Birmingham’s Noodle Mania
There’s a new fad taking shape on the Birmingham food scene: Noodle bowls. Several new restaurants have opened recently, all serving up their own versions of this Asian comfort food. But this is not the cheap, freeze-dried stuff you lived on in college. Restaurants are serving gourmet noodle bowls including Japanese ramen and Vietnamese pho.
You can’t talk about ramen in Birmingham without mentioning Abhishek Sainju. He’s better known as Abhi, and he’s kind of the godfather of ramen in Birmingham.
“That’s just organic chicken. And we let it boil until the bone melts,” Sainju says as he stirs a giant pot of chicken broth in the kitchen at Abhi, his restaurant in the Summit. The broth recipe is a secret. All he’ll say is that it requires simmering ingredients for a minimum of ten hours. Sainju says broth is the foundation for a good noodle bowl. Originally from Nepal, he’s traveled all over Asia, and that experience inspires his cooking.
“So for example you’re getting like a Shanghai-style, Chinese-style pork belly,” he says describing the ingredients of one of his signature ramen bowls. “You’re getting the Tibetan broth, the Korean black bean chili oil which I make in the house. And you can see the flavors in there.”
To be a good chef, you have to be willing to take a few risks. Sainju says he often lies awake at night thinking of innovative ways to improve or change his ramen recipes. He’s been studying the Birmingham palate for two decades and says his main objective wasn’t just to feed people.
“Because when I wanted to open a restaurant I was like, ‘I just don’t want to throw some food out there to make money.’ I was like, ‘I want to throw some quality.’ I wanted to bring the world to Birmingham,” Sainju says.
But that wasn’t easy at first in a town that loves Southern staples like meat-and-threes and barbecue.
“I mean, Birmingham is a copycat town,” he says. “You [can get] chicken and waffle here, chicken and waffle there. I mean come on. Do something different. You know? I mean it’s not like I’m trying to outdo you.”
Sainju wanted to be the change he saw in the Birmingham food scene. So he set out to reprogram Magic City taste buds. He started by playing up familiar Southern ingredients. Traditional Japanese ramen, called tonkatsu, starts with pork broth. It’s a decadent, full-bodied base with a creamy finish. There’s also chicken, fish and vegetarian-based noodle bowl. Customer Carlie McMillan says it’s more than soup–it’s a soup entrée.
“It’s the best thing you could ever put together. It’s vegetables, it’s protein, it’s broth. It cures a cold. It’s cures the flu. It’s the best thing for you,” she says.
The medicinal effects of ramen haven’t been confirmed, but it is akin to that great American cold remedy, chicken noodle soup. The ramen craze took off in the U.S. a few years ago, but has only recently become a thing in Birmingham. Matt Chapman was enjoying a spicy noodle bowl with extra heat. He was visibly sweating as he described how he finds explaining his appreciation for ramen to his friends– the ones who think ramen comes freeze-dried, seasoned only by that little silver flavor packet. The stuff you swore you would never eat again once you became an adult.
“And I even still hear that from people. ‘Oh, you’re having ramen.’ And [this is] a whole new iteration on that and it’s good,” he says.
And he says noodle bowls like the ones served at Abhi, Shu Shopand Saigon Noodle House have been time tested and Birmingham resident-approved.
What is birthright citizenship and what happens after the Supreme Court ruling?
Within two hours of a Supreme Court ruling that limits the ability of federal courts to impose universal injunctions, lawyers for immigrant rights groups filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of their clients.
A fourth judge has blocked a Trump executive order targeting elite law firms
The ruling, involving the firm Susman Godfrey, marks the fourth time out of four that a federal judge has permanently blocked one of Trump's executive orders seeking to punish an elite law firm.
Five academics and former diplomats on U.S. strikes, Iran and stability
What 5 academics and former diplomats told Morning Edition about the U.S. strikes on Iran and fallout with Israel.
What is a universal injunction and how did the Supreme Court limit its use?
Friday's decision stems from President Trump's executive order regarding birthright citizenship, but the Supreme Court focused on whether lower federal courts have the power to issue nationwide blocks.
Judge orders Abrego Garcia to remain in jail after his lawyers raise deportation concerns
A federal judge agreed to delay Kilmar Abrego Garcia's release after his lawyers pointed to conflicting reports from federal officials about whether he would remain in the U.S. while he awaits trial.
Supreme Court postpones Louisiana redistricting case to next term
At issue is the Louisiana legislature's creation of a Black-majority congressional district, which a group of voters claimed was an illegal racial gerrymander.