I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. Not exactly a ramen mecca, but times change. Ramen’s profile is ever-growing and in 2011 “celebrity chef Jonathan Sawyer” (that’s according to his bio, I guess he’s on tv or something) opened NoodleCat, Cleveland’s first ramen house. Hometown ramen! I couldn’t wait to try it and finally got […]
Author Archives: Will VanderWyden
January 16, 2013
The Ramen Shaman: Junk Garage (Tokyo Station)
If I gave you several options for dinner and you knew nothing about the restaurants other than their names, and one was called “Junk Garageâ€, you’re eating there, right? I’m going with Junk Garage every single time. I heard about this shop through the usual ramen fanatic-suspects and was fascinated by their namesake ‘junk’ ramen, […]
December 12, 2012
Fridgin’ Out: The Ramen Shaman + Roommates
Ah, the joy of roommates. The Ramen Shaman lives with three other dudes in a house in Los Angeles, meaning our fridge is war zone of groceries for four people each cooking for one. But to be honest there’s not a whole lot of cooking going on in this household. I actually enjoy making food, […]
November 28, 2012
The Ramen Shaman: Daikokuya (LA)
If you know anything about ramen in Los Angeles you’ve heard of Daikokuya, the original LA noodle institution. There are throngs of people waiting outside its bright yellow awning at almost any hour of the day, despite several other shops within viewing distance. It was my first-ever ramen love. I’ve written before about how I […]
November 7, 2012
The Ramen Shaman: Miso Ramen at Kururi (Ichigaya)
My second day in Japan was inauspicious. The sky was dreary, overcast, drizzling all day and on into the night, and I woke up with a full-blown cold to boot. So in other words, the perfect day for a bowl of ramen. After spending the day at the National Museum in Ueno Park, where my […]
October 24, 2012
The Ramen Shaman: Jiro-kei Ramen at Senrigan (Kitazawa)
This one was a long time coming. Since I first started reading about ramen over at Ramenate I’ve been fascinated by Jiro-kei (Jiro-style) ramen. What is Jiro you ask? Jiro is an institution. It has spawned several official offshoots and many more imitators. Jiro is to ramen as suicide sauce is to wings. It’s the […]
October 10, 2012
The Ramen Shaman: Silverlake Ramen (LA)
It’s been just over a year since I started my ramen blog. At least six new ramen shops have opened in LA since then (a far cry from the one-a-day that are said to open in Tokyo, but still). I’ve learned more about soup than I could have ever imagined, I started learning Japanese, and […]
September 19, 2012
The Ramen Shaman: Yokohama Ramen Nakamura-ya (Hakusan)
I first learned about ramen – real deal Japanese ramen that is – two years ago. Like many niche interests I stumbled upon it via the internet. There was just something about the heartiness of a bowl of ramen… and the fact that people obsessed over it piqued my interest. It felt like I discovered […]
September 5, 2012
The Ramen Shaman: Aoki-tei (Asakusa)
Push yourself. Every challenge makes you better. Or as I learned, making a fool of yourself at a run-of-the mill ramen shop prepares you for the big boys. I recently traveled to Japan, where I had 21 bowls of ramen in 23 days. It would have been more but I was sidelined for a few […]