Sei Ramen opens in East Setauket

Could ramen one day rival tacos for their everywhereness across Long Island? And would that necessarily be a bad thing?

The latest joiner to the ever-growing noodle field is Sei Ramen, a polished, minimalist spot that opened in an East Setauket shopping plaza in early January. In the quasi-open kitchen, the bright signature broth is tomato-based, and comes adorned with sliced beef, a fried egg, shredded coriander and cabbage.

That's one of 14 ramens here, where pork versions can come with tonkotsu pork, miso, and shoyu broths and topped with varying combos of chashu pork, chili paste, boiled egg, scallions, corn and the pungent fermented bamboo shoots menma. Chicken-broth based ramen is anchored by either tori paitan (cloudy), tori miso (clear) or umai shoyu (with tare, or soy sauce, added) broth with sliced chicken breast filets and the typical accroutements. And vegetarian versions rely on either a miso-vegetable broth or the house tomato soup,

Owner Kevin Ma was not available for comment, but owned his first ramen shop in Georgia before moving to Long Island. An employee said that Sei Ramen uses Sun noodles for its bowls; also on the menu are Japanese-style appetizers such as gyoza, kara-age (fried chicken) and takoyaki, or fried octopus balls. Those not in the mood for ramen can fuel up with entree-sized rice dishes such as chashu-don, or flaps of griddled pork over rice. 

All ramen bowls are $12 to $13; rice dishes start at $11 and appetizers fall between $2 (for sweet and sour fried peanuts) and $6. Don't look for alcohol — soda and tea are the main refreshments, as is the sweet, fizzy Japanese drink ramume.

Sei Ramen opens daily at noon at 244 Route 25A in East Setauket, next to Starbucks. The phone number is 631-675-0808. seiramen.com