Shell Game
A Sexy New Noodle Temple in River North

There are so many ways to say you care.

Cards. Flowers. Jewelry. Soup.

Which brings us to Slurping Turtle, a new mecca of noodles and cocktails, now open in River North.

As your nights of throwing down with the guys from the Tokyo branch have taught you, a loud and fulsome slurp indicates to the chef that, yes, this massive bowl of egg noodles swimming in sea-salt broth and teeming with organic chicken and Asian veggies meets or exceeds your standards. Also: it’s so much more succinct.

This is from the chef behind Takashi in Bucktown (you may have also tried some of his noodle wonders at Noodles by Takashi Yagihashi, his Macy’s State Street shop). Here, the room is bright and airy. Perch on the mezzanine level with your version of ScarJo and sip a Lost in Translation (Japanese whiskey, sweet vermouth and ginger syrup), then share bigeye tuna sashimi and split the anmitsu, sort of a Japanese ice cream sundae.

But you may find this place more useful for prepping yourself before a big night on the town, filling up on classic ramen with braised pork shoulder, duck-fat-fried chicken and green tea cream puffs.

Plus, you won’t have to share the cream puffs.