{"id":506224,"date":"2026-01-10T13:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T13:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/506224\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T13:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T13:31:11","slug":"craig-laban-went-ramen-hopping-in-tokyo-with-the-couple-behind-phillys-neighborhood-ramen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/506224\/","title":{"rendered":"Craig LaBan went ramen-hopping in Tokyo with the couple behind Philly’s Neighborhood Ramen"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOKYO \u2014 Lindsay Mariko Steigerwald and Jesse Pryor set the gold standard for ramen<\/a> in Philadelphia during their five-year run at Neighborhood Ramen. But when the couple announced the closure of their beloved Queen Village restaurant at the end of 2024, they also teased an audacious bit of news: They were moving to Japan<\/a> with plans to reopen their shop in the ramen capital of the world. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the next chapter for Neighborhood Ramen!\u201d said Steigerwald, 35, as we stood in a blustery November rain beside Shibuya Scramble Crossing<\/a>, the famously chaotic, neon-lit intersection in Tokyo where we rendezvoused for a day of noodle slurping across the city.<\/p>\n

The couple had arrived from Philadelphia just 10 days earlier \u2014 following a year of planning (and a pop-up venture called ESO Ramen Workshop<\/a> in Society Hill). They\u2019d already begun their classes at Japanese language school and launched the arduous visa process that must be settled before they can begin working on their own restaurant. It will likely still be many months before Neighborhood Ramen fires up its stockpots and noodle machine in Tokyo. <\/p>\n

Their move was precipitated by a long-simmering goal to practice their craft alongside the best, but also a desire for \u201ca better quality of life\u201d they\u2019ve come to love over the course of multiple visits to Tokyo, says Steigerwald.<\/p>\n

Equally motivating is the couple\u2019s passion for consuming ramen regularly; it\u2019s every bit as intense as their drive to make it. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to eat ramen every day,\u201d says Pryor, 38. \u201cI want to go to different shops all the time, be inspired and just soak it up. It\u2019s hard to do that in Philadelphia.\u201d <\/p>\n

He\u2019d already eaten 14 bowls of ramen in the first nine days since landing in Tokyo in November \u2014 on top of the 300 ramen shops the couple had visited during their 10 previous visits to Japan. By the end of December, Pryor was up to 80 bowls of ramen at 70 different places. (Steigerwald has been keeping pace with ramen, too, but she documents her own obsession \u2014 dumplings \u2014 on her GyozaKween<\/a> Instagram account.)<\/p>\n

That\u2019s still just a fraction of the 10,000 ramen shops in Tokyo serving myriad variations: rich tonkotsus<\/a> cloudy with the emulsified essence of slow-simmered pork bones; crystalline shio<\/a> salt broths and shoyus<\/a> tinted amber with soy; creamy miso ramens<\/a>; and gyokai ramens punchy with seafood umami. Pryor\u2019s quest for soupy inspiration here, he says, is \u201cinfinite.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJesse is a true ramen hunter,\u201d says Steigerwald. \u201cAt night he\u2019s game planning what bowls he\u2019s going to eat the next day.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe ramen comes first,\u201d he says, \u201cand then the rest of the day just fills in around it, you know?\u201d <\/p>\n

Ramen-hopping rules<\/p>\n

We were about to learn firsthand, as the couple, who\u2019ve begun a fledgling ramen tour business, had mapped out an afternoon of visits to some of their favorites. There were rules. Our group must be small (ideally two to three guests max) because the best ramen counters are often tiny. Also, come hungry. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s expected each person that steps foot in the shop orders their own ramen and finishes the bowl. \u2026 Doggie bags are not a thing,\u201d says Pryor.<\/p>\n

The last edict was especially daunting considering the belly-filling richness of ramen. Consume three bowls and you\u2019re in for a long nap. In addition, eating ramen like a pro is a full-contact sport \u2014 a messy, broth-splashing endeavor for which there is not only a recommended dress code (\u201cJesse\u2019s entire wardrobe is black,\u201d Steigerwald says), but also an almost athletic eating technique: the power slurp.<\/p>\n

