Roppongi: Tulsa’s Deco District gets a fresh spin on a Japanese classic

601 S. Boston has seen a pretty diverse group of restaurants over the last several years. Zorba’s was a great (and fast) place to grab a gyro and seasoned fries for lunch on a weekday. After Zorba’s closed up shop, La Boca Loca came in, but I never got around to trying it while it was open.

Later on, Lasalle’s New Orleans Deli opened up at the same location and became quite the popular lunch destination. After recently moving their operations to the gorgeous Pythian Building at 423 S. Boulder, Lasalle’s original spot became vacant again. A casual conversation between Libby Billings (of Elote and The Vault) and Chris West (of Lasalle’s) resulted in a comment from Billings that she might be interested in picking up the property for an idea of her own.

Just a few months before, Libby visited a Dallas-area ramen bar on a recommendation from a friend, at which point she knew that she wanted to open up a ramen bar for herself.

I got on the phone with Libby over the weekend to ask her a few questions about her new restaurant.

After working out the logistics for the new ramen bar with 601 S. Boston’s management, Libby hopped on a plane to Japan in late July to become more acquainted with the focus of her new endeavor: ramen. She spent her trip testing ramen in the various places she visited while traveling across Japan — staying at a Buddhist temple at one point and even hiking Mt. Fuji at another time.

When Libby returned to Tulsa, she brought back an idea.

While the ramen bars of Japan were extremely popular, she found that the traditional ramen bowls, often garnished with mushrooms and bamboo, lacked something that they could actually stand to benefit from: fresh vegetables. Just like the fresher, more-local spin that Libby put on Mexican food with Elote and the same spin on fine dining at The Vault, Libby would take this salty noodle dish and make it into something that — to paraphrase her own words — she could feed to her own kids.

Roppongi… Coming Soon!

Fast forward to mid-October; Libby’s newest project is humming along and as construction nears completion, she tells me that she’s recently decided on a name for the new Deco District ramen bar: Roppongi.

Libby asks me if I know what Roppongi is (that “i” makes an “ee” sound, by the way.) I tell her I’m fairly sure that this particular conversation is the first time I’ve even heard the word “Roppongi”.

She goes on to tell me about a particular district in the Minato ward of Tokyo, known as — you guessed it — the Roppongi District. Roppongi is a wildly popular destination for nightlife and entertainment for foreigners. She tells me that in a city as formal as Tokyo, Roppongi is the place where people go to cut loose. (Note to self: go to Roppongi someday.) On top of the entertainment aspect, Roppongi is also known for having wonderful ramen bars.

You can bet your last dollar that I’ll be stopping by Roppongi (the ramen bar) as soon as I get a chance. If The Vault and Elote are any indicators of the probability of success for Roppongi, I think we’ll see another great Deco District staple emerge from 6th and Boston.

Two Downtown Tulsa Ramen Bars?

If you’ve been following along, you may remember a blog post I recently wrote about the Blue Dome District’s JINYA, which is also nearing the completion of it’s build-out. Did I mention that it’s a ramen bar, too? Reviews of JINYA from all over North American (JINYA has somewhere around 20 locations in operation or under construction) lead me to believe that this restaurant is going to be a popular dining spot, as well.

Thanks for reading! I’ll see you all around next time!