I am very lucky that my friends are willing to humor me when we go out to eat. The original plan was to go out for brunch on a lazy Sunday morning in the Mission, but the line was longer than we expected at Universal Cafe. Instead, we decided to walk down the block to try out Iza Ramen, a pop-up ramen shop inside the trendy Blowfish Sushi. I had once tried a pop-up ramen shop called Benkei Ramen (aka “Secret Ramen”) inside Ushiwakamaru before in NYC, and it wasn’t impressive. Thus, I was a bit skeptical heading into Iza Ramen, especially because San Francisco is not known for its Japanese food. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that they served tsukemen, one of my favorite types of ramen.

Iza Ramen is the only ramen restaurant I have been to in San Francisco, but I’m betting that it is one of the best. It would certainly hold its own against Los Angeles-area ramen joints.

Spicy tsukemen. The flavoring was intense, but delicious. The broth was slightly more sour than other spicy tsukemen broths that I have had, but I enjoyed the extra dimension of flavor. The egg would have been better had it been a little more runny, but overall I have no complaints. Iza Ramen would be an excellent addition to the Los Angeles ramen scene, if they ever decide to head down south. I would definitely add it into my tsukemen rotation, which is currently dominated by Tsujita and Tsujita Annex.

Dipping noodles.

Iza Ramen, 2170 Bryant St, San Francisco, CA 94110