Openings

Ramen War Intensifies With Hakata Ippudo

Why Japanese restaurateurs decided to make the East Village the ramen war’s western front may never be clear, but there was another skirmish at the Tuesday press preview* of Hakata Ippudo. Owner Shigemi Kawahara was there to celebrate his chain’s first location outside Japan, but Gothamist lamented that his signature dish, the Ramen King — “a pork-based creation containing a cube of gelatinous foam that changes the flavor of the soup as it dissolves” — was absent. Something tells us it won’t be long before Foam-Cube Ramen makes its way to the East Village. The ramen wars require every weapon known to man.

*Correction: This event was a press preview, not opening night. Hakata Ippudo opens on March 31.

Ramen King Holds Court at Ippudo Opening [Gothamist]
Related: Huzzah! More Ramen for the East Village!
Where the Underground Gourmet Will Be Eating [NYM]

Ramen War Intensifies With Hakata Ippudo