Ramen News

New ramen restaurant slips into Arlington like a ninja

Ninja Ramen is opening in Arlington.

Photo courtesy of Ninja Ramen

A Fort Worth sushi restaurant is tackling another important food group from Japan. Called Ninja Ramen, it comes from the owners of Ninja Sushi, which has branches in Arlington and Fort Worth. Ninja Ramen will open in south Arlington near I-20 and Cooper Street, and will specialize in ramen, which has been a recent hot local dining trend.

While Dallas and Fort Worth both have ramen restaurants, Ninja Ramen is the first to bring it to Arlington and the Mid-Cities. "Ramen is getting popular right now, and we saw there were no ramen places in Arlington," a spokesperson says.

The new restaurant will offer more than a dozen ramen varieties. Six traditional options include tonkotsu, spicy tonkotsu, garlic ramen in regular and spicy, and miso ramen in regular and spicy.

Seven special options include ramen with chicken; one that's spicy dry; and seafood ramen with shrimp, clam, and calamari.

There are two vegetable-centric versions. One is made with a pork-based broth but contains veggies only such as cabbage, carrot, bean sprout, sliced onion, diced green onion, and Brussels sprouts.

The other is vegetarian with a vegetarian broth, fried tofu, buttered corn, grape, tomato, brown mushroom, black mushroom, shitaki mushroom, avocado, spring mix, and yuzu. Sounds so good.

Ninja Ramen will not stop at the ramen trend. It's also doing poke and rice bowls, which gives it a trifecta of dining trends. The poke selection is extensive, combining seafood with various elements such as fruit and avocado.

Four rice bowls include beef, fried chicken, pork cutlet, and pork belly.

Owner Fay Cheng opened the first Ninja Sushi in Arlington in 2011, the Fort Worth branch followed in 2015. There is a crowd-pleasing buffet that's good for newbies and diners who want their sushi fast and easy. There's also hibachi foods and prototypical Japanese dishes such as tempura, dumplings, rice, and noodles. One signature is the chocolate fountain, with fruits and other items for dipping.

There are also plans in the works to open a branch in Dallas later in 2017.

trends openings

Doughnut News

Luscious doughnut shop Duck Donuts makes Fort Worth debut

Photo courtesy of Visit Addison

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A decadent new doughnut shop is coming to Fort Worth: Duck Donuts, a North Carolina-based chain known for serving doughnuts made to order, will open a shop at 6387 Camp Bowie Blvd. #A within the Ridglea Plaza Shopping Center in Fort Worth.

According to a release, the shop will open on Saturday December 21 at 7 am.

Duck Donuts opened its first locations in 2007 in the beach resort towns of Duck and Kitty Hawk, North Carolina with the intention to create an oasis for vacationers. They're now headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and began franchising in 2013, with more than 150 locally owned and operated shops across 26 states and international locations. There was previously a DFW location in Addison on Belt Line Road that opened in 2020 but it did not survive the pandemic.

The Fort Worth shop is owned and operated by husband-and-wife Justin and Morgan Thomas.

“We are delighted to be opening in Fort Worth,” Justin says in a statement. “The community has been patiently waiting for us to open our doors, and now we cannot wait to sprinkle happiness to all with our warm, delicious and made-to-order doubhnuts.”

The 1,035-square-foot shop reflects the franchise’s reimagined design which gives a modern twist on their iconic beach theme and family-friendly atmosphere. Upon entering the store, customers are greeted by the aroma of warm, light vanilla cake doughnuts.

Customers can create their own combination by choosing from coatings, toppings, and drizzles, including traditional favorites such as chocolate icing with sprinkles and more adventurous creations such as maple icing with bacon.

Key to their appeal is the viewing area where children and adults alike can watch their doughnuts being made.

Many of their flavors have a beachy theme such as the Beach, a cake doughnut with vanilla icing dusted with cinnamon sugar; the Sunrise with lemon icing and raspberry drizzle; and the Beach Ball with vanilla icing, rainbow sprinkles, and chocolate drizzle.

They rotate in seasonal offerings such as the current lineup of mint-flavored flavors including chocolate icing with mint buttercream. The doughnuts themselves are limited to vanilla and chocolate cake; the flavors come primarily from icing.

In addition to doughnuts, the Fort Worth location will serve coffee, doughnut breakfast sandwiches, doughnut sundaes — in which a doughnut is topped with ice cream and syrup — plus frozen beverages and milkshakes.

doughnuts openings