"You’d be hard-pressed to find a ramen-centered tasting menu anywhere else in the country, much less the city—so novelty alone is one (but not the only) reason to get to Noodle In A Haystack. Another is that Clint and Yoko, the husband-and-wife duo who run this place, are ridiculously charming, so a meal in the 12-seat space ($210 per person) feels more like an intimate dinner party. Also, the creative spins on ramen are flat-out extraordinary. We could go on, but we’ll just say this: you’ll never forget the just-right chew of those custom noodles, or anecdotes about the couple’s house tare recipe you hear during the night. Reservations are notoriously difficult to snag, but keep at it for a meal you’ll be thinking about for a long, long time. Reservations are released on Tock every second Sunday at 9pm for the following month. And while slurping up ramen next to someone you like is fun and all, know that it’s much easier to snag one-person reservations, so maybe a solo noodle date is in order." - julia chen 1, lani conway, patrick wong