As the bowls landed before us at Ramen Ichifuku<\/a>, our first stop in the Honmachi neighborhood of Shibuya, I marveled at the nutty aroma of the tan broth of an irorimen-style ramen<\/a>, enriched with three kinds of miso, tender pork, tangy sake lees, and translucent threads of shark cartilage bundled over top. <\/p>\n

I was just as mesmerized by Pryor and Steigerwald, though, as they locked onto their bowls with trancelike focus, then pounced, their faces hovering just inches above the steamy rims. As they began to slurp, columns of noodles steadily streamed upward into their open jaws. The jazz soundtrack of Hiromi\u2019s Sonicwonder playing \u201cYes! Ramen!!<\/a>\u201d was punctuated by a gurgling roar reminiscent of shop vacs inhaling shallow pools. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe call it \u2018hitting the zu\u2019s,\u2019\u201d says Steigerwald, noting the reference to zuru zuru, the onomatopoeia for slurping ramen in Japanese comics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like turbo tasting, because you get the flavor of it up into all your sensory crevices,\u201d says Pryor, who typically eats a bowl in five minutes or less, to consume each element at its peak.<\/p>\n

I leaned over and gave it my best slurp \u2014 only to scorch my too-tightly pursed lips with hot broth while the noodles refused to rise. I resorted to my usual leisurely pace, savoring what was nonetheless the best bowl of ramen I\u2019d ever eaten. <\/p>\n

It was a comforting collage of firm but slippery noodles glazed in a nuanced broth with a parade of so many other textures \u2014 velvety pork, snappy bamboos shoots, tiny crunchy croutons. If only I could learn to properly slurp, it might be even better.<\/p>\n

Steigerwald give me a sympathetic look: \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philly restaurant romance leads to Japan<\/p>\n

Philly\u2019s ramen power couple met at CoZara in 2016, where Steigerwald tended bar, and Pryor, a former news photographer from Delaware turned line cook at Raw, had become a regular for the restaurant\u2019s $5 Japanese riff on a citywide (Orion beer and a shot of sake).<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw them falling in love at that bar,\u201d says Mawn chef Phila Lorn<\/a>, who was CoZara\u2019s chef de cuisine at the time. <\/p>\n

Steigerwald, who grew up in New Jersey near Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base with two half-Japanese parents who are both kung fu masters, found Pryor\u2019s budding obsession with ramen endearing: \u201cCool, the guy I\u2019m dating is into the food of my culture.\u201d <\/p>\n

She studied business management at college in Texas with an eye toward opening a Japanese restaurant, so it wasn\u2019t long before they launched one of the city\u2019s early pop-up sensations in 2016, dishing out bowls of intense tonkotsu and spicy tantan from his apartment between shifts at Cheu Noodle Bar, Morimoto, and Zahav. <\/p>\n

When they finally opened their Queen Village shop in 2019, they instantly raised the city\u2019s ramen bar<\/a>. They acquired a used ramen machine in 2022 to begin making their own noodles (a rarity, considering the process is more involved than Italian pasta), raising the local standard once again.<\/p>\n

But over the course of their research visits to Japan \u2014 where they were entranced by the abundance of quality ingredients as well as a public sense of order that <\/b>keeps the streets tidy, safe, and tranquil \u2014 their pipe dream steadily bloomed into a determination to actually move.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did our thing for 10 years in Philly, but between the political climate and inflation there, the more we visited [Japan], we realized that this was where we want to be,\u201d says Steigerwald. \u201cWe just want to make a modest living, be happy, and be proud of what we do.\u201d <\/p>\n

Steigerwald is eager to bring her family\u2019s Japanese roots full circle, closing the loop that brought her two grandmothers to the United States after World War II: \u201cMy aunt in Texas finds it interesting that [my grandmothers] moved to America for a better life in the 1950s and that we are moving back to Japan to find a better life 70 years later.\u201d <\/p>\n

