Photo courtesy of Laura Silver.
I’m a “when in Rome” kind of person, especially when it comes to food. I’ve been known to stake out the perfect gelato in Italy and to hunt down the most delicious crepe in France. Last weekend, while visiting friends in New York City, I attended the Williamsburg Smorgasbord, an event that takes place every Saturday from April through the end of November and features packaged and prepared food from more than 100 New York City purveyors and vendors.
Vendors served everything from lobster rolls to duck tacos, street corn on the cob and poke. There was even a gooey butter cake stand, which I happily claimed as a St. Louis original to the surprise of my New Yorker friends.
Without a doubt, the biggest hit of the fair was the Ramen Burger. To get your hands on one of these, you had to brave a line that extended around the stand and out into the picnic bench area. So what’s a ramen burger? It’s a shoyu-glazed, beef patty with Ramen serving as a substitute for the bun, complete with cheese and sauce.
Needless to say, despite the line, I had to try it. I was told the results would be polarizing and they were. Two of my friends loved it. My other friend and I were not as impressed. To me, it had an overwhelming Worcestershire sauce taste probably due to the shoyu glaze or the sriracha/soy combination. The consistency of the ramen is intriguing and fun, but ramen itself is virtually tasteless and needs sauce in order to have any flavor. If I were to adjust the dish, I would use a wasabi mayonnaise or lemon aioli as part of my burger sauce, and reduce the Worcestershire flavor. (As full disclosure, I waited in line for the truffle fries with lemon aioli and let my friend wait in the Ramen Burger line. When I didn’t like the sauce on the burger, I dipped it in the aioli and found it was much improved!)
I have a feeling this dish will make its way to St. Louis before too long, and it’s definitely worth a try, at least once. If you're feeling adventurous and want to make the Ramen Burger before it arrives in St. Louis, here is the recipe.
Just to be safe, I recommend a side of fries.
