Shimamoto Noodle

Once upon a time, there was a small but well-regarded Orange County restaurant run by a true ramen master – Keizo Shimamoto – serving some of the best ramen soups found anywhere in the United States. That restaurant, Ramen Shack, regrettably opened and closed soon thereafter in San Juan Capistrano, a wonderful city that wasn’t ideally suited to sustaining an artisanal ramen shop. A small kitchen and other limitations had prevented Shimamoto from serving the Ramen Burger he had invented in New York City years earlier, a novelty that led literally hundreds of people to line up on the one day it was offered and promoted in a collaboration with nearby Heritage Barbecue. Before the restaurant’s abrupt closure, fans of Shimamoto’s ramen recipes (including us) raved about the place, then hoped against hope that his food might re-appear elsewhere in Orange County in the future.

Following teases on social media and a few pop-ups, that once-unlikely event finally happened in August 2026 with the debut of Shimamoto Noodle in Irvine. Rather than opening a new restaurant, Shimamoto re-launched the basic Ramen Shack menu within Smart Kitchens, a ghost kitchen space that hosts around a dozen food concepts at once, enabling each to serve food and drinks with minimal staffing and infrastructure.

Though Shimamoto is personally hands-on during the hours he’s initially spending at Smart Kitchens, it’s unclear how long he plans to stay there, and how much of a role he will personally have in cooking once the concept stabilizes. When we visited, orders were solely placed through the Shimamoto Noodle website, which interestingly leads with the phrase “ramen inspired by Keizo Shimamoto” (emphasis ours), and Smart Kitchens ordering tablets didn’t yet list Shimamoto Noodle, though it had been operating inside for several weeks. The dining experience isn’t quite like Ramen Shack, either: Commonly shared tables outside provide limited on-site dining space – and no protection from rain, a local rarity that just happened to hit on the day we visited.

There’s one key change in the menu: Shimamoto now leads with the Ramen Burger ($14), the item that once bedeviled Ramen Shack’s kitchen. Each burger includes two individually cooked, plancha-seared ramen noodle buns, a beef patty from Brea-based West Coast Prime Meats, Shimamoto’s “secret shoyu glaze,” plus arugula and chopped scallions. The burger can be customized with either white American cheese (+$2) or extra sauce (+$1.50), and there’s also a vegan version with a Beyond Burger patty for $12.

The early list of ramen choices is tight. Shimamoto’s chicken-soy “signature shoyu ramen” ($16), green onion-heavy negi shoyu ramen ($17), and gyokai-tonkotsu seafood and pork-brothed Quiet Storm ($18) are the only soup options, with chicken-soy shoyu tsukesoba/tsukemen ($19) and pork/chicken/fish Ganja-style tsukemen ($20) – named for a shop called ganja, not narcotic content – as dipping noodle options. Most bowls can add scallions, fishcake, nori, bamboo shoots, or a soft-boiled ajitama egg for $1.50 to $2 per ingredient, or “sunset powder” spice for $2. Unlike Ramen Shack, there are no extra noodle or chashu options, beverages, or sides, such as chicken karaage, edamame, salad, or rice; you can thankfully order drinks from another Smart Kitchens vendor. Two frozen ramen kits, each with two portions that can be assembled at home, are sold for $30 to $34.