Chicago's Akahoshi Ramen named among Bon Appetit's 20 best new restaurants
CHICAGO — A ramen restaurant in Chicago has been honored as one of the 20 best new restaurants in the U.S. this year.
Bon Appetit magazine recently unveiled its list of must-try new eateries, and among its selections is Akahoshi Ramen, which opened the day after Thanksgiving last year in the Logan Square neighborhood.
The foodie magazine's editors highlighted Chef Mike Satinover's "obsessive pursuit of the perfect bowl" of ramen, the depth of which has been honed across more than a dozen years "posting about broth and noodles in the forum r/ramen." Satinover goes by the username "Ramen Lord" at the Reddit hangout, which boasts more than 1.2 million followers.
"Online, Satinover collected fans for his highly detailed postings as a home cook eager to learn more. At Akahoshi, he's mastered his craft and found a home for his precision and finesse," Bon Appetit's Kate Kassin wrote.
Kassin went on to highlight the lengths to which Akahoshi Ramen's team goes to ensure the quality of their dishes, including using a refractometer to make sure the broth has the proper viscosity.
Kassin highlighted the miso ramen, which "comes with slender Sapporo-style noodles in a velvety broth topped with thinly sliced green onions, supple bamboo shoots, and pork belly chashu."
This isn't the first time Akahoshi has been noticed on the national stage. In April, the New York Times listed it among their 25 best restaurants in Chicago, alongside such wide-ranging options as Oriole, Ever, Johnnie's Beef and Kim's Uncle Pizza.
Satinover said the attention his restaurant has been getting out of the gate has been beyond what he could have imagined.
"I wanted to open a ramen shop because I thought people liked my ramen, and I love making ramen for people, but I did not expect the response to be so magnified," he said.
He said his drive to always improve his product, which has been on display for over a decade on Reddit, applies to Akahoshi's dishes going forward.
"Despite only having 5 bowls of ramen on the menu, we have 3 different noodles in production (sometimes 4, depending on the special)," he said. "I hope Chicagoans will see the dedication we bring to the craft of making ramen, trying our best to make unique, stand-alone versions, that respect the dish's origins and potential. Since opening, we have made 19 different bowls of ramen. There will be many more to come."
The restaurant's name — which loosely translated means "red star" — is meant as a tribute to both Sapporo, Japan, where red stars adorn city monuments and where Satinover received some of his training, and Chicago, specifically the red stars decorate the city flag.