Ippudo Reboots With Frozen Beer Slushies, Plus Four New Ramen Spots to Try

It’s still raining ramen out there– it seems we can’t go one week without a new opening. Here’s a round up of some of the newest places to slurp during noodle season.

Ippudo
65 4th Ave, nr 10th street, East Village
This pioneer of New York’s Ramen craze recently closed for what store manager Yuske Nakamura says is an “iPhone 6 to iPhone 6s” upgrade. The space, originally meant to serve 200 guests a day, became so popular it quickly had to adjust to accommodating 800 – and all that turnover took a toll on the equipment and machinery. The upgrade will come in handy when Ippudo presents an expanded menu (expected in May) to include more vegetable-based ramen options and appetizers with global influences, like Spanish Iberico pork. There’s also a revamped beer bar at the front, now with Japanese craft beers on tap like Asahi and Orion (and the Ippudo collaboration with Brooklyn Brewery, Kaedama Ale). The biggest novelty is a slushy Kirin Ichiban machine to top your drink with frozen beer, a popular variation in Japan.

Ramen Zundo-Ya
84 E 10th Street, nr. Third Ave., East Village
Tatsuya Hashimoto has opened some 15 ramen shops in Japan over the course of 13 years, but this is his first New York outpost. The menu hypes eight types of ramen. The tonkotsu is made with pork back ribs, homemade wheat noodles, pork backfat, and a broth that’s the result of stewing pork bones for 20 hours. The place is pretty spacious for a ramen spot, so expect it to help sop up the spillover from Ippudo’s infamous lines.

Nakamura
172 Delancey St., nr. Clinton St., Lower East Side
Shigetoshi Nakamura was recently the opening chef at Ramen Lab on Kenmare Street, but now he’s parked a permanent version of his popular 15-year-old Yokohama ramen-and-beer joint on Delancey Street, at the mouth of the Williamsburg Bridge (and down the street from Ivan Ramen). The menu is extremely restrained: it has four types of noodle bowls (including vegetarian XO miso and yuzu dash), plus a dumpling appetizer and Japanese beer and sakes.

Ramen by Mew
7 Cornelia St., nr. West 4th Street, West Village
This offshoot of Izakaya Mew in Koreatown tries to mix noodles with music. The interior is playful, mimicking a radio studio, with stage lights on the ceiling and old mixers and tape decks in the back (expect the music selection to be more thoughtful than your average restaurant soundtrack). Broths come in two types: 14-hour pork, and 9-hour chicken, with different flavor profiles, like a yuzu flavor made with citrus-peel salt.

Setagaya Brooklyn
280 Bedford Ave, bt Grand and N 1st Street, Williamsburg
This is another repeat performance, from a ramen shop with locations in the East Village and New Jersey. A full menu of quirky appetizers, like wasabi shock salad or tofu steak and cheese, is available to complement the range of ramen options, including vegan. Plop down at a communal table and get cozy with your noodle-face neighbors.