RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. So much today is noise, pulling our attention away from the simple things like eating, which maybe explains why a restaurant centered around silence would do well. The Japanese ramen chain Ichiran just opened a restaurant in New York with booths that seat one diner, facing the wall. And it's been drawing large crowds of people eager to eat alone, where the only thing one hears is the slurping of noodles. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.