Michelin guide Bib Gourmand 2023: ramen gaijin
“Gaijin” is the none-too-polite Japanese term for a foreigner, but the American chefs of this noodle joint clearly take pride in their outsider status, fusing local ingredients with traditional technique. It's surely one of the best bowls of ramen around, and you can smell the soup before you're even past the front door.
Cox: Sebastopol’s Ramen Gaijin is no ordinary noodle shop
You know what to expect at most Japanese restaurants: sushi, sashimi, gyoza, tempura, soba noodles, miso soup. But Ramen Gaijin in Sebastopol gives you something different.
“Gaijin” is Japanese for “outside person.” And the chefs, Matthew Seven Oaks Williams and Moishe Hahn-Schuman, would definitely be outsiders in Japan. Their new restaurant, housed in the space that was Forchetta in its previous incarnation, is a foodie’s dream of a noodle shop. It takes inspiration from Japan itself and from some of the unique Japanese restaurants in San Francisco, such as Yuzu. And it’s hip.
Williams and Hahn-Schuman come from the Woodfour Brewing Co. in Sebastopol’s nearby Barlow complex, where they were the talented sous chefs to the innovative Jamil Peden. When Peden left to take the reins at Applewood in Guerneville, these two packed up their talent and reinvented themselves as Ramen Gaijin.
THE ESCOFFIER QUESTIONNAIRE
Ramen, the broth-based noodle soup hailing from Japan, has enjoyed a spectacular renaissance in the last few years. The seemingly simple dish incites a cult following, much like punk rock, obsessed with what ramen-lovers call “authenticity.”
When I ask Moishe Hahn-Schuman and Matthew Williams, the chef owners of Sebastopol’s Ramen Gaijin, how they respond to this fevered following, they shrug. “We’re not trying to be authentic,” Moishe says. “We’re a restaurant for this community,” adds Matthew.
Actually, ramen is traditionally prepared using ingredient and technique variables that are specific to different regions and traditions in Japan, so Moishe and Matthew’s philosophy seems to be just fine on the authenticity scale. And they are not trying to fool anyone into thinking this is “business as usual” ramen, either: The name the two chose for their restaurant, gaijin, is the Japanese term for a non-Japanese person. Ramen Gaijin is, affectionately, a couple of non-traditionalists adapting ramen to their own values, the seasons and the Sonoma County foodshed.