Our story
From a weekend pop-up to a twelve-seat counter
Lantern & Broth started with one stockpot, a folding table and a line around the block. We still run it like that pop-up: small, busy and obsessive about broth.
The room
A neighborhood ramen bar
We opened on Harbor Street in a narrow old print shop. The counter is reclaimed oak from the original press room, the bowls come from a pottery two towns over, and the lanterns outside are lit at five o'clock every evening we are open.
There are twelve seats at the counter and five small tables. Half the room is always kept for walk-ins, because the best ramen nights are the ones nobody planned.
How the broth is made
Twelve hours, four steps
Every bowl of tonkotsu starts the morning before you eat it.
6 a.m.
Blanch
Bones are blanched and scrubbed so the broth stays clean-tasting, never muddy.
8 h
Rolling boil
A hard, rolling boil emulsifies collagen and fat into that creamy, opaque body.
2 h
Aromatics
Charred onion, garlic, ginger and kombu go in late so their flavor stays bright.
5 p.m.
Tare & pour
Each bowl gets its own tare and aroma oil, then broth poured to order at a rolling simmer.
Along the way
A few milestones
We grew slowly on purpose. Each step was about doing one thing better, not doing more things.
2017
Saturday pop-up
One broth, sixty bowls, sold out by eight.
2019
The counter opens
Twelve seats in the old print shop on Harbor Street.
2022
Our own noodle press
Noodles cut in-house every afternoon.
2025
Late nights
Kitchen open past midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
What we care about
House rules
Local first
Pork, eggs and vegetables come from farms within a couple of hours of the restaurant.
Nothing wasted
Chashu trim becomes don, and day-old broth becomes staff meal. Peelings go to a community garden.
Fair kitchen
Service is included in our prices, so everyone on the team earns a steady, fair wage.
Pull up a stool
See what is in the pots tonight.