Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Ramen Otaku – Mastering Ramen at Home

Written by Allison Levine on December 15, 2018

Lifestyle Food

Are you addicted to ramen? Is it your comfort food? Self-taught cook turned restaurateur Sarah Gavigan is a ramen lover and has written the cookbook Ramen Otaku: Mastering Ramen at Home. Demystifying the process of how to make ramen, anyone can learn to make good tasting ramen at home! And that is why Ramen Otaku: Mastering Ramen at Home is the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Los Angeles is a city filled with ramen shops. Living on the west side, I am in walking distance of Sawtelle Blvd which is peppered with ramen shops. Chef Sarah Gavigan used to be a regular at these shops when she lived in Los Angeles. A native of Nashville she was living in Los Angeles, working in the music industry. She became obsessed with ramen and it became her comfort food. Sarah and her husband then moved back to Nashville where she was a stay-at-home mom and the one thing she missed more than anything was ramen. There were no ramen shops in Nashville and she could not get her fix.

So, in 2011, Sarah started reading and studying about ramen. She became obsessed, or as they say in Japanese, “otaku”. Inspired by pop-up restaurants, such as Ludo Bites, she decided to do a pop-up ramen restaurant in Nashville. No one had done a pop-up restaurant in Nashville but Sarah found a spot and after three years of development, she opened her pop-up in 2014. And in 2015, she opened up a permanent ramen shop Otaku Ramen.

And now Sarah has come out with her first cookbook. A self-taught chef, she takes a home cook approach and simplifies it. She explained to me that ramen is about layering. In her book, she talks about the base flavors and once you understand the base flavors, you can add what you like.

Ramen Otaku strips the mystique from ramen and offers accessible recipes to make it at home. It is a progressive book. The book begins with Sarah’s personal story and then discusses ramen basics, the history of ramen, umami (a natural occurrence based on combining acids) and noodle tips. And then the book moves into stocks. There are a few basic stocks to learn and you can even make them in a pressure cooker! And once you understand the basic stocks, you can make infinite combinations. The book provides 60 ramen recipes.

After sitting down and slurping a bowl of Curry Shio Ramen, a chicken broth ramen with pickled shrimp and a soy egg, I left with my copy of Ramen Otaku: Mastering Ramen at Home, inspired that I could make something so tasty at home! Pick up your book today (available on Amazon) and you can as well! And that is why Ramen Otaku: Mastering Ramen at Home is the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Dining at Two-Star Michelin Restaurant Belcanto in Lisbon

Written by Allison Levine on December 8, 2018

Travel Lifestyle Food Wine

With only two days in Lisbon, my friend and I were looking to pack in as much as we could. She emailed me asking if one of our activities might be to have dinner at Belcanto, a two-star Michelin restaurant. The 2019 Michelin Stars had just been announced and Portugal has twenty-six Michelin starred restaurants, twenty which have one star and six which have two stars. Belcanto had yet again received two stars. I knew it might be a bit of a splurge but I could not say no.

Of course, the challenge would be getting a reservation. We were only two weeks away from going on our trip and the website only had an email address on it. I reached out to a friend of mine in Lisbon who works for the elegant Palacio Estoril Hotel and thought he might be able to find their phone number and call from the same time zone. The next day, I had an email from him telling me that the restaurant was completely booked BUT he was able to get us a seat at the Chef’s Table. We would experience a tasting menu with wine pairing. We immediately booked the reservation.

Belcanto is owned by celebrity chef José Avillez. Avillez has worked with gastronomic superstars Ferran Adria, Eric Frechon and Alain Ducasse, as well as received his first Michelin star at Taveres, Lisbon’s oldest and grandest restaurant. Avillez took over Belcanto in 2012. An award-winning restaurant since 1958, Belcanto had been a late night gathering place for artists and opera patrons who frequented the nearby St. Charles theater, as well as a “gentleman’s club” where dancing girls performed on a small stage. Avillez renovated it into a subtle and sophisticated intimate restaurant with only 36 seats. Read More +

Please The Palate Pick of the Week: Taste Porto Food Tours

Written by Allison Levine on December 1, 2018

Travel Lifestyle Food Wine

Some people like museums, others architecture, for me it is food. And what better way to get to know a city and its people than through its food. Every time I travel internationally, I take at least one day to do a local food tour. While in Porto, Portugal this past week, that was no exception. But, I loved my tour so much I went on a second one the next day with the same company. And that is why Taste Porto is the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Located in the Northwest of Portugal, Porto is the second largest city in Portugal with a population of approximately 214,000 people. Famous for is Port wines, Porto was a forgotten second city of Europe. However, in the past few years, Porto has exploded and is a popular tourist destination.

Knowing I was going to be in Porto for a couple days, I immediately googled “food tours Porto” to see what would come up. One of the first companies to pop-up was Taste Porto, offering local walking food tours with passionate local guides. Taste Porto was started by three friends, two natives from Porto and an American, who wanted to share their love for Porto and the cuisine of Porto. Read More +