Gil Asakawa
Audio By Carbonatix
One of the best ramen restaurants in town has changed hands. Since 2019, Ramen Star has served housemade noodles in carefully crafted soups at 4044 Tejon Street in the Sunnyside neighborhood. Now, it’s been sold and rebranded as Ebisu Sushi and Ramen Star. The restaurant is currently in soft launch mode, with a grand opening planned for March 20.
“We’re only serving some ramen and appetizers now during the soft opening,” says Myong Choi, who bought the business with her husband, chef Soon Choi, on February 23. The couple, who have run Ebisu Ramen and Sushi at the recently revamped Junction Food & Drink off I-25 and Colorado Boulevard since 2020, plan to launch a completely new menu featuring both ramen and sushi. Soon Choi also previously worked as head chef at Sushi Den, bringing years of experience to this new venture.
The sale had been on Ramen Star chef/owner Takashi Tamai’s mind for some months. A native of Kochi prefecture in Japan, Tamai worked in a variety of restaurants in Japan and Denver before opening his ramen spot.
The restaurant stood out immediately because, before the current pulled-noodles era of Denver dining, Ramen Star opened with a Japanese-made noodle-making machine that Tamai used to make his ramen fresh every morning.
Gil Asakawa
He adhered to Japanese traditions by simmering his pork and chicken bone stock for days as the base for his ramen, but he also got creative with his menu, adding unusual items like a savory chocolate ramen and truffle ramen. He even briefly served an impressive bowl of ramen with a whole lobster sticking out of it. Tamai also imported an ice grinder to make kakigori, or shaved ice, during the summer, and last year he introduced fluffy Japanese pancakes to his brunch menu.
But after a great run building a neighborhood business with a loyal following, Tamai decided to move back to Japan for several reasons. First, he got married last fall, and though his new wife was willing to move to Denver and look for a job, she already has a successful career in Tokyo, and naturally, Tamai would like to spend more time with her. Second, his (and her) elderly parents are still in Kochi prefecture in western Japan, and he wants to be closer to take care of them, so he plans to split his time between Tokyo and Kochi. And third, Tamai says he was working ridiculously long hours every day, and he’s been in the U.S. since 1999, so he feels it’s time to move back across the Pacific.
But he’s confident that he’s leaving his shop in good hands with the Chois. Tamai is currently staying in an Airbnb while he finishes all the required paperwork to return to Japan, with plans to fly there in April.
What’s changing at Ebisu Sushi and Ramen Star?
Aside from the streamlined soft-launch menu that’s currently being served, there’s already one notable difference from Tamai’s tenure. “Takashi likes thicker noodles,” notes Myong Choi, and he served them in a soup base that wasn’t the popular tonkotsu broth of just pork bones. Tamai never called his ramen “tonkotsu” because he cooked both chicken and pork bones for up to four days, instead naming his house bowl simply the Ramen Star.
“He learned it that way, and he followed that. It was pork bone and chicken, Tokyo style,” Myong adds. “But the most popular one at our store was straight pork bone, 100 percent tonkotsu. There’s not many ramen shops that just makes it in-house.” People know the name, but most places that serve tonkotsu mix the soup with premade broth, she notes. “Because they cannot achieve the taste — it takes time. It takes effort. Ours is 100 percent from the bone.”
The new tonkotsu soup takes three days to make. “That’s what we were known for, and that’s our signature,” says Myong. Building on the couple’s fast-casual food hall experience, “we’re excited to introduce both ramen and sushi. So we want to become a favorite place.”
The Chois met while attending university in Tokyo, then lived in Korea before moving to Colorado. After a five-year run at Junction Food & Drink, they are excited to graduate to their new standalone space.
Myong, who has held various office and accounting roles and is in charge of the business side of Ebisu, notes that Sunnyside reminds her of Sushi Den’s neighborhood, Platt Park. She doesn’t imagine a future that includes an empire of eateries like Sushi Den has created, but her vision for Ebisu includes a wider Japanese menu. She mentions curry and homemade gyoza. “I like home-style cooking, done professionally,” she notes.
The restaurant has applied to transfer Ramen Star’s liquor license, and Myong says she’s excited to work toward a sake sommelier certification to spotlight the spirit at the restaurant. “I already got my sake advisor license [in February], because they require it first, to apply for the sake sommelier class,” she explains.
The couple wants the changes at the new Ebisu Sushi and Ramen Star to be as smooth and seamless as possible, which is why they kept “Ramen Star” in the name. They hope the regulars from the food hall will come to their new spot, while also appealing to the diners that Tamai attracted over the years.
And they made one more decision to that end: They’ve invited the staff of Ramen Star, who have become familiar faces to customers, to continue on with them.
Ebisu Sushi and Ramen Star is located at 4044 Tejon Street and is open from 11:30 a.m. to 1:50 p.m. and 5 to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Its online menu is currently available via Toast.
