Dallas' emerging ramen scene is about to welcome a big-deal newcomer. Monta Ramen, one of the top ramen joints in Las Vegas, is coming to Texas, with a branch opening in Richardson, on Coit Road just south of Arapaho.

Monta comes from restaurateur Takashi Segawa, who has a growing empire of restaurants that includes highly regarded Las Vegas sushi restaurant Kabuto.

Monta has two locations in Las Vegas, including the original in the city's Chinatown district that opened in 2010. One publication credits it with setting ramen on fire in Las Vegas; another called it "some of the best ramen outside Tokyo."

Monta serves "Kurume-style" ramen, with large planks of pork, broth made from pork bones and soy sauce imported from Japan. The menu is small, with the archetypal tonkotsu ramen with pork in a milky broth, plus a few alternatives such as shoyu ramen (with a clear, soy-based broth) and miso ramen (in which miso is added to the tonkotsu).

A bowl runs $6.95 to $7.25. Other menu options are limited to dumplings and fried rice.

Once open, it will join a small, newly-gathering group of restaurants in Dallas offering ramen that includes Tanoshii in Deep Ellum and Tei An at One Arts Plaza.

Segawa, who also owns an all-you-can-eat sushi chain called Sushi-Mon , was unavailable for comment. But a manager at the Las Vegas branch confirmed that Dallas would be the first Monta outpost in Texas, and that a remodel was underway. The decor at the Las Vegas outlets includes lots of pale woods, including a large irregularly shaped bar formed out of a slab of wood.

"We're hoping to be open this summer," she said.

That space has seen a string of short-term failed tenants in the past few years, from Kel's Kitchen to a deli called Stuie's to a healthy-food restaurant called Vitality House to something called H & D BBQ & Grill to the most recent tenant, a Chinese place called Lin Express that was locked out for nonpayment of rent.

A spokesman for the shopping center said that the space fit Monta's requirements to a T, and that the company was looking to open other branches in the area down the road.