A little blurb about IppoRamen from the Kensington Farmers’ Market newsletter.
So who’s the best Japanese pop-up in the East Bay? In 2015, readers of the East Bay Express voted for Ippo Ramen. And among the places he pops up is right here, every Sunday, at the Kensington Farmers’ Market.
Steve always loved cooking, so after his tour of duty in the military, he signed up for culinary school (“…it’s just like the military, minus the weapons and the armor”) after which he made the rounds as a line cook in San Francisco. But his wife is from Japan, and she was missing ramen - Steve thought, “it’s just soup and noodles, how hard can it be?” A year-and-a-half later he had his answer.
Steve makes everything himself except the noodles, (he tried, but couldn’t work his way through those big bags of commercial flour fast enough) and the nori, (harvesting seaweed was outside his skill set.).
Ippo Steve (as he is also known) serves up his ramen Japanese stop-and-slurp-style - in a bowl, at a counter, then on your way. But if you need it to-go, he’s got cardboard containers to make it work for you.
