Month: June 2014

Of all the trendy foods right now, ramen stands out as one that pleases just about everyone. From highbrow ramen joints to lowbrow instant ramen, this Japanese noodle soup is popular everywhere. It would stand to reason, then, that ramen can do no wrong. That would be a hasty assumption, however. Every bright star has a dark side, and ramen is no exception.

Restaurant chefs and home cooks alike have been co-opting ramen in the worst way — taking it out of its natural habitat of hot, steamy broth, and forming it into shapes that are at best unappetizing and at worst grotesque. It started last summer with the infamous ramen burger — the food trend everyone thought might overtake the Cronut™ — which soon proved to be just another gimmicky mashup. Today, we’re seeing ramen foods everywhere, threatening the integrity of this once irreverently cool and impossibly delicious food.

Here are five ways that we never, ever want to eat ramen:

The Ramen Burger

When Keizo Shimamoto unveiled the original Ramen Burger at Brooklyn’s Smorgasburg last summer, the world almost forgot about the Cronut™ — for a second. Then everyone realized that ramen noodles are not a tastier replacement for a fluffy, buttery bun, and everyone went back to fawning over Umami Burger. It was just the beginning of ramen’s shapeshifting, however.

Ramen Pizza

Then came the ramen pizza. Nobody liked the look of it, yet no one wanted to give up on ramen outside the bowl. Serious Eats’ J. Kenji Lopez-Alt was responsible for this ramen pizza (for which the noodles are cooked in a cast iron skillet) and it wouldn’t be the last ramen pizza. California-based pizzeria Marco Polo Pizza has just started selling its own version. What’s wrong with traditional, slightly chewy, slightly charred and crunch crust?

Ramen Tacos

Then came the Ramen Taco, from New England based food blog The Vulgar Chef. After the bacon weave taco and the bacon weave choco taco, it was just a matter of time that someone would make a taco shell out of ramen.

The Ramenerrito

It’s happening: Ramen + Burrito = The Ramenrrito – http://t.co/LfnaTVHzQA

— Thrillist New York (@ThrillistNYC) June 10, 2014

As the folks over at Thrillist point out, it’s simple math. Ramen + Burrito = Ramenerrito. West Village restaurant Presstea™ is responsible for this new beast, which is made to order and filled with noodles prepared in a pork broth with cilantro, garlic, and house spices, according to FoodBeast.

The Ramen Corn Dog

A Ramen Corn Dog Hits Jersey City http://t.co/nrN1uUetHq pic.twitter.com/cgAj8ahfsI

— The Village Voice (@villagevoice) June 16, 2014

And just when you thought ramen couldn’t get any lower, someone went and invented the ramen corn dog — in New Jersey no less. (Please note, the author is from New Jersey and says this in jest, with pride.) The monstrosity comes from Jersey City-based restaurant Union Republic and consists of a beef sausage battered in cornmeal and surrounded by fried ramen noodles.

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From now on, let it be known that is is the ONLY way you should be buttering your movie theater popcorn. Life hacks Tumblr List of Life Hacks posted this genius trick, and we’re so glad it did. We’ll never butter our popcorn the same way again.

A st…

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A video of a brawl at a Greek restaurant in Melbourne, Australia, features fists-flying, chair-breaking antics that make staged saloon fights in Hollywood Westerns look tame.

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FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — A little thing like a flooded creek was not enough to keep an Alaska restaurant owner from delivering Thai ribs and fried rice to stranded customers over the weekend.

Anuson “Knott” Poolsawat, owner of Knott’s Take Out in North Pole, forded the swollen waters of Clear Creek to reach two customers stuck along the Richardson Highway, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (http://bit.ly/1yFoujf) Mike Laiti and Brandon Borgens were completing a multi-day drive Saturday night up the Alaska Highway when they called in their order to the restaurant, which was near closing.

As they approached Clear Creek, they learned a sinkhole had developed from heavy rain near the creek. The state Department of Transportation closed the bridge.

Laiti called Poolsawat to cancel their order at the restaurant more than 25 miles away in North Pole.

“I called him and said, ‘Hey man, I can’t make it,’ and he said, ‘Not a problem, I’ll come cross the waters,'” Laiti said. “He called me and said, ‘Should I bring a boat?'”

Poolsawat arrived with takeout boxes containing Thai barbecue ribs and Thai fried rice. Another box held a “dinosaur egg” — a hardboiled egg that’s fried and covered in a sweet sesame sauce.

Poolsawat hiked up his shorts and waded through the creek, holding the takeout boxes over his head. The cold water was hip-deep.

Poolsawat had already done them a favor by staying open late, Laiti said. The delivery was beyond expectations.

“He’d help anybody out. He’s just a really good positive attitude, just a good guy,” said Laiti. “He’s definitely a goofball character and the food he makes is great.”

Take a look over your neighbor’s fence, and you might find a barbecue-obsessed cook in the backyard. In addition to the professional types who compete around D.C., there’s also a crop of barbecue enthusiasts taking new approaches to cooking and what barbecue means. The world of barbecue today resembles other craft-driven pursuits, just like home-brewing […]