RakiRaki Opening New Showcase For Handmade Noodles & Skewers

We'll soon have an update for Eater readers who've been inquiring about the status of the second location from Kearny Mesa's RakiRaki Ramen & Tsukemen that should debut in Little Italy later this fall.

RakiRaki owner and executive chef Junya Watanabe, who opened his popular ramen shop on Convoy in 2012, is also developing some exciting offshoot concepts, including a new noodle shop with a different food focus. He and partner David Zecha are launching Tsuru Tsuru, named for Japanese phrase that mimics the slurping of noodles; it should open in early 2016 across the street from RakiRaki in Dumpling Inn's former space at 4619 Convoy St, Ste F, which the Chinese eatery traded for larger digs earlier this year.

Watanabe recently spent time in Japan to learn the art of hand-making soba, or buckwheat noodles, in which the dough is rolled until it's super thin and then hand-sliced into skinny lengths. He'll demonstrate the process behind the front window of the eatery, which will serve soba in both chilled and hot preparations, plus udon noodle dishes of all kinds. Tsuru Tsuru will also feature kushi katsu, a widely-eaten snack in Japan of fried skewers of panko-crusted meat, seafood or vegetables.