Social Sightings: Five Bowls of Ramen to Slurp ASAP

Monday mornings are tough, but this series isn't. Social Sightings is a quick taste of recent food tidbits that goes down as easy as your first cup of coffee, and should whet your appetite for the week ahead.

The longer the cold weather sticks around, the more soups we crave. Currently, ramen is top of mind, and fortunately, Denver's got a solid ramen scene with tons of choices, from the traditional to the unexpected. Glo Noodle House, one of our picks for the ten best new restaurants that opened in 2022, added a new ramen option to its menu in December: kimchi Shoyu with a pork and kimchi broth, as well as confit bacon, ground pork, onsen egg, green onion, bean sprouts, black garlic oil and crispy shallot.
Instagram: @glodenver
Ronin Lowry (and its sister restaurants in the Highland and Congress Park neighborhoods) might be known for superior sushi, but it also serves up two standout bowls of ramen: tonkotsu with pork belly and wood ear mushrooms, and the mushroom-heavy san-kinoko, with roasted maitakes, grilled portobellos and pickled criminis.
Instagram: @roninlowry Osaka Ramen, chef Jeff Osaka's RiNo ramen house, regularly debuts new seasonal selections, including a fall favorite, a green chile-spiked spin on the dish. Right now, though, you can get a taste of its winter addition: pho-style brisket ramen, made with brisket, bean sprouts, mushrooms, basil, negi, chicken broth and brisket tare, pho spices and a soft egg.
Instagram: @osakaramendenver

For a totally non-traditional take on ramen, head to the RiNo location of restaurateur Troy Guard's Los Chingones. Its Mexican ramen has a broth that cooks for twelve hours and is brimming with thick udon noodles, chicken thigh or pork shoulder, hon shimeji mushrooms, cabbage, shishito pepper, jalapeños, scallions, radishes and crispy fried garlic.
Instagram: @loschingones_denver It's been three months since we got a first taste of chef Edwin Zoe's 16th Street Mall eatery Dragonfly Noodle, but we're still thinking about one of its many ramen selections, which comes with two tender ribs perched atop a tangle of fresh, bouncy noodles in a tonkotsu broth. The smokiness isn't overwhelming; while it doesn't taste like you're eating a barbecue/ramen mashup, the smoke does add an unexpected twist to the dish.
Instagram: @dragonflynoodle