Chicago Ramen

Chicago Ramen is a Japanese ramen shop on Oakton Street in Des Plaines, opened in 2020 by chef Kenta Ikehata. The house specialty is tsukemen, or dipping ramen, in which cold noodles and a thick, hot broth arrive in separate bowls. The menu also includes red and white miso ramen, chicken ramen, shrimp wonton ramen, vegetable ramen and a kids bowl.

What to know

• Ikehata trained for more than seven years at a Tokyo ramen shop before opening that brand’s first U.S. location in Los Angeles.
• An August 2023 Time Out Chicago review called the tsukemen the best version of the dish the writers had tried.
• The Des Plaines shop was the first in a group that now counts seven Chicago Ramen locations across the suburbs.
• The Daily Herald reported in July 2024 that Ikehata came to the U.S. in 2011.