Here we go. It happened with Kogi's tacos and Dominique Ansel's cronut; now it's happening to Keizo Shimamoto's Ramen Burger. It's the attack of the clones.
As you may recall, about a month ago we revealed that a new Santa Ana burger shop called Toro Burger started offering a version of the burger. It seemed a no brainer when the Shimamoto's original had people lining up for up to and including two hours.
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Now L&L Hawaiian Barbecue–yes, that L&L–is offering it's own version of the Ramen Burger. It's officially called Saimin Burger on their website (because Shimamoto holds the trademark for the phrase “Ramen Burger”), but in a flyer I got in the mail, the Irvine outlet of the chain was still calling it Ramen Burger. It even says so on the $1 off coupon, which, of course, I plan to use.
So if you're still curious about it, and you can't wait for Shimamoto to come around again, and you've already tried Toro Burger's version (which, in my opinion, felt like eating a burger with a soggy Eggo waffle as bun), then here's your chance. Or you can wait till more clones attack.
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.