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Hinodeya, a Japanese ramen shop with a 134-year history, opens in Dallas on Wednesday

Dallas is the second city in the United States with a branch of Hinodeya, a 134-year-old ramen shop from Japan that specializes in a regional broth made with dashi.

Back in June, we told you about a wave of groundbreaking ramen that was about to hit Dallas. Now one of the most exciting new noodle shops is opening on Greenville Avenue.

On Wednesday, Dallas will become the second city in the United States with a branch of Hinodeya, a 134-year-old ramen shop from Japan that specializes in a regional broth made with dashi.

The broth -- a light, umami-rich base made with bonito flakes and enriched with scallop and pork oil -- is unusual even in Japan, and owner Masao Kuribara says his shops are the first in the U.S. to specialize in it.

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Kuribara's family opened the original Hinodeya in the Saitama prefecture, north of Tokyo. Kuribara, a fourth-generation chef with a fine-dining background, has already opened three branches of Hinodeya in the San Francisco Bay Area, and has been working on the Dallas location since 2016.

"I want to be an ambassador for Japanese food, that is my mission," says Kuribara, who chose Dallas because of the "momentum" he saw in the city, with major headquarters, including Toyota, relocating here, the boom in population and the relatively small number of Japanese restaurants.

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He has brought a chef from Japan, Eiki Goto, to open the Dallas shop and to train chefs. The designer Hiroshi Sengoku, also originally from Japan, created a dining room that is faithful to the contemporary Japanese ramen experience, Kuribara says, with dark-stained wood, bamboo sunshades and soft lighting. The walls are covered in a Japanese technique that mixes plaster with straw, and a wooden sign reading "Hinodeya" in Japanese replicates the family's 1885 design.

Hinodeya Ramen and Bar on Greenville Avenue
Hinodeya Ramen and Bar on Greenville Avenue (Nancy Mowins Farrar)

"When you talk about ramen in the U.S., most people imagine tonkotsu," Kuribara says, referring to the long-cooked, milky pork broth. "Our ramen is totally different. It's very light and clear, very sensitive in taste, and just right with thicker noodles."

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In general, the shape of a ramen noodle depends on the style of soup, how rich or oily it is, and other factors. There are hundreds of variations, but the goal is always a springy texture and a shape that maximizes the amount of broth brought up with the noodle. The richer the soup, the thinner and straighter the noodle tends to be. Hinodeya's noodles are thick and slightly wavy, made to Kuribara's specifications by Yamachan Ramen in San Jose, California.

"We call it koshi,"  Kuribura says of the springy noodle texture, "and we pay much attention to it. It is important to me to spread this idea that koshi is a very, very important element to good ramen."

The signature bowl at Hinodeya Ramen and Bar, featuring a dashi broth topped with chashu pork
The signature bowl at Hinodeya Ramen and Bar, featuring a dashi broth topped with chashu pork(Nancy Mowins Farrar)

Like other Hinodeya locations, the Greenville Avenue shop will serve just three ramens, including a signature bowl garnished with chashu pork, menma (marinated bamboo shoots), ajisuke tamago (marinated soft-cooked egg), green onion, nori, sesame seeds and the scallop and pork oil. There is also a vegan ramen with spinach noodles and spicy miso ramen. A short menu of starters includes fried shishito peppers, fried oysters and takoyaki, the fried diced octopus snacks.

Masao Kuribara
Masao Kuribara(Nancy Mowins Farrar)

The restaurant will intially serve just dinner, with lunch service planned in a few weeks. It is also the first Hinodeya with a full bar, spotlighting Japanese sake, beer and whisky, and drawing on Kuribara's training as a certified sake sommelier.

As promised back in June, Kuribara is also developing dishes that will be unique to Dallas. The first is a special cold ramen, made with lemon instead of the traditional rice vinegar, and topped with diced chicken, green onion and ajisuke tamago.

"For Texas, we first thought of doing brisket ramen but I said no, no!" Kuribara says. "It's a different climate, and we needed something more refreshing."

Hinodeya Ramen and Bar, 2023 Greenville Ave., Dallas; 972-685-4117; hinodeyaramen.com.