Kyuramen opens second Long Island location, in Huntington
Kyuramen's chicken ramen layered with fresh corn, wakame seaweed and grilled chicken at the Garden City location. Credit: Newsday/Andi Berlin
Kyuramen's founder once said he wanted to create the "Starbucks of ramen" and he seems to be making good on that claim. The Queens-based chain opened its 30th location, in Huntington, last week. The store is the outfit's second location on Long Island, after a combination ramen and boba shop Kyuramen x TBaar opened in Garden City last April. The company expects to have 50 locations nationwide by the end of the year, according to a news release.
One of Long Island's most innovative ramen shops, Kyuramen is known for its futuristic restaurant design that includes wooden booths stacked on top of each other like a honeycomb. The 3,200-square-foot space with a tall ceiling has been transformed since its days as Quetzalcoatl, the kitschy Aztec façade replaced by a sleek Japanese modernist sign. Stairs lead to honeycomb booths on the upper level.
The Garden City location boasts one of the most dialed-in bowls of ramen on the island. And the menu here is similar, minus the full range of boba drinks that you can get at Kyuramen x TBaar. Ramen, available in 10 varieties, delves into regional styles like Kyushu in the south and the capital, Tokyo. Kyuramen prepares an 18-hour bone broth and uses a multiday process of cooking and freezing its chashu pork to produce a fatty exterior with a solid center. The chain also serves curry ramen as well as Korean kimchi ramen, and MEGA ramen with shrimp and chashu.
But the most interesting thing on the menu might not be ramen at all. It's omurice, a Japanese omelet dish with a unique preparation technique that has made it a cult favorite. Using a very hot pan, the chef cooks the outside of the omelet while scrambling the inside, quickly shaping it into an egg submarine with a runny center. The finished omelet ($20.99) is placed over an oblong dome of fried rice and split in front of you so that egg spills out over the top.
Kyuramen, 296 Main St., Huntington, 631-888-3858, kyuramen.com. Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.
