A Chicago ramen chain famous for pushing diners to their spice limits has planted its flag in South Phoenix. Strings Ramen opened a Phoenix restaurant at 2160 E. Baseline Road, bringing noodles made in-house daily, simmered broths, and a Hell Ramen challenge that includes a 20-minute bowl built around hot peppers.
The new shop is at 2160 E. Baseline Road in Phoenix. Strings Ramen is based in Chicago and has six locations across the Midwest. The menu leans on familiar comfort bowls, too, including tonkotsu, kimchi, shoyu and miso ramen for diners who have no interest in testing their limits.
Strings Ramen's Chicago Roots
Strings Ramen makes noodles in-house daily, and its Chicago footprint includes Lakeview East and Hyde Park.
The chain's menu features noodles made in-house daily and simmered broths, bringing those offerings to Phoenix diners.
What Exactly Is in Hell Ramen
The restaurant's signature draw is its Hell Ramen, which includes a challenge bowl. According to Strings Ramen menus cited by FoodChallenges.com, the bowl packs Chinese Tian Jing red chili, Szechuan chili bean sauce, Thai chili, Pequin chili, Ghost peppers and Trinidadian Scorpion peppers.
Finishing that bowl isn't a casual undertaking. The Monster Hell Ramen Challenge requires diners to finish a bowl within 20 minutes; the prize is a commemorative t-shirt and a $50 gift card.
Steep Odds for Finishing the Bowl
The odds are not in most diners' favor. Only eight diners finished the 20-minute challenge during the chain's first three years in Chicago's Chinatown, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The menu includes a creamy beef-bone broth.
Part of a Bigger Valley Noodle Boom
Strings Ramen's arrival fits into a broader wave of out-of-state noodle concepts setting up shop across metro Phoenix. The Michelin-recognized dry-ramen chain Kajiken Abura Soba soft-opened at Desert Ridge Marketplace in January, according to Foodiehand
Title 9 Sports Grill advertised a hot-wing challenge alongside Phoenix Pride festivities.
Whether Phoenix diners will match Chicago's eight finishers remains to be seen, but the new Baseline Road location gives Valley spice-seekers a fresh shot at the title. For now, the restaurant's broader menu of tonkotsu, kimchi, shoyu and miso bowls offers a far less punishing introduction to the brand that built its name on fire.
