We can smell a food frenzy from a mile away. First, it starts with some oddball hybrid creation. Next comes the first wave of curious customers. Then you're just one buzzy review away from a full-blown craze. Meet the Ramen Burger. This latest delicacy from Keizo Shimamoto is exactly what it sounds like: one basic burger, a layer of sweet and salty shoyu sauce, a few simple toppings, all squeezed between two ramen-noodle buns. And therein lies the magic.
Pressed into disks on a griddle, each "bun" side has a crisp outer layer making it easy to hold. But, the moment you bite into that baby, the noodles get noodle-y, creating that classic chewy-crunchy-salty ramen experience you've loved from the moment you discovered microwave cooking. Sounds like you know what you're having for lunch, right? WRONG, buster. As with the Cronut craze that threatened to turn lower Manhattan into one long line outside Dominique Ansel Bakery, the Ramen Burger is already drawing masses to Keizo's stand at Smorgasburg. The first week his team served only 100 burgers, but last weekend, knowing he had a hit on his hands, the chef got Ramen Burgers served to around 300 customers. But, considering the line began to blow up before 8am, that still left plenty of folks who had to go cry into their plain old regular burgers.
Keizo and the team are working to up production fast, so don't lose hope. The light at the end of the tunnel? The Smorgasburg stand is just a test on Keizo's part to see if New Yorkers might be interested in a Ramen Burger restaurant. Um, yeah, I think you're good to go, buddy. (Gothamist)
Photo: via Keizo Shimamoto