Ramen Shop Near Me in Long Island City: Vert Frais Clam Shio Bowls

Anyone typing ramen shop near me around Court Square in Long Island City should know about Vert Frais, the sunny corner restaurant at 43-10 Crescent Street. It is not a cramped noodle counter. It is a white-walled, plant-filled cafe where a clear salt-based shio ramen shares the menu with souffle pancakes, omurice and Japanese hamburg steak. Behind it is Nobuyuki Shikanai, owner of the Michelin-starred Kanoyama in the East Village, and the ramen recipes have a decade of history in Manhattan.

The ramen is what earns the restaurant a place on the Michelin Guide's list of the best bowls in New York. The story starts in 2013, when the Midtown restaurant Seo launched a late-night ramen pop-up called Sanshiro. After Seo closed in 2017, Shikanai moved the Sanshiro pop-up into Kanoyama. When Vert Frais opened in June 2023, with Shikanai partnering with former Seo partner Byungsud Chung, those recipes finally got a permanent daytime home in Queens.

Start with the Classic Shio at $19. It is a salt-based broth topped with pork chashu, radish sprouts, menma bamboo shoots and an egg, and it is the bowl Michelin's inspectors singled out. A shio broth is lighter and clearer than tonkotsu, so the flavor depends on the quality of the stock rather than fat. The Sho-Yu, also $19, uses the same toppings over a soy-based broth, which gives a darker, rounder taste. Both are good choices on a crisp fall afternoon.

The signature splurge is the Asari at $24, built on a Japanese asari clam broth and finished with cilantro, menma and egg. The clam stock has a sweet, briny depth that is unusual in New York ramen, and the cilantro adds a bright green lift that suits the restaurant's name, which means fresh green in French. Vegans have their own bowl, the Vegan Ramen at $20, with a soy milk and potato broth, cabbage, bean sprouts, carrot, fried garlic and sesame oil.

Lunch is the best value. On the lunch specials menu, the Ramen and Pork Cha-Shu Bowl costs $27 and pairs a Classic Shio or Sho-Yu ramen with a mini chashu rice bowl, and the same price buys a version with a mini salmon and ikura bowl instead. You can switch to the Vegan Ramen for an extra dollar or to the Asari for an extra $6. The weekday kitchen runs a lunch service from noon to 4 pm, then reopens for dinner at 5 pm

The non-ramen side of the menu explains the long weekend lines. Souffle pancakes are served until 4 pm every day, starting with the Matcha Souffle Pancake at $16, topped with house-made matcha sauce and seasonal fruit. The Mont Blanc Souffle Pancake, with chestnut puree, white bean paste and heavy cream, costs $26. For something savory, the Omurice at $23 wraps an omelet around bacon fried rice with demi-glace, and the Japanese Hamburg Steak at $28 comes with fries and watercress.

Timing determines whether you wait. Vert Frais takes reservations on Resy, but weekend brunch, Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 3:30 pm, is walk-in only, and that is when the pancake crowd arrives. For a quiet bowl of ramen, a weekday lunch just after noon or an early dinner at 5 pm are the easiest windows. A Friday-night reservation also works well if you want to try the clam ramen without a line.

The dining room is the opposite of a dark ramen bar. Eater described it as sleek and airy, with high ceilings, banana leaf wallpaper and hanging vines, and Michelin calls it a sunny, white-walled cafe with communal tables. The Infatuation noted floral cocktails served in teacups and garnished with real flowers, along with antique glassware. The whole place has a botanical-garden feel, which makes it a natural pick for a long weekend lunch with friends or a relaxed date.

The team's background explains the menu's range. Shikanai built his reputation on sushi at Kanoyama, and the owners told Eater at opening that Vert Frais would not serve it: no sushi, that is just for Kanoyama. Instead the kitchen focuses on yoshoku, the European-influenced Japanese comfort cooking that produced dishes like omurice and hamburg steak, alongside the Sanshiro ramen. The combination makes it unusually easy to feed a group with different appetites.

Sharing works best here. A table of four can split a Classic Shio, an Asari, the Chicken Karaage, which comes in a small size for $9 or a large for $16, and one souffle pancake for dessert. Edamame with a choice of salt or ume basil seasoning costs $8. For dessert at dinner, the Fondant au Chocolat with vanilla ice cream and berries is $15, and the menu asks you to allow 20 minutes for it, so order it with your mains.

Long Island City rewards a short walk after the meal. MoMA PS1, the contemporary art center at 22-25 Jackson Avenue, is a few minutes away, in a former public school building with rotating exhibitions; it opens from noon to 6 pm on its open days. Continue west toward the East River and you reach the waterfront parks of Hunters Point, where the Manhattan skyline across the water makes the best view in the neighborhood at sunset.

According to the official site, the restaurant opens Monday through Friday from noon to 4 pm and again from 5 pm to 10 pm, and on Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 10 pm Card payment is handled at the table with a remote reader. Reservations are made through Resy for all non-brunch services.

Vert Frais suits several kinds of diners. It is the ramen pick for people who prefer clear, delicate broths over heavy pork soups, for vegans who want a real bowl rather than an afterthought, and for groups where one person wants noodles and another wants pancakes. It also works for visitors spending the afternoon at MoMA PS1. Ramen purists who want a quick standing slurp will find it more leisurely than they expect, which is part of its appeal.

A good first plan: book a weekday 5 pm table, order the Classic Shio and the Asari to compare the salt and clam broths, add a small karaage, and finish with a matcha souffle pancake if you arrive before 4 pm on another visit. Then walk to the Hunters Point waterfront for the skyline. When you want another ramen shop near wherever you are in Queens, ask the Karpo APP for nearby bowls.