Slurp it up
Austin hot spot's new crawfish ramen stirs up serious Instagram envy
With crawfish season in high gear, lines are long at any restaurant that serves mudbugs — either traditional Cajun or new-school Viet-Cajun. But what about Japanese-Cajun?
Enter Ramen Tatsu-ya. Both of the ramen shop's Austin locations — the South Lamar flagship and Research Boulevard locale — are celebrating the season with a dish that's as delicious as it is Instagram-worthy.
Needless to say, the photo above of the restaurant's new crawfish ramen has the entire CultureMap office thinking about slurping some noodles. Dubbed "Crawmen," the bowl combines the restaurant's signature tonkotsu broth with seafood miso, crawfish and andoullie wontons, ajitama (marinated and seasoned half boiled egg), cayenne, smoked paprika, and, of course, a couple of boiled crawfish.
It's available starting now until the end of May. But, as the shop's Facebook teases, only 30 bowls will be available per day, meaning diners have to line up extra early for the dish.
"This dish tastes like going to a ramen shop and a crawfish boil ... at the same time," corporate chef Jeremy Young said in a statement. "When you eat it, you get that back-of-the-throat cayenne pepper burn you get after a pound or two at a crawfish boil.”
The restaurant adds that the dish represents its goal of "serving authentic Japanese ramen influenced by the terroir of Texas." More importantly, it certainly looks like a really delicious lunch or dinner option — at least until the weather gets too hot to eat a steaming bowl of noodle soup. If diners suddenly flock to the restaurant for a taste, the lines may get long, but at least they'll have more places to park.
