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The Order: A Ramen Burger, medium. With cheese (white American), scallions, arugula and a secret sauce (Shoyu?), all on a ramen noodle bun.
Side order: No sides available
$8 + $1 (cheese) = $9
Drink Order: Oi Ocha unsweetened Green Tea.
Burger Menu Rating: 11/15
My Ramen Burger journey began on August 1st, 2013, with Eataku's announcement that Keizo Shimamoto would be bringing his version of the Ramen Burger to Williamsburg on August 8th. And what misfortune I had! That morning, I would be flying out to Los Angeles for work! I tried my best to enlist the help of various foodie friends in going to try this delicious burger, but to no avail. Even my sister, Ramen Lady, couldn't go (she's taking a bit of a break from Ramen Blogging what with her son being recently born and all). My mouth was watering and I couldn't get anybody to go. And what a fail on my part! It isn't often that I know of these momentous burger happenings BEFORE they happen, and yet I still couldn't get a guest blogger to go in my stead. Alas. What is the world coming to.
Over the next few months, I was thwarted at every turn. It seemed that every Saturday from August til the middle of October, I was either working, or out of town working. That is, until the morning of October 19th! In reality, that day's expedition began the evening before. I got back into town from Los Angeles a week early, and was using that time to go out and see friends. That Friday Night, the 18th, my friends and I had tickets to go see Eric Prydz and Jeremy Olander spin at Hammerstein, but would I let that stop me from getting a Ramen Burger?! No!! There was no way in hell I was going to let a night of partying til past 4:00AM get in the way of me getting a burger, and having heard about the limited number of burgers being sold every weekend, I was determined to be there early enough to get a burger.
Look at all the fun I was having until VERY EARLY IN THE MORNING.
I dragged myself out of bed at 8:30 in the morning to get dressed and get over to Smorgasburg. 8:30 in the morning on a Saturday morning isn't so bad by itself, but after going to sleep at almost 5 in the morning it's a bit rough.
This is me after sleeping for almost NO HOURS.
I'd heard that the line at the Sun Noodle Lab stand would be long, and that there would only be a limited number of burgers, so getting there at about 9:30 in the morning, 1.5 hours before opening, seemed like a perfect time. Right? I mean, if you were craving this burger for months, and finally had ONE opportunity to go, wouldn't you want to make sure you didn't fuck it up? Exactly. So 1.5 hours was the PERFECT amount of time. I got there so early that.. well... they hadn't actually started setting up their stand yet.
This is what victory looks like. Somewhat desolate actually.
Keizo and his cadre began to set up their stand at about 10am.
At about 10:00 they began setting up there stand, and Keizo came over to me, asking if I was waiting for a Ramen burger. There was a mixture of bemusement and disbelief on his face as I said that I was, in fact, waiting for one of his burgers. He moved me over to where they formed the line, and THAT was when it dawned on me. Not only was I DEFINITELY going to get a burger, but I was the FIRST in line that day. So I could've definitely come a little later, but then I would've missed out on what happened to me only a little while later on.
Keizo, seasoning and cooking the burger patties.
I started to get very excited, though a bit confused, because by 10:30 or so, Keizo was cooking burgers and heating up Ramen buns. There was no way they could be preparing these for the people they were going to be selling to. At that point, there were only about 4 of us in line, and the stand wasn't supposed to open for half an hour!
Ramen buns warming on the grill.
To add to my confusion, it seemed like they were plating and taking lots of pictures of the burgers they were making. Surely they'd done this back in August when they debuted the Ramen Burger? And then they all huddle in a circle and at them! The tyranny! Then it hit me. Something new must be going on here. Then, 11:00 rolled around and Keizo came to talk to the line of people no waiting, probably about 30 of us). He thanked us all for waiting, and told us that there was something new for us! The first release in the US of Keizo's Ramen Burger with Cheese! And I was going to be the FIRST TO GET ONE!! Fuck yeah! Getting up early totally rules!
This is me. FIRST IN LINE, BITCHES! Also looking much happier than I was a few hours earlier.
The front table: Prep and plating.
They pre-warm the bun and have all the ingredients fresh and ready to plate your burger in front of your eyes. A big bunch of arugula, then the patty goes down, followed by the scallions and the sauce.
It was like Christmas morning.
Then the whole thing gets wrapped up in PleatPak, a nifty little eco-friendly recycled paper wrapper that forms a kind of cup and captures your burger juices and droppings.
Finally unwrapped out of its sultry sultry shell!
The burger is everything you hope and expect that it will be. The Ramen bun held up well, and the burger overall was a fantastic mixture of Asian flavors. The meat was a little too tightly packed, and was cooked Medium as a standard, both detriments to this burger's score, but the scallions, sauce and ramen came together for something altogether different and interesting. The mouthfeel alone is worth it. The bun was firm but soft and pliable, and the juices helped to soften and keep the bun warm. The other ingredients are fresh, and add bursts of flavor in every bite. Everything, that is, except for the white American Cheese. As far as cheeses go, American cheese doesn't really excite in anyways. It's got a bit of a pasty mouthfeel, and doesn't particularly add any flavor to the burger, especially when the other ingredients have such strong and distinct flavors. Perhaps if this was a cheese with a bit of a sharper flavor profile, it would be worth the extra $1, but considering the price of American cheese in any supermarket, what you're getting is worth much less than the extra $1.
The whole burger is actually a bit reminiscent of "The Anime" burger from Go Burger a while back, although that was a completely different kind of richness (pork belly?! mmmmm). This burger is much more simple. Refined and elegant in its use of ingredients. Would I go on a Ramen Burger journey again? Yes. Would I go again at 9:30 in the morning after partying all night? No. Would I go for the cheese again? No. But all in all this was a very good burger. And while all the other 'substitute-bun' burgers are trying to gain their place in America's stomachs (is it just me, or does the "Mac-Attack Burger" look disgusting in EVERY picture), this is one burger that isn't just a fad. It's here to stay.
Cooked Correctly: 4/5 (no choice - medium)
Design/Ingredients: 3/4
Value: 2/3 (3/3 without cheese)
Plating: 2/3
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