Ramen Champ Decides to Take the Rest of August Off

If, for some perverse reason, this recent heat wave has you craving a steaming bowl of ramen, you’ll have to look beyond Ramen Champ to get your fix: the Chinatown noodle star is currently on summer vacation.

Alvin Cailan’s 22-seater on the second floor of the Far East Plaza has been rather busy since opening for dinner around the first of the year, adding lunch hours in the spring amid increased foot traffic to the plaza. But recently, customers trying to grab a bowl of their meatless shio have been perplexed that the place seems to have gone completely dark.

Reached for comment, Cailan says it’s just a summer break for the hard-working staff, and should give the Eggslut co-owner time to ramp up for the upcoming LA Food & Wine festival later this month.

It’s also entirely possible that fewer folks have been interested in hearty bowls of ramen as the thermometer hovers above 100 degrees. But with El Niño on the horizon and a potentially wet winter ahead, Ramen Champ better not disappear forever: the city is going to need some fortification.