The very first homemade noodle ramen shop to come to Chicago is no more.
If you’re a Chicagoan and you’re a fan of ramen the odds are pretty high that you’ve eaten at a Furious Spoon. Even more so if you live in Wicker Park, and many will remember when Furious Spoon first opened its doors at 1571 N. Milwaukee Avenue back in 2015. It was the first homemade noodle ramen shop in Chicago and founder chef Shin Thompson, who grew up in Japan, intended to mimic ramen shops in Tokyo. An antique noodle machine imported from Osaka began making fresh noodles in-house to the delight of ramen fanatics all over.
Its popularity was such that the first Furious Spoon kept having to close early because it was running out of food and the antique noodle machine could only turn out 200 orders a day. By 2018 the number of Furious Spoons had grown to seven. Spots in Lakeview, Logan Square, Pilsen, Evanston, and one in Revival Food Hall, followed the Wicker Park original with great success.
Today the time has finally come to say goodbye to the cornerstone of Chicago’s Furious Spoon and the shop that kicked it all off. Now a “for lease” sign hangs in the original shop’s window at 1571 N. Milwaukee Avenue. While online you’ll see the restaurant listed “temporarily closed”, and no solid news has arrived from Furious Spoon themselves, the ominous sign hints that the first-ever Furious Spoon is no more.
The Wicker Park location joins Pilsen’s Furious Spoon which stood on 1316 W. 18th Street and has also closed for good. The Evanston and Revival Food Hall locations are also listed as temporarily closed with Logan Square and Lakeview the remaining two locations listed on Furious Spoon’s website.
Worry not, that means that while the original has closed, Furious Spoon is still serving up the shop’s staple ramen bowls and they can be found down at 2410 N Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square and 800 W Belmont Avenue in Lakeview.