Noodlecat

Jonathon Sawyer is one of the names keeping Cleveland on the culinary radar. His restaurants receive accolades from publications like Bon Appetit and Food & Wine magazine, and the chef has made appearances on Iron Chef on The Food Network. Noodlecat is the fusion ramen project from Team Sawyer. Since the restaurant is looking into opening a location in central Ohio, I decided to check out the West Side Market location and get a sneak preview while in Cleveland.

While ramen shops often offer little in the way of choices for meatless diners, Noodlecat has plenty of options for vegetarians and vegans. The menu is coded to mark vegetarian dishes. There are vegetarian ramen bowls, salads and meatless bao sandwiches. Vegan items had to be requested at the counter, but could be accommodated. The menu is a Yankee take on traditional Japanese noodle houses with a focus on local ingredients.

The smoked tomato coconut curry udon possessed notes that were both Japanese and Thai. The kombu broth suspended udon noodles, poached tofu, bamboo, scallions, potatoes and roasted sesame seeds. The understated base was mildly spicy, and the richness was a perfect vehicle for the wheat noodles and the crunchy veggies.

The veggie bao was stuffed with sprouts, mushrooms, cucumber, carrots, radishes and red onions. The soft roll had a nice coating of a sweet hoisin-like sauce. 

The sit-down restaurant has an expanded menu with more choices than the West Side Market stall. Both locations are worth checking out. I plan on frequenting the Columbus Noodlecat if and when it opens.

Rishi Sushi

Rishi Sushi is the latest concept from David and Song Kim, who also own Moshi Sushi in Bexley. Rather than a straight down the middle sushi bar, Rishi is more of a small plates concept with interesting fusion dishes with one foot in Japan.

The restaurant has a focus on fresh, local ingredients. There are vegetarian and gluten free items identified on the menus. 

The sushi menu has pretty standard vegetarian offerings. In addition to meatless starters and salads, there is a veggie burger and a couple of generous vegetarian ramen bowls.

The edamame hummus is plated with cucumber, carrots and rice crackers. The dish creates a subtle harmony between the essence of Asia and the spirit of the Mediterranean.

While sushi is featured in the restaurant's name, the ramen is a real star. Bowls are piled with a vegetable broth, fresh ramen noodles, edamame, corn, scallions, shiitake mushrooms, bean sprouts, spinach, bok choy and seaweed. While the Lazy Summer Day is deeply satisfying, masochists can also inflict the Good Luck Ramen challenge, made with scorpion peppers, upon themselves.

The bar has excellent cocktails and a decent beer and wine selection to accompany the food coming out of the kitchen. There is a happy hour menu with sushi, small plates and drink specials. 

Mashita Noodle Bowl

Mashita Noodle Bowl is a food cart that serves ramen and other Japanese noodle dishes. While the traditional broth is prepared with pork, there are vegetarian sauces on the menu, and they capably prepare vegetarian and vegan dishes to order.

The choice of noodles was traditional and spicy ramen, as well as Korean sweet potato noodles traditionally called japchae. There is a limited selection of seasonal veggie toppings which included squash, zucchini and mushrooms.

The vegetarian preparations are cold. There are enough options and sides to create customized orders. There is also soy sauce and Sriracha to tinker with the taste profile of the dish.

Mashita can be located with Twitter and Facebook.

Urban Belly

Urban Belly is Bill Kim's flagship establishment. It is a Pan-Asian restaurant with communal dining arrangement specializing in dumplings and noodles. It is a cool spot in a strip mall on Chicago's Northwest side.

I spent a good deal of space singing Chef Kim's praises in my review of his latest operation, Belly Shack. He generates a great deal of buzz because his restaurants are fun and offer a lot of bang for the buck.

The chairs at the long tables are built from wood from salvaged Indonesian ships. The decor is minimal, understated and inviting. There is a fairly brisk turnover of the seats.

While there are no vegetarian dumplings listed on the menu, Urban Belly offers the squash dumplings prepared without bacon. The dumplings were garnished with daikon, green onions and tangerines. They were stuffed with squash that had a spicy accent. The veggie squash dumplings were a subtly sweet and absolutely sublime.

The Asian egg noodles consisted of a bathtub-sized bowl of delicious noodles, fried crispy on the ends and soft in the middle, in a chili garlic broth with eggplant and tofu cubes. The massive portion provided plenty of satisfying flavors the run the gamut from spicy to vegetal to savory.

The Szechwan wrinkled green beans were a delightful take on a Chinese classic. The rich, spicy sauce was accented with crunchy almonds that add another layer of texture to a dish that already possesses a pile of flavor.

Prices are reasonable, and although there are limited choices for vegetarians, the options are good enough to make Urban Belly a foodie destination.

Urban Belly