A terrible accident turned Nate Barker’s life toward cooking. A gas main exploded at his father’s house, and his dad was hospitalized for 18 months. Barker was attending Grove City College, playing football and thinking about becoming a lawyer, but his father’s brush with death gave the future chef a new outlook.
Barker reexamined his goals and came up with a simple personal doctrine: “Enjoy it while you are here on the Earth.” The result is Noodlefun, downtown Warren’s newest restaurant situated on North Park Avenue across from the Trumbull County Courthouse. It opened on June 1.
Barker, a graduate of the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute, worked as a chef in Cleveland. Around the corner, he discovered a prominent ramen restaurant, Noodle Cat, on Euclid Avenue.
“I started going there once or twice and week, and by the end I was going there five days a week,” Barker says. “And then I would be back their picking their brain, learning what I could.”
In addition to the firsthand consumer experience, Barker watched documentaries, read cookbooks, sought out anything that would teach him about Japanese cooking. He was on a mission to create the perfect bowl of ramen.
“I’ve always been enthralled by Japanese culture,” Barker says, “their dedication to excellence, everything from shoemakers to fine craftsmen, and how the Japanese honor the craft, whatever it is.”
Barker’s dedication has paid off. Noodlefun serves up fresh and authentic Japanese food in a venue that looks like a cross between a hip urban eatery and a regional art gallery. The varnished wood tabletops are unique designs done by local artists. Japanese dragons, manga collages, and modernist color patterns decorate the surfaces.
The walls are adorned by paintings for sale. A collage of ramen noodle wrappers borders the sushi-style eating bar—they represent the many different brands that Barker and his wife, Carissa, have eaten over their years of ramen research. The effect is a lively display of colors, images, and patterns beneath steel gray ceilings.
Ramen entries are $13 for a large, mildly spicy bowl of hearty soup which includes either crispy pork belly, karaage chicken, or vegetarian options.
Americans may find the soup’s combination of shoyu marinated eggs (soft-boiled in soy sauce), bok choy, toasted seaweed, and roasted tomatoes exotic at first, but Japanese cuisine has been cultivated over centuries, and the combinations work in surprising concert with each other and are very filling. Extras include a large shiitake mushroom—which is again a surprisingly good accompaniment to the other ingredients—rice and extra noodles for the big appetite.
Noodlefun also offers a number of small bites and snacks which generally run between $6 and $9. Notable among these are the steamed buns ($6). These tasty tidbits are soft and spongy like an airy cupcake but not nearly as sweet, although this description does not do them justice since they are unlike most anything I’ve eaten. The buns can be filled with a number of options including pork belly, crispy tofu, chicken, or shiitake mushrooms. Again, they are a very filling side dish. Other small bites include agedashi tofu in tempura batter ($9), okonomiyaki flour and egg pancakes filled with pork ($8), pork or edamame gyoza ($7) and traditional vegetable egg rolls ($7).
For first timers, part of the Noodlefun experience is trying this traditional Japanese cuisine. There is a delicacy to the food that is a nice counterpoint to heavy American fare. I felt well-fed and yet not weighed down after both my visits.
Most of Noodlefun’s products are regionally sourced. Forestview Farmhouse in Vienna provides vegetables and the poultry is locally sourced. The restaurant’s soft-drink dispenser is from Multi-Flow, a Pennsylvania company which uses cane sugar in its products. Varieties include traditional cola flavors as well as an excellent, rich-bodied root beer and sweet green tea.
A liquor license is in the works. Barker plans to serve locally brewed beer. Anime movie and video game nights are in the works.
A native of Warren, Barker wants the hometown ethos joined with what he calls “the downtown feel.” And Noodlefun is a family enterprise. Barker’s son came up with the name and drew the logo when he found out his dad was opening a ramen shop. After all, ramen is originally a Chinese cuisine, and the Chinese word for “noodle” is “fun.”
Noodlefun
Noodlefun – 176 N. Park Ave., Warren 44481. Hours: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (lunch) 4-8 p.m. (dinner), Monday-Saturday. Closed Sunday. Website: www.noodlefunwarren.com…. Order for pickup: www.toasttab.com…
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