Ramen Ichiban closes after 25 years, storefront to become Manna Japanese Comfort Food

In 1994, when Haruo "Harry" and Kazuo "Kay" Ogawa opened Ramen Ichiban in south Salem, they charged $3 for an order of gyoza and $4.50 for a bento box of pork and noodles.

Though they have increased prices slightly, very little else changed about the place in 25 years.

The menu, displayed in plastic letters on a board on the wall, was a straightforward selection: tonkatsu, ginger pork, curry croquettes, teriyaki, and a couple bowls of noodles. Same green tables, same fern-printed wallpaper, and the same straightforward style; entrees served with rice or yakisoba noodles on polystyrene plates. 

Up until their final day of business on Aug. 29, Harry still made the teriyaki and katsudon sauces from scratch.

Come September, something finally did change.

The Ogawas have decided to retire. They've sold the business at 4845 Commercial Street SE to another couple at much the same point in life as they were when they got their start. 

Soon-to-be restaurateurs

Emily Young and Francis Ho drove their food truck to Oregon when they and their two daughters Noelle, now 12, and Hanna, now 10, moved here from San Francisco in March 2018.

Mobile food entrepreneurs since 2012, their truck is called Manna Japanese Comfort Food. For seven years they have been serving sushi, karaage bowls, poke, udon noodles, and Japanese curry through the windows of their big blue truck. 

Even before Manna, the couple worked in the food industry. They owned a restaurant called Sushi Yu in California. First opened in 2002, they expanded it to a larger location five years later. Unfortunately, the recession was tough on the business, said Young, and they were forced to close it at a loss in 2011. 

They launched the truck the following year, a less risky way to step back into the food industry at a time when food truck rallies were growing in popularity. 

Manna's particular style of Japanese fusion was right at home in the youthful energy of the mobile food boom. The business proved a success, first in the Bay Area and later on in Salem. 

The family made the move to Oregon hoping for a calmer life, less traffic, and a more modest cost of living. For the past year they've been regular vendors at Beehive Station on Fabry Road, but now they're ready to put down some roots and get back into the restaurant game.

"Our dream," said Young, "was always to do it again.'

Teaching Salem Japanese

In 1994 the Statesman Journal ran a story about Ramen Ichiban, the new restaurant in town serving bento boxes. 

Haruo recalls how people would come in the door of the restaurant and just ask for a bento. They didn't understand that bento just means food to-go and not a specific dish.

Or, said Kazuo, early customers accustomed to long grain rice said "your rice is sticky, what's wrong with it?"

"Even the word teriyaki they didn't know," said Haruo.

Many of their customer interactions in the early days involved an element of education. 

 "That's my mission, Haruo said, "to introduce Salem to Japanese food." 

The Ogawas are originally from Japan, Haruo from Ichikawa and Kazuo from Fukushima. They had moved around in the U.S., Haruo working for Marriott.  Settling in Salem, they decided to open Ramen Ichiban because, Haruo said, there were "no real Japanese restaurants" in the city at the time. 

They worked hard at the restaurant, running it just the two of them, ten hours each day for six days each week. 

"We never took longer than three days off," Haruo said. 

Through the years, regular customers kept coming. One among them, Haruo said, is Salem Police Chief Jerry Moore. 

"When we started he was a sergeant, but now he's a chief."  

They're grateful "to loyal customers, and the Salem community." Said Haruo, because of that support "we sent [our] kids to college."

"Thank you for making us laugh," said Kazuo. 

Now, the couple is finally looking forward to some free time. They hope to visit Japan and Haruo looks forward to having more time to golf with his son, but they plan to keep busy. 

"When you physically slow down you mentally slow down." 

Kazuo, pausing from the work of removing artwork from the restaurant's walls, added, "it'll be strange for a couple of months" not coming to the Ramen Ichiban everyday. 

"It's like a home. A second home." 

Off-roading it

Ho and Young are looking forward to making the restaurant their own. 

They plan to keep the green tables and the open kitchen format, but to trade the faded wallpaper for fresh, colorful paint. They are working with the Marion County Juvenile Alternative Programs to source custom built furniture. 

A big move, the couple is in the process of selling their truck to shift operations entirely to the new restaurant, which will take the trucks name: Manna Japanese Comfort Food. 

They hope to open in October. 

The two families met at the restaurant on Tuesday to officially hand off the keys. A bittersweet passing of the torch, the restaurant dream. 

"My time is over," said Haruo, but, "it's fine. This is the next generation. I want them to be successful, too." 

Emily Teel is the Food & Drink Editor at the Statesman Journal. Contact her at eteel@statesmanjournal.com, Facebook, or Twitter. See what she's cooking and where she's eating this week on Instagram: @emily_teel

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