By Stefanie Gans
Dish: Ramen Burger, served with duck fat fries, $12
Where: Parallel Wine Bistro, 43135 Broadlands Center Plaza, Suite 121, Broadlands
Taste: Served at brunch only, this beef patty seasoned with salt, pepper and a little soy is sandwiched not in a bun, but with two squares of ramen noodles. The ramen burger trend started in New York last summer by Keizo Shimamoto of Go Ramen (he’s now opening a restaurant) and it hit Northern Virginia at Parallel Wine Bistro.
The effect turns the ramen into something resembling kugel, the Jewish dish of noodle pudding. The ramen is cooked three-quarters of the way through and mixed with sesame seeds, ginger, sesame oil and a beaten yolk. It’s reshaped with pie cutters and then placed in the freezer for 15 minutes. At order, the noodles fry for just a few minutes to crisp up. The beef is certainly the star here, as it should be with burgers, but the noodles add an extra element of fun—and have sparked the interest of one of Parallels’s chefs, Sam McGee.
“I saw someone doing a ramen taco,” says McGee. “That’ll probably never get on the menu. That’ll just be more for personal glory.”
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