Ivan Ramen

The story

A Jewish kid from Syosset, New York became one of Tokyo's most celebrated ramen chefs. Ivan Orkin moved to Japan in the 1980s to teach English, eventually attending the Culinary Institute of America and cooking at Mesa Grill and Lutèce before grief and love pulled him back to Japan. His ten-seat shop in Setagaya opened in June 2006 to immediate praise. He brought the operation to New York in 2013, and the Clinton Street location on the Lower East Side remains his home kitchen — proof that ramen has no single origin story.