Ivan Ramen is a

ramen is a Japanese noodle dish. It consists of served in a broth; common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen has its roots in Chinese noodle di ...

restaurant in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

(25 Clinton Street,

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

) which is run by chef Ivan Orkin.

History

Owner Ivan Orkin was born in

Syosset, New York Syosset (also known as Little East Woods or Locust Grove) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the Town of Oyster Bay, in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 19,259 at the 202 ...

, and moved to Japan in the 1980s to teach English after graduating from college. In 1990, he returned to the United States with his Japanese wife, Tami, and attended the

Culinary Institute of America Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as restaurants – are commonly called chefs or ...

from 1991 to 1993. He subsequently worked as a chef in New York at the

Mesa Grill Robert William Flay (born December 10, 1964), is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and reality television personality. Flay is the owner and Chef de cuisine, executive chef of several restaurants and franchises, including Bobby's Burger ...

and Lutèce. His wife Tami died in 1998, and Orkin met his second wife, Mari, on a subsequent trip to Japan; they moved to Japan together in 2003. The original ''Ivan Ramen''

Ramen shop A ramen shop is a restaurant that specializes in ramen dishes, the wheat-flour Japanese noodles in broth. In Japan, ramen shops are very common and popular, and are sometimes referred to as ramen-ya or ramen-ten . Some ramen shops operate in s ...

in Setagaya, Tokyo, opened in June 2006. The 10-seat restaurant received early positive reviews and press attention. In 2010, a second location with 16 seats, ''Ivan Ramen Plus'', opened nearby. After moving back to the United States, Ivan Orkin announced the closure of ''Ivan Ramen'' in Tokyo in November 2015, handing over the shop to his long time chef and manager, Hisao Matsumoto. Orkin moved to New York in 2011, opening ''Ivan Ramen'' restaurants in

Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the eas ...

and the Lower East Side in 2013. He closed the outlet in Hell's Kitchen in November 2020 because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Media

''Ivan Ramen'' was featured on an episode of the

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

series ''

Begin Japanology ''Weekend Japanology'', ''Begin Japanology'', and ''Japanology Plus'' are Japanese television programs aired on NHK World, and presented by Peter Barakan. The programs explore aspects of traditional and contemporary Japan and interview experts in ...

'' in 2009. A book about the restaurant, ''Ivan Ramen: Love, Obsession, and Recipes from Tokyo's Most Unlikely Noodle Joint'', was published in 2013. ''Ivan Ramen'' was featured on an episode of the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series '' Chef's Table'' in 2017. ''Ivan Ramen'' was featured in Season 3 Episode 10 of Billions

References

External links

* {{coord, 40.72055, -73.98454, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NY, display=title Japanese restaurants in the United States Restaurants in Manhattan Ramen shops 2011 establishments in New York City Lower East Side Japanese-American culture in New York City