The fourth Menya Ultra ramen outlet opened this past weekend in San Diego, taking its spot at the Collection at UTC, a recent development hosted in the previous location of Sears. Alongside this much-anticipated delight resides a collection of food and drink tenants like Blue Bottle and Ben Gong's Tea, per Eater San Diego.
The Akita prefecture in Japan's Odate village is where Menya Ultra began. In 2017, immediately after it launched its debut U.S. branch, it garnered the San Diego Restaurant of the Year award by Eater. Culinary personality Andrew Zimmern further popularized the restaurant, touting its ramen as possibly "the best in America." An expansion followed, with the brand marked Mira Mesa and Hillcrest, as well as additional outlets, according to San Diego Ville.
The novel 1842-square-foot ramen location at UTC exhibits custom Japanese manga, rendering iconic scenes of master chef Takashi Endo preparing his award-winning ramen with Hokkaido wheat noodles. Furthermore, Endo, who runs a noodle factory in San Diego, envisages an escalation in production to supply other restaurants, as reported by Eater San Diego.
Differentiating from its other outlets, Menya Ultra's new venture at UTC features a counter serving style, complete with a minimized menu offering best-selling tonkotsu ramen and other popular ramen varieties such as miso and tantan ramen. Unique to the UTC outlet, patrons can discover new items such as tonkotsu garlic ramen, karaage, chashu-topped rice bowls, and an assortment of one-cup sake. The UTC branch also aims to introduce tsukemen in the future, a dish featuring cold noodles intended for dipping.
As the ramen chain expands, the excitement among ramen enthusiasts builds. The latest Menya Ultra location can be found at 4545 La Jolla Village Drive in the La Jolla area of San Diego.
