Ramen Nagi’s second U.S. location opens at Valley Fair
Bring your patience with you when you head to Santa Clara’s Valley Fair for a meal at Ramen Nagi.
Long lines and long waits are part of the experience at this cult favorite from Japan, which opened its first U.S. restaurant in Palo Alto over the summer.
At Valley Fair, Ramen Nagi joins another Asian cult fave, Din Tai Fung, the Taiwan-born dumpling palace.
Ramen Nagi, founded in 2004 by chef Satoshi Ikuta in the city of Fukuoka, is famous for its fusion takes on noodles in broth.
What sets Ramen Nagi apart, our Palo Alto “first look” found, is that diners can customize the offerings, which include four standards, as well as weekly
specials. All the ramens here are dubbed “King” ramen, a moniker indicating ramen’s star status. Noodles, thick and thin, are made daily with water purified inhouse. Those fresh noodles cook in a flash — 20 to 30 seconds is all it takes — but the big stock pots of tonkotsu, a pork-based broth, simmer for more than 20 hours.
The restaurant chain boasts four signature types of King ramen:
• Original Butao King, a traditional version made with a tonkotsu pork broth.
• Red King, with miso-infused minced pork in a broth kicked up with chile oil, cayenne pepper and garlic.
• Black King, squid and minced pork with blackened garlic.
• Green King, a tonkotsu broth infused with fresh basil and olive oil and topped with Parmesan.
DETAILS » Ramen Nagi serves daily from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., then reopens for dinner from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Valley Fair, 2855 Stevens Creek Blvd. The Palo Alto location, at 541 Bryant St., is open the same hours. www.ramennagiusa.com.
Ice cream-filled doughnuts are coming to Oakland
A sugar-laden, over-the-top, extreme ice cream trend is coming to the East Bay.
I Scream Donuts, a shop specializing
in ice cream-stuffed doughnuts, is eyeing a January opening in Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood.
The shop is owned by Katie Wages, a Bay Area native who has also lived in Sacramento, where the trend has hit at spots like The Parlor. Wages has her own spin — think organic ice cream — for I Scream Donuts, which will take over the space formerly occupied by Tara’s Organic Ice Cream at 4731 Telegraph Ave.
Tara Esperanza decided to close her shop dedicated to unique, organic flavors like lavender and Darjeeling tea to focus on her art, but is keeping her Berkeley shop on College Avenue open. Tara’s last day of business at the Temescal location was Dec. 30.
According to the East Bay Express, the two business owners struck up a friendship during their negotiations and decided to work together. Wages will be using Tara’s ice creams and vegan sorbets in all of her doughnuts, and you can still get a cup or cone of Tara’s at the shop, too.
It’s a bittersweet move for a sweet enterprise
Andrea Buswell, owner of the award-winning Frost Cupcake Factory, is relocating to larger digs to give her venture the opportunity to grow.
But that means this Campbell business supporter is moving out of downtown Campbell, where eight years ago she launched what she calls “the little bakery that could.”
In 2013, Frost Cupcake Factory
won national acclaim by becoming a champion on the Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars.” Since then Buswell has added a roster of corporate clients and has baked cupcakes for attendees of the 2016 Super Bowl, in addition to catering to brides, birthdays and walk-in customers.
The new bakery — with a kitchen at least four times larger than what Buswell and her team have been working with — will be located in San Jose at 1305 N. Bascom Ave., at Newhall Street.
The San Jose site, besides offering ample kitchen space, features a parking lot and easy freeway access. Also, Buswell said, “We are especially excited that this new, larger kitchen will allow us to now expand our menu and offer other sweets and treats.”
Frost Cupcake Factory bakes more than 21 cupcake flavors daily, with 12 favorites (think black velvet, Frostfetti, coffee toffee crunch, burnt almond) and nine rotating flavors (including Bananarama, 24 Carrot). All are made with individualized batter recipes.
The last day of business in Campbell was Dec. 31. Buswell plans to open in the new location on Monday. Retail hours will be 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with pre-order pickups and deliveries available before 11 a.m.