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Thanksgiving is over and the last bits of that 3D-printed turducken you ate are probably gone with it. If you didn’t have the chance to make turkey soup, there’s nothing better during a week of rain than a nice bowl of ramen. If you live or work anywhere near downtown, your options have been pretty sparse until now. There’s Michael Mina’s Ramen Bar, but the sunken plaza out front is currently occupied by seven-foot-tall Xmas ornaments, and puddles.
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But
Kirimachi Ramen, formerly of North Beach, is now back from the dead and accommodating brisk lunch crowds in Embarcadero Three. Considering the lines that people will happily endure for a bowl of steaming hot ramen, the palpable bustle here might not be crucial, but it’s always nice to see a dining room rotation this speedy.
It’s not dissimilar to the first incarnation, with tonkotsu, shoyu, miso, and vegetarian miso ramen. The tonkotsu is pleasantly salty, although, having dodged raindrops to get in the door, I would have loved another ladle of broth over that shredded chasu. Kirimachi’s prices have gotten a bit of a bump, too, and there is no takeout until lunch rush ends and happy hour picks up at 2:30. (It’s a ramen happy hour, with a chasu-based bowl for $9.95; there is no liquor license.) Most importantly, the noodles are not yet made in-house, but Full Noodle Frontity
reported that that will change in early 2015.
Beyond ramen, there’s an unagi rice bowl and quite a range of snacky bits and sides, from to natto (fermented soybean) tacos to deep-fried octopus, plus both uni risotto and uni tartar. While Kirimachi’s vibe is a volume business for a business crowd, the far wall is graffiti-ed with swine gorging on their noodles, and the pick-up window made me laugh because it looks as though a frothing tsunami is about to crash on the line cooks. This is one to keep an eye on.
Kirimachi Ramen,
3 Embarcadero Center, 827-9171
