After months of previews, it’s full speed ahead for Kaedama Battleship, the newest restaurant from restaurateur Chad Carey’s Empty Stomach Group. As of Friday, November 21, the downtown noodle bar is open at 122 E. Houston St. #103.
“Kaedama Battleship is now open and ready for you,” the restaurant wrote in a surprise Instagram announcement. “Come see us ASAP.”
Empty Stomach first teased the concept in late August with a series of takeovers at Hot Joy. The name nods to the Japanese term kaedama, meaning an extra helping of noodles. The stripped-down atmosphere evokes the many ramen-yas found on Ramen Street in Japan’s Tokyo Station.
Via text, Carey credits the design to Amada Miller and “our in-house team of guerilla weirdos.”
A peek inside Kaedama Battleship.Kaedama Battleship/ Instagram
A quarter of ramen bowls form the base of the menu, led by a culinary team that includes John Philpot, Alex Roth, and David Filler. Guests can choose from silky tonkatsu with pork belly, double miso with shitake mushrooms, pork shoyu, or chicken sapporo with yuzu-kosho meatballs and blistered shishitos. As with most ramen shops, the soups can be customized with various add-ons like a togarashi spice blend, corn, or a black garlic-morita pepper mix.
The new spot also serves an array of snacks, including a salad with sunomono pickles, charred edamame, crab croquettes, and beef dumplings. The macaroni salad is a nod to the everyman with hot dog, Spam, cucumber, and corn.
The drink menu is as minimal as the space. In addition to hot and cold sakes and imported beer, Kaedama mixes up highballs made with gin, vodka, whiskey, and shochu. Everything is affordable. Save for a handful of large-format sake bottles, nothing on the menu is priced over $16, including the food.
According to the social media post, Kaedama Battleship is open daily from 11 am-midnight. Still to come from Empty Stomach is Merci Jones, a cocktail bar at 1101 Broadway near Hot Joy, Pumpers, and NOLA Brunch & Beignets. There’s no word on when it might open, but it is now hiring and will no doubt launch as suddenly as Kaedama Battleship.
