On a cold day, there’s nothing better than a steaming bowl of ramen. The broth stays piping hot under all the toppings, cooling to the perfect temperature with each slurp. Partly because the dish is viewed as a winter thing, there’s a dearth of dedicated ramen shops in Vermont. But even as t he weather warms, Neighborhood Noodle in Manchester is worth the trip. Emily and Ian Shore opened their ramen shop and izakaya — the term for a Japanese bar that serves snacks — on March 17, after two years of hosting seasonal pop-ups at other local businesses. They hit the ground running, selling 200 bowls of ramen on day one. Since then, they’ve been testing specials and gearing up for the growing season, creating stunning vegetable dishes and shareable snacks that will satisfy summer soup skeptics. The new restaurant is part of a real culinary moment in Manchester. Since October, the southwestern Vermont town has gotten its first brewery, Lost Marble Brewing; excellent Greek fare and cocktails at Lola Mediterranean Woodfire; and a James Beard Award semifinalist nod for chef Tiara Adorno of the Crooked Ram. Emily, 35, and Ian, 38, met working at a Japanese restaurant in the Lake Tahoe area a decade ago, where they fell in love with the country’s culture and cuisine. Emily is a Londonderry native, and they moved back and forth between California and Vermont several times before landing in her hometown for good when the pandemic hit. Ian and Emily Shore Credit: Greg Nesbit During one of those earlier stints in the Green Mountain State, the couple worked at SoLo Farm Table in South Londonderry — Ian in the kitchen and Emily at the front of house. Upon their ultimate return, Emily became general manager of the Crooked Ram, and Ian started working for Emily’s dad in construction. When their daughter was born not long after, he stuck with the family biz for its flexibility. But he wanted to get back in the kitchen, and they started to plan for opening their own restaurant someday. “Someday” happened faster than they expected. The Shores’ first Neighborhood Noodle pop-up at the Crooked Ram was on January 1, 2024; the couple signed the lease on the former New Morning Natural Foods space in April 2025. Construction, on the other hand, took longer than planned. Ian did almost all the work of transforming the raw space into a modern yet welcoming restaurant, with help from family and friends. The open kitchen is now visible behind a gently curving bar, where bottles of Japanese wine and sake are displayed along with earthy ceramics. The restaurant’s 25 seats include a cozy banquette, a few small tables and counters along the windows. The couple’s pop-ups had been busy, including one at what was then Homestyle Hostel in Ludlow where they sold 168 bowls of ramen in two hours. But the first week of Neighborhood Noodle was hotly anticipated, and even busier. The 200 bowls sold on opening day used up all the stock Ian and the kitchen team had prepped, and they had to skip a scheduled lunch service the next day to make more. “Pop-ups were one and done,” Ian said. “Not like, ‘OK, now we have to do this again tomorrow.’” “That was a good learning curve,” Emily added with a laugh, as Ian ducked into the kitchen and returned holding a stockpot larger than his torso. Two of those, one for pork broth and one for vegetable, now bubble away almost every day. And that’s during mud season, when skiers have left town and restaurants are usually slow. Even after the initial hype — which included several customers referring to Neighborhood Noodle as “Momofuku Manchester” in their social media posts, drawing comparisons to Dave Chang’s ramen shops in New York City — things have been steady, the Shores said. Ian Shore seasoning the hakurei turnip special Credit: Greg Nesbit Right now is the perfect time to visit, with spring vegetables starting to hit the menu and the weather doing its hot-and-cold-and-hot-again dance. I made the two-hour drive for lunch last week on an unexpectedly 70-degree day. Many of my previous ramen experiences have been nearly wordless solo endeavors: I once worked next door to the Brooklyn location of Ichiran, a Japanese chain known for its one-person booths, where the only human interaction is with a bodiless pair of hands that present bowls through a bamboo screen. Neighborhood Noodle encourages more social slurping. The place has a communal feel, thanks to its already emerging roster of regulars and menu of dishes to share, from wok-fried karai edamame ($8) to delicate vegetable tempura ($12) to hand-formed gyoza ($16 for pork or veggie). There are kid-friendly simple pan-fried noodles or just noodles and broth ($10 each). Gluten-free noodles are available upon request, and both the