Wagamama, December 5, 2006 — Thanks to Alex for pointing this out - Wagamama is finally coming to the United States according to this page on their site. I believe and hope this is likely very good news.

Before we analyze their announcement, a few words on Wagamama (which means "selfish" in Japanese). In my never-ending quest for good food the archetype of the scalable high quality fast food restaurant is rare and wonderful. The folks at Wagamama have taken the concept of the Japanese roadside noodle stand and scaled it with quality. Long community tables evoke the openness of the stalls on which the restaurant is based. A simple menu keeps the kitchen focused on quality with a minimum of distraction. Clean design and wireless PDA ordering gives the restaurant a technical bent as well as an efficiency bonus. The food of course is delicious. Especially given that you're not in an alley outside Shinjuku train station in Tokyo at one in the morning. These franchises are all over London and the U.K. in general with a bunch of locations elsewhere in Europe as well as a significant presence in Australia. But to date, North America has been Wagamamaless.

According to their website, Wagamama will be opening their first US location in the spring of 2007 in Boston's Faneuil Hall Market. I'm excited and nervous.

Well, we'll see how it goes. I've waited this long, I suppose I can wait a little longer (not that I have much of a choice).