Fans of traditional ramen noodles will soon have a place to get them.

Gin Sen Noodle and Ramen Bar will be opening at 507 E. Center St., in the old Pita Pit building sometime in mid-October.

The restaurant, which is owned by Vince and Patty Ghettalae from Idaho Falls, will feature Thai food as well as ramen dishes.

However, it won’t be the packaged noodles famous for sustaining poor college students. Gin Sen will serve Japanese ramen topped with pork, seaweed, eggs and green onions among other toppings and flavors.

This will be the third restaurant the Ghettalaes have opened in Idaho.

The couple lived in California for many years before deciding they wanted to open a restaurant. However, Vince said he felt California was so saturated with Thai restaurants that they wouldn’t do well. He said he had a friend who owns a Thai restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming, who recommended that he look into Driggs.

“We drove by and saw the location in Driggs, and we thought, ‘OK,’” Vince said. “And we started the business from there.”

When they opened the Driggs restaurant — Bangkok Kitchen — seven years ago, Vince said they wanted it to serve specifically Thai food. When it began to do well, they opened a second restaurant in Idaho Falls — Krung Thep Thai Cuisine — and introduced some Japanese cuisine to their menu.

Vince said they decided a couple years ago to expand their industry even further and began looking at other possible locations. He said they chose Pocatello because he felt they would do well in a college town.

Additionally, Patty said many people from Pocatello had visited their Idaho Falls location and responded positively.

“We have customers from Pocatello who eat in Idaho Falls and say, ‘Oh, why don’t you open down here?’” Patty said.

The couple is also opening a restaurant in Twin Falls, which Vince said would be open in a few weeks.

Gin Sen will be the first restaurant the couple has opened to serve ramen, but they said they feel confident that they will have a customer base.

Patty said she wants her food to change the way people see Thai and Japanese food and persuade them to expand their palate.

“People think Thai food is all spicy,” Patty said. “We have food that is not spicy like a pad thai or lo mein, and these are the things that are popular with young people.”

She added that if the Pocatello location does well, the couple may consider expanding the menus in their other locations to include ramen.

“We wanted to start here first and see how people felt about it,” Patty said.

Though the couple will have competition from other local Thai restaurants, Vince said he felt the restaurant will have enough variety to intrigue customers.

“Our style and reputation is different,” Vince said. “We try to have more choice for the customers.”

The restaurant, which will be managed by the couples son, Guy Ghettalae, will have a soft opening in mid-October, though Vince said they have not yet set an exact date.