Dallas was long-protected from the ramen craze until Tanoshii Ramen Bar set up shop in Deep Ellum. Now a second is already on the way.
Carol Shih at Sidedish reported that Teiichi Sakurai, the owner of Tei-An, planned to open a fish market at Sylvan|Thirty, but apparently he's pivoted. Instead he's chosen to open his own ramen shop with a heavy emphasis on ramen as street food.
See also: Tanoshii Rode the Ramen Wave to Dallas and Crashed
Sakurai is taking a different track than the one Tanoshii is on. The space is tiny, only 750 square feet, and seats only 13 customers, who will be grouped around a toppings bar. So far the menu only has three ramen varieties, tonkotsu-shio, shoyu, and miso, and two side dishes, chashu and gyoza. The goal is to replicate an old-school Japanese noodle house that produces quick and easy street food. Quick, easy and cheap, actually, since Sakurai doesn't plan to have any bowl cost more than $10.
By way of explaining the limited seating, Sakurai told Sidedish: "I try to do culture more than business. If I like to make business, [the shop would] probably be four times bigger than this and lots of waitress running in general. But it's my passion introducing a culture, not a business."
Which may be one of the coolest things a business owner has ever said.
