Noodles and vegetables — cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, and pickled radishes, to name a few — abound in every bowl, along with ajitama, the soup’s signature soft-boiled eggs marinated in a sweet and salty sauce.
Photographs by Justin Fox Burks.
To be honest, I prefer my French fries skinny and salty with no adornment, but a Friday night special at Lucky Cat Ramen changes my mind. Arranged on a platter, the waffle-cut fries — each one larger than a silver dollar and extra crispy — captivate me with their performance and umami taste.
There’s Kewpie mayo and chopped green onions hiding between the layers, and on top, a mound of thin translucent bonito flakes. A staple in Japanese cooking, the flakes move about in cheerful waves, like a psychedelic messenger beckoning us to join the party. And so we do, scooping up seconds and thirds while the energetic garnish keeps on dancing, a spontaneous reaction between fish flakes and food.
The French fries in question.
“When bonito flakes hit the hot fries, they start moving,” explains chef Zach Nicholson, who along with his wife, Sarah Nicholson, opened Lucky Cat Ramen on Broad Avenue earlier this year.
The couple are not newcomers to cooking or to their restaurant’s popular midtown neighborhood. Nicholson, 33, started cooking over a decade ago with Erling Jensen, when he volunteered to wash dishes for free. Instead, Jensen threw him into salad making, and over time, he worked his way through the kitchen’s cooking stations. In 2012, Nicholson moved to Austin, and later to upstate New York. He met Sarah, a culinary trained pastry chef, in Syracuse when they both worked in the same fine dining restaurant. Eager to relocate (the winters were brutal, Nicholson says) the couple returned to Austin to further explore the city’s celebrated food scene.
While there, they embraced the flavors of Japan. “We ate a lot of fantastic Japanese food,” Nicholson recalls. “And it was kind of eye-opening because I hadn’t experienced ramen. It was an incredible food.”
Family and culinary connections eventually drew the couple back to Memphis. Zach went to work at Hog & Hominy, and Sarah developed the dog bakery for Hollywood Feed, from the recipes to the bakery’s design. When they were ready for their own business, a focus on ramen made sense. “We felt like the city is so saturated with the same type of restaurant,” Nicholson says. “We wanted to do something a little different.”
The couple started slowly, building customer loyalty over two years with a series of popups at City and State, Wiseacre brewery, and The Cove on Broad Avenue. They settled into a temporary spot at the corner of Peabody and Cooper while they scouted permanent locations. The new restaurant on Broad, located in a former sports bar, feels like home, Nicholson says.
Chef Zach Nicholson, who along with his wife, Sarah Nicholson, opened Lucky Cat Ramen on Broad Avenue earlier this year.
Certainly, Lucky Cat’s Japanese-inspired menu of ramen, dumplings, and rice bowls adds excitement to a street already known for its eclectic personality. Accessible, affordable, and destined to grow, the menu reflects Nicholson’s goal to make fun and interesting dishes that taste good. “We never claim to be authentic Japanese,” Nicholson explains. “We just cook food that we enjoy, and we think other people will enjoy, using flavors that reside in a certain palate.”
Sounds simple enough, right? But the path to ramen — at its most simple, a noodle soup flavored with meat and vegetables — is complex. Pork stock is key, and Lucky Cat’s version is outstanding. Cooks start with pork bones from locally sourced Home Place Pastures, where heirloom breeds are pasture-raised. Bones simmer for at least two days, a labor of love to layer in nourishment and body. Flavor continues to build from ramen’s tare (pronounced tah-reh), a primary seasoning of miso, soy sauce, or salt. Noodles and vegetables — cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, and pickled radishes, to name a few — abound in every bowl, along with ajitama, the soup’s signature soft-boiled eggs marinated in a sweet and salty sauce. (It’s the marinade that gives the eggs their soft taupe color.)
Bar manager Paul Gilliam: “There’s a lot of synergy between the bar and the kitchen.”
At Lucky Cat, five different ramens, all fragrant and robust, anchor the menu, including two with succulent pork belly, one with roasted chicken, and a memorable bowl called Tan Tan thick with smoked pork shoulder, spicy peanuts, and cilantro. Vegetarians, however, are not forgotten. Close your eyes and take a slurp, and you’ll swear the vegetable ramen includes meat, thanks to a smokiness from charred onions and a hybrid stock that pulls from the west’s mirepoix (onions, carrots, and celery) and flavors from the East (ginger and lemongrass). A vegetable rice bowl also is textured and soulful from rice seared in sesame seed oil with mushroom dashi. “It has just a few components, but there’s a lot of care and attention in each one,” Nicholson explains.
For me, Nicholson’s description of the rice bowl is an apt summation of his entire menu, which is simple but thoughtfully composed to work as finger food (pork or shrimp dumplings), shared plates (chicken wings with fish sauce caramel), or a singular bowl of soup. A recently added cocktail program focused on Japanese spirits bodes well for the restaurant’s future, as do seasonal updates like chilled noodle dishes, house-made gelato, and Sarah Nicholson’s desserts. “Our roots are fine dining, and we are ambitious and passionate,” Nicholson says. “We want to explore and spread our wings and really see what this restaurant can do.”
Pam’s Pics: Three to Try
Bomb and Bao: Get really happy with a happy-hour special that pairs Wiseacre’s Tiny Bomb and a Chinese-style steam bun filled with pork belly, smoked shoulder and slaw, or fried chicken with house pickles. ($6)
Skewers: Beautifully plated, the meat and vegetable skewers at Lucky Cat are flavorful and good looking. Try several, including chicken thigh, octopus, and eggplant. ($8)
Kimuri Mirror is a refined (and less sweet) twist on margaritas. Bartenders shake tequila, mescal, smoked pineapple juice, and clove-pear shrub, pour it over house-cut ice, and top the cocktail with sparking mineral water. Exquisite! ($10)
Lucky Cat Ramen
2583 Broad Ave.
901-208-8145
★★★★
Food: Let’s cut to the chase: I’ve eaten ramen in Tokyo, Los Angeles, and New York, and the ramen at Lucky Cat rivals the very best. Try a half serving at lunch, when a $13 combo meal includes ramen, bao, and field greens salad with miso/ginger dressing.
Drinks: Curious about Japanese whiskey? “It’s a mixture flavorwise between regular bourbon and scotch,” explains bar manager Paul Gilliam about an inventive cocktail program in sync with the kitchen’s cooking.
Atmosphere: With its soft gray tones, veneer trims, and commanding mural by local graffiti artist Michael Roy, the feel of Lucky Cat mimics its menu: transparent and fun.
Extras: The restaurant’s large patio brings much needed outdoor space to the Broad Avenue district. This summer, look for movies projected on the building’s outside wall.
Up Next: Chef Zach Nicholson hopes to offer monthly tasting menus with guest chefs and, eventually, a late-night cocktail bar upstairs: “We might do some sushi or have a crazy bar menu that allows us to experiment.”
Prices: Dinner: Bao and dumplings ($4-$9); small plates ($3-10); ramen ($14-$15); rice bowls ($14-$15).
Open: Lunch: Wednesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Dinner: Tuesday-Saturday starting at 5 p.m. Closed Sunday and Monday.
What the Stars Mean:
★★★★Exceptional
★★★Very good
★★Satisfactory
★Skip it!
