Hi there. We’re in the dog days of summer, where it seems like half the city is plotting how to head upstate or to the beach. I’m inclined to hit the (Jersey) beach again, where I recently went to nearby Pollara, the pizza spot from former Oakland, California, resident Jon Smulewitz (who, fun fact, used to work with Jamie of the iconic East Village coffee shop, Abraço, a very long time ago when they were both at Oliveto). Smulewitz relocated to New Jersey with his family a couple of years ago and, lo and behold, opened a restaurant in Red Bank, New Jersey, last week, where he’s serving suppli and arancini and pizza with mortadella he’s making himself, along with another pie with anchovies, among others. He also has a superb basket-cheese of ricotta available.
Back in New York a few days later, I visited the Kirbee’s pop-up at Eater favorite East Village spot, Bar Snacks, and I can’t wait until that barbecue spot opens in Greenpoint in the fall.
Regarding the newsletter at hand, we’ve got a conversation with Ivan Orkin of Ivan Ramen on the announcement of his new television series: TBD as to when it’s coming out, as it’s early days. And I couldn’t resist asking him at which restaurants he’d consider himself a regular. If you’re looking for more of that kind of content, we’ve got lots of chef picks among our videos. And don’t forget to check out our picks on the app, like Bettina Makalintal’s suggestions for really good cake. Thanks for reading. — Melissa McCart, lead editor, Northeast
Ramen from Ivan Ramen. Photo: Robert Sietsema
Hulu is developing a drama inspired by chef Ivan Orkin’s path from culinary school dropout to Tokyo ramen shop owner. Gaijin is being executive produced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is also eyed to star in the series. Orkin opened his NYC location of Ivan Ramen back in 2014 and continues to run locations in the city.
Orkin — who told his story in the Netflix Chef’s Table documentary and in his own cookbooks — is now watching it get the fictionalized treatment, with new characters, new settings, and room to invent. The series comes from Shōgun co-executive producer Shannon Goss, with Lionsgate Television producing.
I caught up with Orkin by phone as he was headed to the Chef’s Table Festival in Utah, ahead of his 21st wedding anniversary trip to Japan. He talked about how the show came together, how he feels about handing his life over to a writers’ room, and — because talking to him without talking about food is impossible — the restaurants currently in his rotation. Here’s the Q&A.
Melissa McCart: Congratulations. You must be thrilled.
Ivan Orkin: I am. I don’t have that much to share beyond what’s in the Deadline post, but I can confirm everything in there.
Did you pitch this, or did someone come to you knowing your story?
Someone came to me about three or four years ago — my production company partner, Nickel City Pictures.
How do you feel about it being inspired by your real life versus telling it directly?
Well, it’s a TV show. I did Chef’s Table, which was a documentary — completely factual. I wrote a book that told the same story. I’ve done something like 11,000 interviews about it at this point. I’m sure some people are like, “Oh my god, Ivan, again.” But at the end of the day, I’m just a small business owner with a handful of ramen shops, and the story’s really great — I lived it, I loved it. [The upcoming show] doesn’t have to be completely factual, because I think it’s a fun story, and there’s a lot more room for fun when you have latitude to introduce new characters, new places, and new things.
Any sense of timeline?
No. I don’t have any sense of when. I’m just hopeful it’ll move along. It’s a really strong group of people who are really good at their jobs, so I’m pretty humbled to be mentioned in the same sentence with them.
Anything else you’d like readers to know?
Just that Ivan Ramen celebrated our 12th anniversary in New York, and my 19th anniversary since we opened. We opened in London and Vegas, and those are doing nicely. It’s a really tough business, and now it’s summertime, when people don’t really dream about steaming bowls of soup — except for maybe me.
A spread at S&P. Photo: Cole Saladino
S&P Lunch and Barney Greengrass: “I’m still always into S&P Lunch, which I love. If I were to say my two casuals, these are the ones that I always love to get over to.”
28 Nomad: “I just tried a new place, 28 Nomad, that was really, really good. It’s very thoughtful, relatively reasonable, and it’s in a great location. It has a really nice beverage program, and the food is super tasty.”
Ceres: “Of course, Ceres, which I’m a devotee of. It’s exactly 19 minutes from Ivan Ramen. In the early days, I would walk over there, get, you know, two slices, and they keep going. Now that they’re selling whole pies, there has to be a little more planning. I need someone to help me eat a whole pie.”
Stars and Penny: “I loved everything from the guys who do Stars and Penny. Really fun.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
