Since opening last August, Little Osaka's Tsujita L.A. has quickly become the most serious purveyor of Hakata tonkotsu in town, a fact validated by the noodle-loving crowds waiting outside the building around opening time. Though it serves its ramen only during an abbreviated lunch hour — out of concern that the dish's popularity would overshadow the dinnertime kaiseki menu — the lengthy wait list for a table can rival something out of the UCLA admissions department. The hard-cooked noodles float in broth made from long-simmered chicken, fish and marrow-laden Kurobuta-pork bones, which combine for the ideal balance of porcine funk and buttery intensity. There are thick slices of char siu, too, in case things weren't already porky enough; a sauce-saturated, soft-boiled egg that bursts its orange yolk when pierced with a chopstick; and little containers of red pickled ginger and spicy mustard leaf condiment, which provide sharp and acidic counterbalances to the rich-as-crushed-velvet soup. 2057 Sawtelle Blvd., W.L.A. (310) 231-7373, tsujita-la.com.
—Garrett Snyder
I see now that Tsujita has char siu printed on its own menu, so it's much less LA Weekly's fault. :) Strictly speaking, still not correct, but wonky English transliterations are part of the culture on Sawtelle, so. It's still actually chashu, and they may be trying to cater to the crowd who is more familiar with the (completely different) Chinese char siu.
Mmm, I don't know if you guys got my letter earlier, but FYI, the pork in ramen is Chashu not Char Siu. The sounds in Char Siu do not exist in Japanese. Char Siu is (one way of rendering the thing that is) Chinese BBQ pork, usually sweeter and redder than chashu. And appearance of hipness aside, if you're not sure, it's okay to just say "pork."
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