Furious Spoon Ramen To Open In Wicker Park

By Carrie Laski in Food on Jan 16, 2015 9:30PM

Photo credit: Megan Gallagher

Newsflash: it’s still cold in Chicago. Really cold. The way I see it, we have two coping options: hibernation (preferred) or hot ramen. While the former is unrealistic for most of us, the latter is about to get easier due to the opening of Furious Spoon, a late-night, Tokyo-style ramen shop set to land in Wicker Park’s Flatiron building next month.

Just another noodle shop? Not so, says Michelin-starred chef Shin Thompson (Kabocha, Bonsoiree). He explains that the concept is based very solidly on ramen culture in Japan and particularly his grandfather’s small ramen shop in Hokkaido in the 1960’s. There, noodles and hot broth are consumed as a quick, everyday meal and are often eaten at a lunch counter or bar.

Following that tradition, Furious Spoon will have a fast-casual atmosphere where customers will order and pay at the counter, take a ticket, sit down and wait for the ramen to arrive at their table. If you’re curious you can always choose a bar seat instead and watch your bowl being prepared in the open kitchen which will feature a vintage ramen noodle machine imported from Japan. Even with this amount of meticulousness and care, each dish will cost under $10 leaving plenty of room to add a drink from a selection of Japanese beers and sakes.

And the name? Thompson says it is two-fold. Part of it comes from the Japanese custom of eating ramen at a “furious” pace so as not to let the noodles get soggy in the steaming broth, and the other part stems from Thompson’s grandfather’s habit of angrily hitting customers with a spoon if they were improperly consuming his food. Want to see Thompson act this out? Watch the two-minute video below or on Furious Spoon’s Kickstarter page. It is worth it.

There is still a day left to fund the Kickstarter, which offers perks ranging from an order of house-made gyoza to free ramen for an entire year. Got $1,500 lying around? Fund Furious Spoon for that amount and you will receive a seven-course Japanese-inspired Kaiseki dinner for you and ten of your closest pals. If you’re short on cash, steaming bowls of ramen, crispy gyoza, and tangy pickled vegetables are still in your future. February is right around the corner.