EATS
This Arlington noodle shop greets me when I emerge from lockdown. Kintaro Ramen 101 E Abram St, Arlington, 817-538-5344. 11am-10pm Sun-Wed, 11am-midnight Fri-Sat. All major credit cards accepted.
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Somebody Say Ramen
Achieve zen at Kintaro Ramen, near the campus of UTA.
I heard about Kintaro Ramen and asked to review it this past winter, before the restaurant industry and much else went to Kintaro to imitate Japanese gas stations hell. The Arlington ramen shop persevered and keep small containers of these nuggets and went on with its March opening, in a refrigerator case for busy students, coronavirus be damned, so I have to say professors, and administrators to take out. The karaage came with a yuzu that I sampled the food under less than optimal conditions, even though the eatery mayonnaise dip seasoned with togarashi helpfully included reheating instructions (red pepper powder with black sesame with my takeout order. Having done so, I seeds). The dark meat didn’t really need think that once UTA reopens its doors to that, but I found it useful for dipping the students, this shop nearby will be a prime breast meat that came on top of my torikotsu chintan (chicken ramen). The kitchen place to grab lunch between classes. Unlike its compatriots sushi and did some sort of wizardry that gave the tempura, ramen never made the leap to chicken soup the silkiness and richness of haute cuisine and has remained a quick the traditional pork broth. I suspect it had and hearty working lunch to be consumed something to do with the copious amount before returning to the office. In that of sesame seeds in the bowl. Along with spirit, the interior of Kintaro Ramen is the usual toothsome noodles, the ramen came with the welcome nice but functional, with crunch and bitterness tables and a bar of blond Kintaro Ramen of oshitashi (Japanese wood for people to sit Chicken karaage ....................$6 spinach, standing in for at while they have their Torikotsu chintan ...................$11 Ebi furai ..................................$15 the customary bok choy) noodles. It’s the kind of and a soy-aged 6-minute place that recognizes that the people are here to fuel up and get back boiled egg with a perfectly runny yolk. on the road or, in this case, to that 1 p.m. However, I found the show stolen by the dashi-marinated bamboo shoots, cut more physics class. I ordered the chicken karaage to finely than I’ve ever seen, soaking up start. Japan’s local version of chicken the flavor of the soup while lending it a nuggets is usually eaten cold in its native caramelized flavor. Bamboo isn’t known environment, but I had one straight from for bringing excitement to a dish, but the fryer, and it made other places’ nuggets that’s what this brings, and you can even seem hopelessly unsophisticated. The rice order it by itself as a side dish. The restaurant’s one non-noodle flour coating made the pieces delicately crispy, and the thigh meat was succulent entree is the ebi furai, which are black tiger and flavorful. I saved up one morsel in my shrimp, large and elongated crustaceans to-go box to eat after a night in the fridge, with a more saline flavor profile than and it scarcely lost any of its flavor as a their fellow shrimp. These were fried snack. It wouldn’t be the worst idea for up in a feathery panko crust and served
with cabbage slaw, two dipping sauces, and razor-thin pickles marinated in sake, vinegar, and sugar. I found the slaw to go better with the creamy mustard dressing, while the shrimp worked well with the thick soy vinaigrette brightened with a pop of yuzu. Kintaro offers no dessert, and while you could go to the ice cream shop next door, I chose from one of four sake options instead. My bottle of Mio sparkling sake turned out to be like an alcoholic version of Sprite. Purists will probably blanch at this description, but I prefer my sake sweet and found it an altogether pleasant afterdinner imbibe. The bottle comes with individual chilled sake glasses, so even though it’s a single serving, it’s eminently sharable. My return meal at Kintaro was my first proper restaurant dinner since the lockdown, and I suspect I would have been happy if they’d served me a deep-fried block of wood. I thought about why we go to restaurants: It’s not just about the food. It’s about being freed from the tedium of kitchen prep and the sight of your own dinner table, not to mention the feeling that you’re important enough for someone to wait on. This is what many of us were missing without our restaurants. My server was wearing a face mask and latex gloves, yet as I waited for my food and let my mind wander and took in the fresh air at the one outside table, I felt for just a moment like everything was right with our messed-up world again. How do you put a price on that? l