Steigerwald is pursuing a Nikkei visa for Japanese descendants. She hopes that the couple, who eloped in August \u2014 \u201cmoving to a new continent, we figured it was time,\u201d she says \u2014 can open their shop in Koenji<\/a>, a neighborhood known for its counterculture. It reminds them of South Street. <\/p>\n

Tokyo transplants<\/p>\n

In the meanwhile, they\u2019ve been having rewarding ramen encounters everywhere. That included a spontaneous detour to Honmachi\u2019s bustling and futuristic Denny\u2019s, where ordering is automated and the food is delivered by a fleet of beeping musical robots. <\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I\u2019d be hyped to eat that tantan anywhere,\u201d says Pryor, gazing approvingly at a bowl of noodles whose broth is rich with sesame paste, ground pork, and orange puddles of chili oil. (Japanese Denny\u2019s are owned by the same company<\/a> as the country\u2019s celebrated versions of the 7-Eleven<\/a>, explaining the impressive confluence of quality and value.)<\/p>\n

The duo\u2019s exploration of the upper echelons of Tokyo\u2019s artisan ramen world, however, has gone a long way toward building a community of friends and peers. When we arrived <\/b>at Ichifuku, chef Kumiko Ichifuku was wearing a Neighborhood Ramen T-shirt. The 15-seat restaurant in a homey, living room-like space is one of the very few ramen shops in Tokyo owned and operated by a woman, and Steigerwald and Pryor had named one of their regular specials in Philadelphia \u201cMama Miso\u201d<\/a> in the chef\u2019s honor. <\/p>\n

The source of their inspiration did not disappoint, even if Ichifuku would not divulge how (or from what) she makes her signature croutons, which remain a subject of ramen-world speculation because they never turn soggy in broth.<\/p>\n

Such minuscule details are the fodder for constant discussion among ramen hunters like Pryor and chef friends like Hiroshi \u201cNukaji\u201d Nukui of Menya Nukaji in the Shibuya section of Tokyo<\/a>, where Neighborhood staged a well-received pop-up in 2023. Nukui, who joined us for part of our journey, said he was thrilled the couple had decided to make the move to Tokyo. <\/p>\n

\u201cTheir passion is so strong. Many Japanese have not been to the amount of ramen shops they\u2019ve been to,\u201d Nukui said. And their status as foreigners might also be an advantage, he suggested. \u201cJapanese ramen chefs typically work under a famous chef and end up following in that tradition. But [Pryor and Steigerwald] are not boxed into a style or lineage.\u201d <\/p>\n

In fact, Pryor plans to focus on a ramen style similar to Nukui\u2019s, a double-brothed ramen (also called \u201cW soup\u201d) that blends rich pork tonkotsu with an intense seafood broth called gyokai. While Nukui is known for his tsukemen style \u2014 in which noodles are served on the side for dipping into a broth as thick as gravy \u2014 Pryor intends to serve his noodles soup-style.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis style is so impactful,\u201d Pryor says, \u201cyou eat it and you\u2019re like \u2018Whoa!\u2019\u201d (I tried Pryor\u2019s gyokai tonkotsu<\/a> at both Neighborhood Ramen and Eso, and it is one of the most powerful, smoky, ocean-flavored broths I\u2019ve ever tasted.)<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir ramen is no joke,\u201d agrees Kosuke Chujo, the griddle master of Nihonbashi Philly, Tokyo\u2019s shrine to Philly culture<\/a>. \u201cThey are very, very good. The broth, of course. But also the fact they make their own noodles. Your average Japanese ramen maker does not do what they do.\u201d <\/p>\n

