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The dining room inside Slurp Ramen, the forthcoming restaurant from the owners of The Jasper. The space was designed by local firm Campfire & Co.
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Slurp Ramen is located at 2416 Jefferson Ave.
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Slurp seats 18, with an assortment of high-top tables and moveable two-tops.
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Table numbers at Slurp
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The mural inside Slurp is by local multidisciplinary artist Tim Skirven, known for his can designs for The Veil Brewing Co.
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The ordering counter at Slurp; the restaurant will offer both dine-in and takeout service.
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Slurp will offer Suntory Toki whiskey highballs on draft.
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A onetime pop-up dedicated to the Japanese noodle soup has evolved into a brick-and-mortar business from partners Kevin Liu, Thomas “T” Leggett, Brandon Peck and Mattias Hagglund, owners of The Jasper bar in Carytown, marking their first foray into restaurant ownership. Serving ramen and Suntory Whisky highballs, Slurp Ramen is planning to open within a week in the mixed-use building at 2416 Jefferson Ave. in Church Hill.
As Liu recently put in an order for 750 pounds of ham hocks, a key ingredient of their tonkotsu ramen, and unpacked yellow table numbers reading “420” and “804,” he spent some time explaining their niche draft cocktail machine destined to pour Toki, a celebrated blend of the Japanese whiskey.
“We’re the only people in Virginia who have one, so our installers were like, ‘What’s this thing?’” Liu says with a laugh. “It takes Toki whiskey and hypercarbonates it, basically, and spits out a perfect highball.”
So, how did the crew best known as spirits connoisseurs end up as restaurateurs with a ramen shop?
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Liu recalls Peck saying, “‘We should do a ramen pop-up in-house, just us.’” The idea originally came to life in the summer of 2020 during the bar’s Friends & Family kitchen series, during which The Jasper hosted roughly two dozen pop-ups. Slurp is partly a product of the pandemic, partly a way for The Jasper team to grow and have fun.
Liu says that when they originally secured part of the building at the growing development in Church Hill, they began to consider introducing two ventures, devoting one side of their space to the soon-to-open island-inspired bar The Emerald Lounge. The remaining space was ideal for a cozy, more intimate concept, and ramen was an ideal match.
“This has been 2 1/2 years of planning this thing, and every little detail has been thought out, and not everything’s perfect, but to fit this much stuff into 2,000 square feet, the building — it’s smaller than The Jasper,” Liu says.
Slurp is also drawing inspiration from, and sourcing the same noodles as, their pals at Washington, D.C-based Toki Underground, a 600-square-foot izakaya that has earned accolades including Eater’s restaurant of the year and selection by the New York Post as one of best ramen restaurants in America. In February 2020, Toki held a sold-out pop-up event at The Jasper.
Seeking to create a similar comfortable, cool energy, Slurp is hip and snug, the 18-seater counter-service noodle shop dotted with movable tables and chairs meant to accommodate everyone from diners slurping solo to groups of six. There will also be a handful of tables out front.
Helming the kitchen is Erik Emery, The Jasper’s current in-house chef, who operated their pasta pop-up during the pandemic. With previous stints at an izakaya in Portland, Oregon, and a Thai restaurant in Alaska, Emory says he’s familiar with many of the ingredients and is excited to unveil the project.
“I really have a deep appreciation for food that at its heart is very simple, but there’s a lot of nuance that can happen in its simplicity,” he says.
All bowls of ramen will be served with a soy-marinated chicken egg, charred shiitake mushrooms, bok choy, pickled radish, corn, scallions and a choice of char siu pork or tofu. Broth options include the creamy and savory tonkotsu, tahini-spiked miso, clean and aromatic shoyu, and spicy and numbing dan dan. Kids can enjoy an $8 bowl of shoyu broth with char siu pork and corn.
And while ramen can be notoriously heavy, Liu says, “The bowls we have are fairly small; I think this is a place you could legitimately eat two bowls of ramen and be full.”
Appetizers include gyoza dumplings, funky and tart Waterfall Wings tossed with fish sauce and fresh herbs, and Chong Qing Wings, a sweet and spicy offering with cumin and chile dry rub. Among the sides are a palate-cleansing smashed cucumber salad, edamame and tofu skins. As for libations, along with Toki highballs, a sword-shaped tap will pour Sapporo, a lager-style beer that is the oldest beer brand in Japan, and Slurp will also offer four or five sake options.
The proprietors say they’re not trying to imitate, they’re looking to put their own spin on something they appreciate. Liu says, “Hopefully people get that it’s an homage to what we think is really cool; we’re not trying to say we’re authentic or genuine.”
Slurp Ramen will be open four to five days per week for lunch and dinner; check Instagram and Facebook for updates.
