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Las Vegas ramen restaurant stirs up hot opening in The Heights

A Las Vegas-based restaurant will make its debut this weekend. Shokku Ramen begins a weeklong soft opening this Friday, June 4 with a grand opening scheduled for Friday, June 11.

Located in the former BCK space at 933 Studewood St., Shokku features dishes created by chef Louross Edralin, who was a contestant on season four of the Gordon Ramsay competition show Hell's Kitchen. Shokku offers a fusion approach to its noodle soups with dishes such as a surf and turf bowl with fried soft shell crab and steak, and a new BBQ Brisket ramen with brisket, fries, pickles, house-pickled onions, and barbecue spices.

Diners also have the option to build-their-own bowls by choosing from six different broths, four different proteins, and a wide array of toppings and spices. Non-soup options include shareable appetizers such as gyoza and kaarage as well as fried rice.

Shokku is perhaps best known for its Shinigami Challenge, a triple-sized bowl of ramen that packs a whopping 4 million Scoville units of heat. Diners who finish the bowl in eight minutes receive the $50 dish for free and get their photo on the restaurant's "Wall of Warriors."

Although the Houston location aspires to replicate the Vegas outpost's 24-hour operations, it will only be open for dinner (5-11 pm) initially with lunch service to follow later this summer, according to a press release.

To celebrate its opening, Shokku will serve free ramen to all diners on June 4. Those who attend the soft opening from June 5-10 will receive 25 percent off their meals with 50 percent off for the grand opening on June 11.

Shokku's arrival comes on the heels of the opening of Rakkan Ramen, a California-based restaurant that's in the M-K-T Heights development. Other nearby ramen-yas include Jinya Ramen in the Heights Waterworks development, Samurai Ramen at I-10 and Durham Dr., and Ninja Ramen on Washington Ave.

Diners only have eight minutes to complete the Shinigami challenge.

Courtesy of Shokku Ramen

Diners only have eight minutes to complete the Shinigami challenge.

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truffle masters recap

Street corn shines at Houston's truffle-powered chef competition

Photo by Daniel Ortiz

Marcus Benedict, Daniella Johner, and chef Luis Roger of MAD and BCN.

One of Houston’s top Mexican restaurants took the top prize at this year’s Truffle Masters competition. Victoria Elizondo, chef-owner of Cochinita & Co., bested 24 other Houston chefs with Elotitos, corn brushed with chiltepin aioli, dusted with seven chile spice, and finished with shaved truffles and Parmesan.

“The team killed it last night,” Elizondo wrote on Instagram. “We won 1st place at @thetrufflemasters all while having fun and cooking with love! Food doesn’t need to be fancy, it just needs to be made with corazón!”

The attention couldn’t have come at a better time. As CultureMap reported last month, Cochinita & Co. is currently in the process of opening a second location in Lindale Park. Customers can invest in the project via the NuMarket platform in exchange for credits at the restaurant.

Second prize went to Camaraderie in the Heights for its black sesame and black truffle gelato, while Cocody, a French restaurant in River Oaks, took third place for its truffle-shaped Lollys Persillade Escargot Cromesquis, essentially an escargot lollypop with with black truffle and quail egg in the middle.

Montrose sushi restaurant Soto won People’s Choice with its Engawa fin muscle with truffle balsamic unagi sauce, kizami, and chocolate black truffle masago arare. Aniket Bhingare, a bartender at Michelin-starred restaurant Musaafer, won the cocktail competition with his Pour Me a Slice, made with truffle and herb-infused and a clarified mix of roma tomatoes, fresh basil, oregano, basil, and truffle oil.

Other standout dishes included a Yukon Gold potato with truffle brown butter from Michelin-recognized sushi restaurant Hidden Omakase, truffle s’mores from Israeli-inspired steakhouse Doris Metropolitan, beef tartare and truffle ice cream from fine dining sushi restaurant Katami, and Credence’s truffle duck sausage with plums and truffles. Maximo, a Mexican restaurant in West U., maximized (sorry) its truffle usage with a Cachetada de Barbacoa Taco, made with nixtamalized truffle tortilla, truffle-braised barbacoa, and sottocenere al tartufo cheese with black garlic-habanero salsa

More than 350 attended the sold-out affair, which took place at the Astorian events space in Sawyer Yards. The judging panel include both media members (such as this author) and hospitality pros. A portion of proceeds will be donated to the KNOWAutism Foundation.

Photo by Daniel Ortiz

Marcus Benedict, Daniella Johner, and chef Luis Roger of MAD and BCN.