Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryu Isobe
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was a student at USC, business major, back in 2011. I have never cooked professionally. I was just a student who came from Japan as an International Students to study in the United States. While I was in USC, I thought of starting a business that relates to Japanese culture. At that time, sushi was huge. Sushi restaurant was everywhere and popular. But sushi restaurant requires professional sushi chef who has been trained for years, at least that was what I thought at that time and also I did not have any money to start a fancy sushi restaurant so I did not pursue it. One day, ramen came to my mind. Ramen restaurant is literally everywhere in Japan, and every time I go back to Japan, the first thing I wanted to and I ate was always ramen. Ramen is the true Japanese soul food, which can be eaten everyday by every one. I always had an issue that I could not find a good ramen restaurant in the United States, so I decided to try opening up a tiny ramen shop in the United States. That became a clear goal for me. I was a sophomore at USC at that time. From then, I went to China town on weekend to buy some pork bone, and ingredients to start cooking at home trying to make delicious ramen. It became my weekend hobby. After I graduated from USC, I found the investor and I opened a tiny ramen restaurant called Tatsu Ramen. Tatsu Ramen became extremely successful, but then my Investor and I started to have different visions. My investor wanted to pursue pure profit over the quality of food. However, I wanted to provide the best quality of food although the profit becomes slightly less. Long story short, we decided to go different ways, and I let go Tatsu Ramen.
At this time, many people start copying Tatsu Ramen concept and opening up same kind of ramen restaurants all over LA. Therefore, I decided to build a new ramen restaurant with innovative menus, something no one has done, which later became Kazan Beverly Hills.
I studied a lot about ramen and cooking. Then, I got a tiny location on La Cienega where people call Beverly Hills Restaurant Row. I start building my new restaurant in 2019.
I decided to call this restaurant Kazan Beverly Hills. Kazan means volcano in Japanese. I chose this name because once volcano erupts, it destroy everything that pre-exist and start a new world. I felt there were too many of same kind of boring ramen restaurants in LA, way too much, so I wanted to destroy that environment and introduce something brand new to the market.
I opened Kazan Beverly Hills on January 2020, 2 months before Pandemic shut down. We did soft opening but we could not even have a Grand Opening. From there it was literally a hell. Because my business was too new without any records, I could not get any support from government. I worked everyday doing everything by myself. Some month, I worked over 360 hours. Pandemic was a dark time that I did not even want to remember. However, I tried every day work hard to polish up my skills and creations during pandemic.
The main concept of Kazan Beverly Hills is we make everything from scratch including noodles. 99.9% of ramen restaurants use pre-made broth and pre-made noodle purchased from vendors. They all have a similar flavor and taste like an instant noodle to me. Again, I wanted to create something brand new that no one has ever created in this market. Kazan Beverly Hills uses custom made noodle machine to make 5 different kind of noodles for different ramen. Instead of using flavor enhancers like other ramen restaurants, we extract Umami flavor from kelp, mushroom and several other vegetables. We have pride in what we make and serve. If I tell you every single noodle that we serve at Kazan Beverly Hills is made by me, you would understand how much pride and dedication I put into my creation. I taste every single sauces that we use at Kazan Beverly Hills as well.
I have been making ramen for 15 years now. I have employees who has been working with me for over 14 years. Even I let go my previous restaurants, employees came with me to work for me.
Since 2021, Kazan Beverly Hills has been on MICHELIN Guide, which is such an honor. We are extremely strict on every single aspects of cooking to have consistency. We even close restaurant if we cannot have a good quality food.
Keep doing what I believe I need to do to create the best ramen in LA has made me to who I am now.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Letting go of Tatsu Ramen was hard for me since it was like my baby. It happened almost like a hostile take over, so I had no say to anything.
Pandemic was another difficult time. Since we were too new, no one knows about us and it was hard for us to compete on delivery only market which is not suitable for ramen noodle. Most of the days, the sales was so low, it was extremely difficult financially. I put every single penny I have into Kazan Beverly Hills to just keep it afloat. Moreover, nobody wanted to work during the pandemic, so I only had 2 part time employees. I did everything from morning to night from dishwasher, cooking, and literally everything.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Kazan Beverly Hills ?
Kazan Beverly Hills is the best, the most unique and innovative ramen restaurant on both side of Mississippi. We make everything from scratch including noodles. MICHELIN Guide did not have 2020 version due to the Pandemic, but since they resume in 2021, we have been on MICHELIN Guide every year: 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.
We specialize in ramen noodle. We are known for our quality food. Undoubtful quality set apart Kazan Beverly Hills from others.
I am proud of my team members and my commitment to create the best hand-made ramen bowl. We also are the most high-end ramen restaurant in Los Angeles.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I like the diversity of this city. There are many different people in the city with different background and cultures. That makes this city unique. Angeleno are very welcoming, no matter where you are from, there are always a place for you. However, I dislike current homeless crisis and all the trash thrown away on the street. Also, the living costs has rosen up significantly, which makes life difficult and increase crime.
Pricing:
- Signature #1 $22
- Chashu Supreme #9 $24
- #4 $18.50
- Premium Sake Glass $8
- Beer $5.5
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kazanbeverlyhills.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kazanbeverlyhills/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/kazan-beverly-hills