light soy-based shoyu ramen and the creamier sesame-based tantanmen ramen are available with vegetarian dashi broth and tofu ($23 each). Part of the casual vibe comes from the restaurant’s counter-service model. Customers order and pay at the register, and staff bring dishes to tables as they’re ready. (Takeout is also available for lunch and dinner.) I sat at the bar and would have been happy reading the book I was trying to finish for a book club meeting that evening, but I ended up chatting with staff almost the whole time. The real folly of my solo adventure was that I didn’t have room to order more dishes. Before I even got to the ramen, I took Emily’s recommendation to start with the gomaae spinach ($6). The dish is a sleeper, she said: simple blanched spinach with a black sesame sauce. But the two components have strong textural contrast, which makes it fun to eat. I also ordered hakurei turnips ($14) from the specials board. Sourced from Mighty Food Farm in Shaftsbury, the mild white turnips were poached in a kombu-shiitake broth, then seared. They sat atop a creamy edamame hummus, delicately plated with pickled carrots and turnip tops, Bromley Farm microgreens, and kimchi made with foraged ramps. Assorted dishes, including gomaae spinach, the hakurei turnip special and chicken shio ramen Credit: Greg Nesbit The dish is heavily influenced by the Shores’ time working at SoLo Farm Table, Ian said, joking that it’s “kind of tweezer food.” “But the turnips deserve it,” he said. They paired well with another special, the yuzu-sake spritz ($13). I’d gone into the meal expecting to order a glass of Domaine Tetta’s Aki Queen, which I adore. But the minty, citrusy spritz felt like the right move for lunch. Neighborhood Noodle has excellent nonalcoholic options, including house-brewed iced tea and Bristol’s Savouré soda. Their biggest beverage sellers so far, Emily said, have been sake and beer, the latter of which is “the classic combo” with ramen at tiny shops in Tokyo and Kyoto. The Shores aren’t Japanese, but they’re approaching their restaurant with a deep reverence for the culture and a whole lot of research to get it right. Ian is mostly self-taught, but he got an in-depth education at Rajuku Ramen School in the outskirts of Tokyo last spring. Other than requiring alkaline salt in the noodles, the dish “really has no parameters,” Ian said. “Ramen is the casserole of Japan — what’s left over in the fridge, what’s growing in the area.” Ramen is the casserole of Japan —what’s left over in the fridge, what’s growing in the area.Ian Shore Neighborhood Noodle’s ramen is made by adding highly seasoned tare (pronounced tah-reh) to a base broth. The tare “is the flavor bomb,” Ian explained, made from soy sauce, dried shiitake mushrooms and nori for shoyu ramen. Adding seasoning at the end keeps the final flavor consistent from bowl to bowl, he continued. Cold tare goes in first, then stock is poured over and mixed together before adding noodles and topping. Oil added to the top — or chicken fat, which Ian recently started using — further elevates the flavor and insulates the ramen, so it stays nice and warm. Taking Emily’s recommendation once again, I ordered the chicken shio ramen ($23, plus $3 for a marinated egg). “Shio” translates to “salt” and is a more subtle tare than the shoyu, resulting in a light ramen that’s “basically like chicken noodle soup,” Ian said. It’s inspired by one of the couple’s favorite ramens from their trip to Japan last spring: the shio at Kyoto’s Comorebi Ramen House. My bowl was almost overflowing, stuffed with noodles, bok choy, perfectly poached chicken, tiny hon shimeji mushrooms and an aromatic ginger-scallion oil. I slurped as much as I could, then asked for a container for the rest. Neighborhood Noodle’s ramen options will likely shrink in the summer, Emily said, to two or three rather than four. Still, noodles will be on the menu all the time, in both cold and hot form. I ended my meal with a chocolate-green tea ice cream bar for the road ($7), which I devoured before I left the parking lot so it wouldn’t drip. It was a refreshing treat, but I was most looking forward to reheating my leftover ramen for dinner that night. My grandmother always said, “Have a hot cup of tea. It’ll cool you down.” Next time I head south for noodles on a summer day, I’ll give her phrase an update: Have a hot bowl of ramen. It’s cool year-round. ➆ Neighborhood Noodle, 4776 Main St., Manchester, 802-362-0181. The original print version of this article was headlined “Slurp’s Up | At Neighborhood Noodle in Manchester, it’s always ramen season” The post At Neighborhood Noodle in Manchester, It’s Always Ramen Season appeared first on Seven Days. ...read more read less