Midterms were rough, per usual, and as a treat my Beiruo asked me out to lunch for today! I'm always down to eat and she follows a chinese foodie blog based in Chicago so she searched the blog and instagram and we landed on CupBop + Ramen. We had a book release/lecture for one of the teachers and Beiruo figured out that this place was close to the release so we met up around 1 to fill up.
LOCATION: 2439 N CLARK ST. CHICAGO, IL 60614
This place is right above Old Town and next to Lincoln Park which I love so it was a nice place to walk around and explore while I waited for Beiruo to arrive. CupBop + Ramen is of course a combination of Cup Bibimbop and Ramen which I'm all for. I've been dreaming of my New York City ramen adventures and I'm honestly always ready to eat ramen so I was all in. We checked out this place online and the first sign that they have arranged is one that sets up a game. If you can beat the cashier at Rock Paper Scissors, you get a free drink. Already, I'm pumped. This place is also special because they do a cup/ramen combo bowl which we both wanted to try; it's called the BanBan and I ordered my cup bibimbop with beef and the pork only ramen (Tonkotsu) while Beiruo ordered her cup bibimbop with pork and the Pork Miso ramen (level 2 spice). Her blog also mentioned trying the the Sweet and Hot Chicken so she ordered a half portion for us to share.
This isn't the most impressive, fancy looking restaurant when you walk in but it's freaking awesome. I will say that I did lose at Rock, Paper, Scissors so I didn't get a free drink, but Beiruo won and offered to share her drink with me so it was alright. The concept of a BanBan is already perfect so we spent a hot second gushing over bowls partitioned like this before we dug in. The sweet and hot chicken was surprisingly good to me. The half portion was more than enough for us but it was a little spicy with a great sweet factor to diffuse it before it got too hot.
I am in love with the BanBan. Its perfect for days you want rice/glass noodles and ramen all together. Beiruo leaned more towards the CupBop half while I, like I mentioned before, I just love ramen. My Egg was cooked perfectly, the broth in the Ramen was great, and it had a great texture and balance to it. The CupBop half was also a really great melding of rice and glass noodles and eas seasoned super well. It wasn't overly salty, the meat was tender and not too chewy, and all the sauces and veggies mixed in was perfect.
For sure, I would go back. We spent the rest of the day gushing about this place and telling everyone about it because it was completely worth checking out. The price range isn't too high and you get bang for your buck. It's definitely out of my way to get there, but if I'm in the area I would consider stopping in for a bite to eat. I need to redeem myself with Rock Paper Scissors!!