LA-flavored ramen

After hearing from a friend who lives in Detroit that there were no good ramen places in the area, Urban Ramen owner Kohei Robert Kayano decided to bring his Los Angeles-based restaurant to the mitten. Right now, the 1,200-square-foot restaurant – which is located at 4206 Woodward Avenue in Detroit near the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) and opened in late June – is only offering dinner Monday through Saturday, but Kayano wants to be open for lunch by August. Their menu offers chicken paitan ramen, tonkotsu ramen (which has a pork broth), and a vegan ramen, as well as a few other dishes. Naturally, their focus is on the ramen, though. “That’s our speciality, I think. We have a noodle every day, and the broth every day, we make from scratch in house,” he said. “I want the people in Detroit to know that this is authentic, Japanese ramen.”

Metro Intelligencer is a monthly column devoted to news stories, tidbits and gossip items about what's happening on the restaurant scene in the metro Detroit area. Metro Intelligencer is reported/created each month by Dana Casadei who can be reached at DanaCasadei@DowntownPublications.com with news items or tips, on or off the record.