Ramen Lab Opens Today, Just in Time to Rescue New Yorkers From the Grips of Winter

After a very long buildout, Sun Noodle's Ramen Lab is finally opening its doors today (happily timed for this snowy day). The 10-seat ramen bar will get started as a restaurant this evening and the "educational ramen program" will come a bit later. The menu is simple, with just three items: gyoza and two ramens. One of those ramen is a very traditional chicken shoyu, the other a vegetarian miso ramen made with oolong tea, bean sprouts, and corn. Chef Jack Nakamura is also working on a seasonal ramen that will debut in the coming weeks, but that's it. The shop wants to give New Yorkers the experience of dining in one of Japan's 50,000 ramen shops, where diners slurp down their noodles quickly at cramped counters.

Since Sun Noodle has been supplying most of the city's better ramen-yas with noodles for years, several members of New York's ramen mafia have already paid the shop a visit. Both Ippuudo founder Shigemi Kawahara and Ivan Orkin have stopped by to pay their respects, and Orkin even brought his staff during friends and family.