-Grubbing in Chicago
Next Level Ramen in Logan Square
As we continue to get caught up with all of the worthy openings from last year it’s time to check out one of 2023's best. I know I’m a little late to the party but it’s just getting going at Akahoshi Ramen on California just south of Fullerton. It’s story started when owner / ramen head Mike Satinover went to Japan to study abroad while in college at the University of Wisconsin. While he was in Japan he developed a deep love for the local ramen culture that he brought back with him. At that time there wasn’t a lot of ramen spots in Chicagoland and those that we did have didn’t satisfy like the bowls in Japan did. So he went to work and started making his own ramen and he documented most of it on Reddit where he has a cult following who know him as u/Ramen_Lord. Mike spent years on end experimenting with ramen in all of its various forms and if you go back and look at some of those Reddit posts you’ll see why I used the word experiment to describe what he was doing. Reading some of his posts is like trying to read a lab report of a scientific experiment from NASA.
As Mike grew more confident in his product he began to do pop-ups that would sell out within minutes if not seconds of the tickets going on sale. In doing so Mike became an underground legend of sorts and with that the demands for a brick and mortar were met with the opening of Akahoshi Ramen at the end of November. To call this a passion project just doesn’t cut it. This is a story of kodawari in the form of a Ramenya. Mike has spent a large chunk of his life on the never ending quest of perfecting his craft and with that comes one of Chicago’s best restaurant openings last year. It’s also one of the most hyped - reservations go quick when released online and there’s always people lining up before they open. I live near there so I’ve been able to walk over and hop in line. My first visit came back in December when I arrived at 4:50p to a line of people 33 deep (they open at 5p). I was inside by 5:10p and put my name down upon being told I would get a text within an hour or so which is how it went down. I returned and was quickly seated in a slick and clean space with zero trace of appropriation.
It seems like everything from the spacing to the lighting to the eye catching open kitchen setup was given much consideration. The menu is small with a selection of four different styles of ramen ranging from shoyu to a soupless Aburasoba selection. With my first visit being the first time I ever got try Mike’s ramen I decided to go with the namesake bowl. The Akahoshi Miso is described as a “blend of misos, homemade crinkly Sapporo-style noodles, and plenty of lard topped with beansprouts, green onions, menma bamboo shoots, pork chashu.” It’s the style of ramen Mike fell in love with while studying abroad in Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido is where miso ramen first originated. I added an Ajitama egg (soft boiled) and a side of white rice which I used to finish off the broth. Every component of this bowl was given preferential treatment from the creamy and extremely flavorful broth to the wholesome made in-house noodles and masterfully seared Chashu (Japanese braised pork belly). I knew it was going to be good but I didn’t know was just how good a bowl of miso ramen can be. It can be tough for places to meet the hype when it’s as big as this but I can’t go against the grain on this one - it was some of the best ramen I’ve ever had, as good as many of the bowls I had in Japan.
2340 N California Ave (Suite B)
Chicago, IL 60647
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