We attended this festival for the second year in a row, but this year was a drastic improvement from the year before. The location shifted from a small section of the street outside Zen Box Izakaya to the Mills City Museum. It also didn't take four hours of wait time to get a bowl of ramen. We were glad we decided to give it another go. The festival was advertised as "free" but in order to sample the food and beverages required the purchase of a "Ramen Attack Passport" for $40. This included two tickets for ramen, two beverage tickets, one ticket for street food, and one dessert ticket plus a bonus admission to the museum exhibits. So unless you don't plan to eat or drink at next year's event, we would recommend purchasing the Passport!
The menu offered four different ramens: 1) Shio Hiyasoba by Chef Keizo Shimamoto, owner of Ramen Shack in NY, NY, 2) Red Light Tonkotsu Ramen by Chef Justin Carlisle, owner of Red Light Ramen by Ardent in Milwaukee, WI, 3) Surly Beef Brisket Mazemen by Chef Jorge Guzman of Surly Brewer's Table in Minneapolis, MN, and 4) Bam Bam Ramen by Chef Jack Reibel, co-owner of Il Foro & Paddy Shack in Minneapolis, MN. The street snacks were all creations of John Ng , co-owner and chef of Zen Box Izakaya, which included Okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancakes), Takoyaki (fried octopus balls), and Ume Brussels Sprouts (fried brussels sprouts).
Aside from eating and drinking, there were also demonstrations that you could attend to learn about different culinary topics. We attended "The Art of Ramen Noodles" demonstration hosted by Kenshiro Uki, co-founder/general manager of Ramen Lab & Sun Noodle. In this demonstration, we learned about the ingredients and techniques of making ramen noodle, from the specificity of the flour to the pH of the water. We also learned that Kenshiro's company supplies the noodles to many ramen joints across the U.S. He met with the chefs to create the noodles based on their preferences such as the thickness, the texture, and the color of the noodles.
All in all, this was a very well organized ramen festival especially compared to the past events. We hope they continue to host this annually and invite new and established ramen chefs from around the world. One thing to expect is that the portion sizes are small, but the variety of food and beverage options will keep you sufficiently satisfied!