At a preview party Tuesday, one patron described the fifty-seat spot — outfitted with disco balls, in-your-face neon and graffiti, and flimsy tables and chairs — as a “roller rink on acid.” Owner Keith Cochran, dressed like Tony Montana in a breezy Hawaiian shirt and fedora, said it was “a meeting of K-town and Bushwick.”
The project grew out of a Chinese New Year party at The Narrows in February. After that got a positive response, Cochran, Webber, and their head chef Nick Subic signed a lease on Flushing Avenue and created a concept around the motto of “everything is friendly, everything is on fire, and everything is Day-Glo.”
Subic, who was previously at Roberta’s and cut his teeth on serious food with a sense of humor at Do or Dine, designed the menu with Cochran, to be served family-style and shared with friends over a pitcher of Sapporo. Standouts include spicy chicken wings with flash-pickled cucumbers, char-siu-inspired glazed short ribs with grilled pineapple, whole pike mackerel, Spam-fried rice, and carbonara with Doritos (which you may have tried to make yourself at some point in college).
To drink, there are Mai Tais spiked with Pernod, Zombies served in ceramic tiki mugs, and a giant Scorpion Bowl lit on fire with Bacardi 151 which does about as much damage as you’d expect from something that tastes a lot like a tropical Long Island Iced Tea.
The tiki-style libations will get you drunk, but not to worry — the kitchen is open till 1am every night.
King Noodle, 1045 Flushing Ave., bet. Morgan Ave. and Vandervoort Pl., Bushwick; (718) 456-6543