14-07-2025
One of Japan's Most Celebrated Ramen Chefs Brings Award-Winning Noodles to the San Gabriel Valley
After an eight-month stint at Westfield Century City, Ramen Ochi reopens in Rowland Heights on July 15. Yuichi Ochi, a Japanese-born chef with over 31 ramen awards, is leading the charge from the new space where diners can opt for kaarage, gyoza, and four different types of ramen broth in the San Gabriel Valley's former Ajisen Ramen.
Ramen Ochi hopes to impress the region with a chicken, pork, and beef broth, requiring the chef to supervise for 10 hours. In Japan, nikutama is referred to as 'three-beasts broth,' with a thick, gravy-like consistency, and is served with noodles that blend domestic and imported wheat with tapioca flour without using eggs. This can be served as a full broth bowl or dry.
Chef Ochi prepares three other broths on-site, starting with a savory nitoryu broth made with tonkotsu and seafood. The slightly sweet sanjyu relies on a long simmer of soy sauce or shoyu. Ochi's creamy gyokai tonkatsu broth leans in on the pork and fish notes. Chef Ochi also uses soft filtered water in his kitchens, which he says better extracts the umami from bones and the noodle texture. Pork belly or a chashu pork bowl is also available, as well as ground pork and chive-stuffed gyoza, and traditional Japanese fried chicken, also known as kaarage.
Ochi brought along some personal effects to the restaurant, including 200-year-old armor and his grandmother's hand-painted obi kimono made in 1940. Both are placed next to the restaurant's entrance. According to a spokesperson, the decision to close Westfield Century City was based on finding a location that could best serve the public outside of a food court. The restaurant is on the top floor of a corner shopping mall on Fullerton and Colima Roads.
Southern California's ramen options are extensive, with longtime operators like Little Tokyo's 49-year-old Kouraku, as well as Japanese imports like Mensho Tokyo, Afuri Ramen, and Tonchin opening in recent years. Ochi is also the grandson of Ochi Katsuhisa, who founded Ochi Corp in 1965. The younger Ochi joined the company in 2010 and managed eight restaurant locations throughout Japan while studying ramen and other cultural dishes before becoming the company's lead in 2016. Chef Ochi won the 2015 honors at Japan's largest ramen festival, Dai Tsukemen Haku, and countless gyoza festival nods over the years.
Beginning July 15, Ramen Ochi is open at 18253 Colima Road, unit #104, Rowland Heights, CA, 91748, Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., then for dinner from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday until 10 p.m. Saturday hours are from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.
Nikutama ramen.
Interior of Ramen Ochi with 200-year-old armor.
Dining room.
Chef Yuichi Ochi.
Eater LA
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