Silver Lake milepost Pazzo Gelato gets a new neighbor on Sept. 1 with We Have Noodles, an aptly named Asian street-food counter in the former Berlin Currywurst space. The restaurant is chef Darren Sayphraraj's first brick-and-mortar location after a year of feeding crowds at downtown’s Smorgasburg food market. The small menu offers dishes inspired by a variety of Asian cuisines, including shoyu ramen with Serrano ham, beef belly pho, vegan khao soi and sweet potato lumpia. While a medley of Asian comfort food sounds like absolute heaven in essence, it can be tough to deliver quality with such a disparate selection. But Sayphraraj is confident he can pull it off.

“I am a fan of clear broths as opposed to the thicker, fatty tonkotsu style that we are accustomed to in L.A.,” Sayphraraj says. “This is a lighter take on ramen but will still have all the requisite flavor and fat that you crave when eating ramen. Additionally, Serrano ham is delicious and fits into the smoked ham hock that I use for the broth.”

Chicken and black truffle dumplings en brodo; Credit: Rose Colored Photography

Chicken and black truffle dumplings en brodo; Credit: Rose Colored Photography

The chicken and black truffle dumplings en brodo is another curious dish: Asian-inspired dumplings with an Italian Christmas soup angle.

“Everyone loves dumplings and you can get great renditions around the city, but I decided to put a twist to it by taking the concept of an Italian dish, tortellini in brodo,” Sayphraraj says. “It’s a nicer version of an Asian dumpling, something that you hopefully can’t get anywhere else.

“Being in Silver Lake allows us to experiment with the menu and do things you may not usually see in different areas,” he says.

We Have Noodles isn’t the first pan-Asian fusion restaurant in the area. Echo Park’s Button Mash is going on its third year of maintaining a menu where Korean cold noodles, bun cha Hanoi and a double cheeseburger live in harmony. Sayphraraj's new venture also follows a slew of region-focused noodle houses in the area, including Silver Lake Ramen, Pho Café and Wat Don Moon Lek Noodle, among others.

A seasonal rotation of beer and wine is available, and Sayphraraj says he hopes to introduce brunch in the near future. But more important, there’s a small parking lot in the back.

3827 Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake; wehavenoodlesla.com.

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