Trying to Out-Noodle the Japanese

"Tampopo" (Juzo Itami)

This guy stole my dream!

When New York chef Ivan Orkin opened a Tokyo restaurant specializing in ramen -- a hot noodle soup that is Japan's ultimate comfort food -- he thrust himself into a competitive corner of Japanese cuisine.

From Trying to Out-Noodle the Japanese]

Well, more power to him, I'll have to check out his restaurant one of these days, when I'm next in Tokyo. Totally stole this idea from me (and everyone else who loved Tampopo, and/or mourned the recent passing of Momofuku Ando). Since Mr. Orkin cites Tampopo as a reference, I'll cut him some slack, he probably came up with the idea on his own.

The main items on its simple menu are homemade egg-and-wheat noodles served in salt- or soy-sauce-flavored soup beneath beautifully arranged toppings -- a mound of sliced leek, slender strips of pickled bamboo shoots, and slabs of succulent braised pork. The piping-hot soup -- hot enough to fog up eyeglasses -- combines long-simmered chicken broth with seafood broth for an added layer of complexity.

In opening Ivan Ramen, Mr. Orkin has thrust himself into one of the most competitive corners of Japanese cuisine. There are an estimated 80,000 ramen restaurants across the country. Ramen is a national obsession in Japan -- akin to burgers or barbecue in the U.S. Almost all Japanese have strong feelings about every detail, like whether the broth should be made of bonito, sardine or pork bones, and how many slices of pork should be in the soup. Television quiz shows dare self-professed experts to "name that ramen" just by looking at a fraction of a picture of a bowl of noodles. There are guidebooks focused entirely on the best ramen restaurants and bloggers who hunt down and critique new ramen joints the minute they open.

The biggest challenge facing Mr. Orkin is that unlike most of his competitors, he's not Japanese. "I know that I am a big attraction. I'm a gaijin [foreigner], and I'm from New York," Mr. Orkin says. "But what I really want is for people to sit down and taste my ramen and say, 'Man, this is some of the best ramen I've ever tasted.' "

Early press reviews are encouraging. Hiroshi Osaki claims to have eaten more bowls of ramen than anyone else in Japan -- an average of 800 bowls a year. He says Mr. Orkin's ramen is tasty, if a bit ordinary. But he credits Mr. Orkin for paying attention to details, such as warming each slice of pork before gently placing it on top of the noodles.

Mr. Orkin's decision to take on Japan's iconic dish in Tokyo can be traced back to his first wife, and to a series of personal changes triggered by her death in 1998. He met Tamie Nagano while teaching English in Japan in the late 1980s. They lived in New York and had a son together. After she died, Mr. Orkin returned to Japan yearly with their son to teach him about the culture -- and to eat plenty of ramen.


... Ramen was first introduced to Japan in the late 19th century by Chinese merchants who served Chinese-style noodles at restaurants in the port city of Yokohama. Over the years, the dish was adapted to meet Japanese taste buds, and spread to every corner of the nation with regional variations.

Mr. Orkin, who grew up in Syosset on New York's Long Island as a son of a copyright lawyer, studied Japanese in college. After graduating, he taught English in Japan for a few years. Inspired in part by the movie "Tampopo," a story of a man's effort to make a perfect bowl of ramen, and in part by the dish's affordability, he ate a lot of ramen.