15 September 12 - 18, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Real Top Ramen Japanese street food spot Moriya Shokudo, inside a Koreatown gro- cery, gets national rec- ognition. BY CARLY MAY GRAVLEY Y elp recently released a list of the best new ramen restau- rants in the United States and coming in at No. 9 in the top 25 is Dallas’ Moriya Shokudo, a Japanese street food spot. It’s tucked away in a Koreatown food court off Harry Hines and opened last May. The user review-based site based its picks on nationwide trends, essentially mak- ing this pick the equivalent of a people’s choice award. We’ve expressed opinions on the city’s best ramen before (including in our annual Best Of issue), but we’re always hungry for whatever’s new. And as every restaurant manager loves to say, “The cus- tomer’s always right.” So naturally, we had to go see what all the fuss is about. The food court itself is rather inconspicu- ous. It’s called Shin Chon, but if you aren’t aware of that tidbit (like we weren’t), you might wind up driving in circles looking for it (like we did). It doesn’t help that the warehouse it’s lo- cated in is nestled among dozens of others just like it, containing everything from per- fume shops to cellphone repair services. Once we finally stumbled upon Shin Chon, it was like finding hidden treasure. The food court, which also offers Chinese, Korean and Nicaraguan food, occupies the right half of the space. The left half is a gro- cery store with an array of Korean goods ranging from dried noodles to face masks. A produce container topped with a display of paper parasols splits the two sides. While the staff is hard at work in the kitchen, customers at Moriya Shokudo can walk up to a screen to select and customize their orders. The menu has a wide variety of soups, curry dishes and appetizers as well as bottled teas and juices to drink. We were there on the promise of high-quality ramen, though, so we selected the Classic Shoyu. It took a little under 10 minutes for the food to come out. The broth was just the right amount of salty and the noodles and eggs were cooked to perfection and had a great consistency with the requisite soft-boiled egg. We also had the double cheese miso soup, and as with the ramen, the broth was the main event. It’s good enough to sip on its own, but the eggs, vegetables, nori and cheese are all delectable additions. Moriya Shokudo shares about 15 tables with the other businesses in the food court. When we went on a Wednesday evening, three others were occupied. It seemed to be getting busier as we were leaving at around 7 p.m. While we had a smooth and quick experi- ence, the shared space and relatively low ca- pacity are something to keep an eye on should this spot get more attention and, we hope, business. Overall, we get the hype. We enjoyed Moriya Shokudo, whose ramen was certainly worthy of the recognition, as well as the vibe of Shin Chon as a whole. Next time we’re craving ramen, Nicaraguan food or a quality Korean face mask, we know where to go. Moriya Shokudo, 11422 Harry Hines Blvd, No. 210. Monday – Friday, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. ▼ FIRST LOOK BOOKS AND BREWS LA CASITA COFFEE TURNS A NEW PAGE AT HALF PRICE BOOKS’ FLAGSHIP. BY HANK VAUGHN A mazon.com makes it easy to shop for books. You can do so from the comfort of your couch while still in your bathrobe, and there is no one to judge you for spending perhaps too much time in the romance or cryptozoology section. Sometimes you want to read about the Mothman without having to be bothered combing your hair or putting on eyeliner. But something is lost as well. Used bookstores, on the other hand, provide more than the online experience can offer. You have the chance to stumble upon an old treasure that you didn’t even know you needed while getting lost within the serpentine rows of overflowing shelves full of books stacked haphazardly and often in no discernable order while the book- store cat suns itself in a nook at the back of the store. You bring the dusty dog-eared copy of Walt Whitman’s early printing of Leaves of Grass up to the register where the owner is reading a newspaper and doesn’t even real- ize you’re there until you discreetly cough, and while he gets ready to check you out you help yourself to a cup of coffee from the urn at front. Try doing that at Amazon.com. The Half Price Books’ location on North- west Highway is a huge 50,000-square-foot behemoth of a mothership that serves as both the flagship retail location as well as corporate headquarters. It’s so large that a bit of the used bookstore charm is lost. There are no permanent cat residents, for example, and it has a uniformity of organiza- tion and signage among its sections, but it does still have some meandering aisles as well as old nostalgic bric-a-brac strategically placed here and there. Its large size, moreover, means that in- stead of a simple coffee urn at the front, an entire coffee shop is within its walls. Or, at least there was for several years until Black Forest Café closed up shop a while ago. Enter Maricsa Trejo and husband Alex Henderson of La Casita Coffee, who have been wholesaling their cruffins, croissants and other baked goods and pastries to well over a hundred local restaurants and coffee shops for a couple of years now. With the ad- dition of Brianna Short, they have branched out to brick-and-mortar locations, with op- erations in Rowlett, Richardson and, as of Aug. 20, at the Half Price Books on North- west Highway. Currently, it’s only open from 11 until 3 every day, but eventually they plan to be- come a tiki bar and restaurant during the evenings. They offer coffee, matcha, hot chocolate, horchata and tea along with some breakfasts (Benedict, mushroom toast, etc.) and sandwiches (Nashville hot chicken, Cu- bano, etc.), but the stars of the show are their pastries. The aroma of freshly baked tarts, dough- nuts, muffins, quiche, cruffins, croissants and breads fills the newly renovated space at the back of the bookstore. There is seating at the bar, tables inside and outside, as well as tables throughout the bookstore proper, of course. We ordered a latte, a chai latte and a survey of their baked goodies: a croissant, banana muffin, almond croissant, cruffin and cinnamon roll. The pastries were ex- tremely good and served warm. The plain croissant was buttery but not overly so, flaky and soft. The caramel churro cruffin was less sweet than the name would imply, which is a good thing. The almond crois- sant was full of almond flavor with a healthy portion of slivered almonds atop and a slight dusting of powdered sugar, sliced in half for easier eating. The banana muffin, like the cruffin, was also not as sweet as expected, with the banana flavor a bit understated, but it was moist and de- licious. The cinnamon roll was service- able, a bit less ooey-gooey than typical, but that just made it easier to eat as well. La Casita Coffee is a welcome addition to the Half Price Books experience, and Carly May Gravley We recommend the double cheese miso soup at Moriya Shokudo. | CITY OF ATE | ▼ Dish >> p16 Hank Vaughn La Casita Coffee has taken flight in the old Black Forest Cafe location inside Half Price Book’s mothership on Northwest Highway.
