to just about $105 with tax and tip. In these inflationary times that still tracks as a good deal for the high quality of the food. You might note that we paid $20 less for a very similar meal at Josui Ramen just over a year ago but that was with one less bowl of ramen—the boys now eat one adult-sized bowl each. For what it’s worth, we thought this meal was at the top of our ramen explorations so far in the Gardena/Torrance area. If you have other places you like more that we haven’t tried, please do let me know.

Alright, next up on the food front, I hope to finally get that Tenant meal report up on Tuesday and after that the last of my Seoul reports before the month ends. Let’s see how it goes.