White waves surge furiously in a stockpot so massive that it dwarfs the four-burner electric stove in chef David Wang\u2019s prep kitchen. The milky liquid, infused with 20 pounds of pork bones from heritage pigs at Rock Bottom Ranch in Basalt, has been bubbling for 30 hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s like a sauna in here,\u201d Wang explains, wearing a black T-shirt, tiny beads of perspiration dotting his temples. \u201cTonkotsu broth you have to boil! It\u2019s not the French method (of gentle simmering). It\u2019s white, like cream, because all the gelatin and protein is being emulsified into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I feel that. Stepping into the room was like getting punched in the face with heat from a blast furnace. Even with a back door wide open, the humidity is so thick that it feels like a tropical greenhouse. The night before, Wang recalls, condensation rained from the ceiling as outside temps dropped to unseasonable lows.<\/p>\n
When I return the next evening, June 25, Wang\u2019s kitchen is calm and decidedly un-sweltering. Two doors are propped open, allowing a cool breeze to float through the space. Buttoned up in a crisp black chef\u2019s jacket, Wang coolly arranges black stoneware bowls that resemble upside-down volcanos alongside accoutrements for his Tokyo-style tonkotsu broth with a Cantonese twist: slices of char siu (Chinese barbecued pork); menma, braised and fermented bamboo shoots; soft-boiled, peeled eggs marinated overnight in secret sauce; and a tangle of bright green scallion ribbons that have been soaked in water to wash away their raw pungency.<\/p>\n
\u201cI use my sharpest, nicest knife because I don\u2019t wanna bruise and damage the cellular walls,\u201d Wang explains. \u201cI want clean-cut scallions that pile up fluffy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Such details matter to Wang, but the main reason why a crowd of more than 30 people assembles in the first 30 minutes of a three-hour seating: stacks of yellow, curly wheat noodles, traditional for ramen in the Japanese capital city. Each bowl of broth (in final form the creamy pork liquid is blended with Cantonese royal chicken stock and cold-steeped dashi) gets a generous one-and-a-half bricks.<\/p>\n
Tonight Wang relaunches his semi-private dinner series from last summer, Umami Underground. This follows a seasonal \u201cRamen Takeover\u201d lineup that infiltrated local restaurants for one night at a time, including at Jimmy\u2019s Bodega and Meat & Cheese.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll do other stuff \u2014 the concept is umami \u2014 but ramen is what people want,\u201d says Wang, currently a private chef, formerly at the helm of Meat & Cheese and who launched Hao House as a winter-long popup. The series allows Wang to research and explore his obsession and share creative twists in a fun side project with friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like American barbecue,\u201d he says, \u201cramen in Japan is different from region to region: Hokkaido, Fukuoka, Tokyo; down south Osaka, Okinawa. I might do other types of ramen, like mazemen (brothless ramen) tsukemen (dipping ramen) \u2026 and even soba, Chinese dandan noodles, Taiwanese beef noodles. The underlying theme is noodles.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the name suggests, Umami Underground is a somewhat surreptitious endeavor: Potential guests must track down the chef (@kingandcook) to obtain an invitation in the form of a colorful, enameled \u201cramen monster\u201d coin redeemable for one meal. The intimate, BYOB events resemble a popup supper club in some urban area far from a ski town (\u201cBrooklyn,\u201d quips one former resident in attendance), and tend to draw a motley crew of chefs, bartenders, servers and creative acquaintances.<\/p>\n
The kickoff on Tuesday, June 25, happened to be the first Bourdain Day, and thus reason among Aspen\u2019s hardworking service industry to remember the traveling chef icon, who killed himself just before the 2018 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. Wang, along with many others, notes Bourdain as a key influence in his decision to begin cooking professionally. Interestingly, Umami Underground is exactly the kind of place that Bourdain \u2014 Emmy Award-winning \u201cParts Unknown\u201d host, who never attended the Food & Wine Classic in the 35 years he lived for it \u2014 might show up.<\/p>\n
Lindze Letherman, the general manager of Hooch Craft Cocktail Bar who estimates she\u2019s attended seven of Wang\u2019s dinners, believes that Umami Underground \u201cfills a unique niche\u201d for those in the Aspen food and beverage\/hospitality sphere to gather.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nowhere we can have that volume, that we can afford, and that is so consistently awesome,\u201d Letherman says.<\/p>\n
After she explains that it\u2019s important to support each other, Letherman backtracks. There\u2019s only one reason she and her husband are repeat diners: \u201cWe go because the food is really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wang consulted on a bar menu for Hooch, but it turned out that the lounge isn\u2019t a place where patrons actually order food, Letherman says. The conversation recalls Wang\u2019s position at Meat & Cheese, big sister to Hooch downstairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I left Meat & Cheese in April 2017, I\u2019d been wanting to do ramen prior to that for a long time,\u201d Wang says. \u201cThere was a demand for it \u2014 even a lot of adults ordered (the kids\u2019 menu ramen at Meat & Cheese), dressed it up the way they want it. But it wasn\u2019t my ramen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eventually, Wang tired of waiting. \u201cI\u2019m tired of rich landlords in Aspen, and the fact that the middle class cannot do anything cool here because we are so restricted by income,\u201d Wang opines, echoing countless other aspiring restaurateurs. \u201cIf I were to wait for a proper spot to do ramen, it probably would never happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next Umami Underground, slated for July 14, will showcase tantanmen (spicy sesame) ramen, inspired by Wang\u2019s recent visit to Michelin-starred ramen joint Nakiryu in Tokyo. He\u2019ll drizzle on \u201ca Szechuan-style red oil \u2014 the same on Chinese food,\u201d which harks to Wang\u2019s Chinese heritage and Southern California upbringing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to blend in some Chinese influences \u2014 do a hot-and-sour soup ramen, a mapo tofu ramen,\u201d the chef muses. \u201cMy posole soup at Meat & Cheese was a hit \u2026 maybe I do a posole ramen?\u201d<\/p>\n
While it might not be a moneymaker per se, Umami Underground is a worthwhile exercise simply because it flexes Wang\u2019s creativity while sustaining community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sell out every time with people on a waitlist, so I know people want it,\u201d Wang reiterates. \u201cBut how consistently do they want it? Would a ramen shop actually work in Aspen? I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n