Austin Chef Who Served Ramen out of His Garage Is Opening a Restaurant

One of Austin’s most exclusive dining spots had been a chef’s counter serving bowls of ramen in a home garage. And now, Ramen Garage chef Christopher Krinsky will be opening his own restaurant next year. The tentatively named Ramen Del Barrio will open within Hana World Market at 1700 Parmer Lane, Suite 100 in the Scofield Farms neighborhood up in North Austin in early 2023.

Krinsky will explore what he describes as “Mexican-fusion ramen” through the new restaurant. This will include menudo ramen. “This project is a marriage of where I’m from and what I’ve dedicated myself to in my professional career,” he writes to Eater Austin. The chef was born in Maine but grew up in Cancun. His father, a chef as well, had his own restaurants in Maine. Krinsky moved to Austin when he was 18 to attend Austin Community College’s culinary arts program. Then he worked at Japanese restaurants around town, including Neighborhood Sushi and most recently, Kemuri Tatsu-ya.

Originally, Krinsky had started cooking out of his garage for his own research and development. When he realized he was making a lot of food, he decided to open up his garage doors and share his bowls with people. He offered up seats to Ramen Garage through Instagram direct messages starting in December 2021. He has served ramen like shoyu tonkotsu, tomato-flavored tonkotsu, lobster tsukemen, and even a burger-ish one.

Krinsky had his last day of work at Kemuri this month and also paused his Ramen Garage dinners. He noted that once his restaurant opens, he’ll offer Ramen Garage dinners through private events most likely.

Ramen Del Barrio is taking over the space that had housed fast-casual Hawaiian-Asian restaurant Salty Cargo, which opened in October 2020 with a food truck expansion too. Both have since closed. Other restaurants in the Hana World Market food court include Korean spot Hana Yoree and San Marcos-based mochi doughnut spot Mochinut.