When we talk about ramen, we generally mean the soup. But ramen is a noodle, and a specifically toothsome noodle made with an alkaline dough that renders it a little tighter than most pasta.
There have been a few restaurants recently that have been making superior ramen noodles, and we’d like to alert you to a few of them.
At Hangout Ramen they serve a mix of Japanese, Thai and Indonesian food, but here we’re focused on the noodles. They have a wide selection that includes such non-traditional options as spicy “bang bang,” in a spicy pork broth; Laksa, with a coconut broth with shrimp and tofu; and their special Hangout Ichimi that comes with a creamy pork broth and can be ordered “mild,” “burning” or “explode.”
Union Ramen specializes in poultry and miso-based broths, as apart from the pork-based tonkatsu more typical in the U.S. Toppings include roasted pork, blackened chicken, ground beef and tasso and bulgogi-style king mushrooms. They do several versions of brothless ramen, too, called “mazamen;” their take on on dirty rice with an Asian twist.
Secret Birria is an outlier in the ramen world. It’s a place that serves tacos and ramen, and while that’s not a traditional thing, it’s delicious. Birria is beef that’s cooked slowly with chiles and spices, and it pairs remarkably well with ramen noodles in a soup.
Hangout Ramen
1340 S. Carrollton Ave.
571-5024
order online with DoorDash or Postmates
@hangoutramen
Union Ramen
1837 Magazine St.
459-2819
Unionramen.com
@unionramennola
Secret Birria
323 Octavia St.
899-2961
Secretbirria.com
@secretbirrianola