Indeed, high-quality noodles are so widely available in Japan that few ramen shops bother; there are so many other details to refine in composing a great bowl. At our final stop of the day, Ramenya Toy Box<\/a> in Minowa, we were given a master class in the art of ramen\u2019s two most elemental styles: shio (clear broth seasoned with salt) and shoyu (clear broth seasoned with soy). <\/p>\n

As we stood in line outside the small white building, Pryor warned us of a solemn dining experience to come. It sounded like the polar opposite of the relaxed atmosphere at Ichifuku. \u201cYamagami-san is strict. His vibe is very serious, and the cooks stand at attention,\u201d he said, referring to owner Takanori Yamagami, who studied under famed \u201cRamenbilly\u201d chef Junichi Shimazaki<\/a>, the pompadour-coiffed social media sensation whose shop is known for its no-talking rule.<\/p>\n

Yamagami has made his own name in this tiny space, where the counter wraps like an elbow around the open kitchen. Pristine renditions of three classic styles won him induction into the ramen hall of fame <\/a>in 2024.<\/p>\n

The small team worked silently alongside him, prepping the \u201ctare\u201d seasoning base<\/a> while the chef drained baskets of noodles in both hands, shaking off cooking liquid with almost-musical syncopation. A flick of his chopsticks coaxed the noodles, placed in bowls, into a perfect comb-over wave, to be swiftly layered with two kinds of chashu<\/a> pork belly, a perfect egg, a curl of bamboo shoot, and a final spoonful of rendered chicken fat that glinted like gold. <\/p>\n

The intense broth of just chicken and water is the true source of Toy Box\u2019s magic, drawn from <\/b>a slow-cooking cauldron in back that appears to be more chopped-up bones than liquid. Three kinds of heritage chickens contribute different properties of richness, collagen, aroma, and flavor. In the bowl, the most straightforward shio ramen is seasoned only with salt, thinly shaved scallions, and a dusting of tart sudachi citrus zest; it\u2019s one of the most vivid yet delicate distillations of chicken I\u2019ve tasted.<\/p>\n

Yamagami\u2019s shoyu ramen \u2014 seasoned with six kinds of soy sauce, including several fermented in wood vats \u2014 begins with that same vivid chicken flavor, then blooms with earthy umami. <\/p>\n

I lean in, inhale, and \u2014 at last \u2014 execute a proper slurp, the firm, slippery noodles swiftly rising up past my lips with a velocity and snap that fans the flavor volume even higher. I can understand why Pryor, who usually visits new shops daily, has returned to Toy Box a dozen times. <\/p>\n

The respect is clearly reciprocal. Yamagami is eager to see the Neighborhood Ramen couple plant their flag in Tokyo. And, as if to punctuate that thought, he reached over the counter and gifted Pryor one of the white bowls lined with sky blue that he uses for his signature shio ramen. It\u2019s like watching a great athlete hand his jersey to a rising star.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s inspiring for us, too,\u201d Yamagami says of their arrival. \u201cI think it\u2019s a great thing. If their ramen is good, people will go.\u201d <\/p>\n

The gesture isn\u2019t lost on Pryor or Steigerwald, who clearly cannot wait to begin sharing their own ramen talents with Tokyo. They sold their coveted ramen machine before leaving Philadelphia (to the forthcoming Tako Taco<\/a>) and have plans to buy a new one here soon, so Pryor can get his hands back in the dough. <\/p>\n

The couple intend to level up to the standards of their new noodle landscape. \u201cWe want it to be fun, welcoming, and chill \u2014 not intimidating,” says Steigerwald, who imagines a space with fewer than a dozen seats.<\/p>\n

But so many hurdles remain, from visa bureaucracy to finding the perfect location. So they have stayed focused on what\u2019s next: their first holidays in Tokyo, a trip to the ramen museum in Yokohama, and a big test at their Japanese language school. <\/p>\n

They already have a post-exam celebration plan in place. Not surprisingly, said Steigerwald, it will involve \u201cone monstrous bowl of ramen.\u201d<\/p>\n