Drop Your Pants for: George Kao, Part 1

George Kao is someone everyone should know, and we are lucky enough to have the privilege. George is on the forefront of the Asian food scene in NYC, and is a cool, friendly guy with thoughtful insights. And since there is nothing better than leftovers, we will deliver the rest of George’s interview later in the week!

Pants: Tell us a little bit about your background, and your recent move from Sake King to Ramen King:
George: I was born in Taiwan, raised in Tokyo (elementary school years), moved back to the states to a small town called Holmdel, NJ. I studied economics at Michigan State University, but after my last and final internship at Goldman Sachs ( I woke up) decided to pursue my true passion (food) and challenged myself in the Food and Beverage industry. I landed my first job as a National Sales rep for D’Artagan, where I was exposed to high-end specialty ingredients and got to know a ton of great chefs in the city. I worked for Harry Wils briefly and then ended up at New York Mutual Trading, where I became the Beverage Educator for the 85 year old Japanese Food and Beverage Importer and handled all alcohol distribution in the East Coast. After six years doing Japanese Sake, I missed working with Chefs so I looked around and an artisan noodle maker called Sun Noodle was looking for a National Sales Manager. The position felt right to me, and after discussing with my family, I left the Sake world to bring Ramen to the forefront of the American culinary scene.

Pants: Ramen- some people might just think “noodles” and not realize exactly how many varieties there are- can you give us the Ramen Cliffs Notes? We know there are hot and cold varieties, and different kinds of broth…
George: Below is a diagram i put together to highlight the five fundamental building blocks of a bowl of Ramen; so it is really the harmony of these 5 specific ingredients that make a single bowl shine. As far as noodles go, we work with just four ingredients: Water, salt, wheat flour and Kansui (which is sodium and potassium carbonate). Kansui is the single ingredient that makes “ramen noodles” Ramen noodles. Without it, you would get Udon or other forms of noodles from all over the world. With Kansui, we are able to achieve extremely strong gluten to form, which in turn gives you that nice toothsome feel. How do you know there is Kansui you ask? The natural alkaline like aroma is a dead giveaway. So with that said, from here, we source flour from all over the world and blend them together to form firm, brittle, chewy, bouncy, soft, wavy, straight noodles. We literally tailor-make noodles for our chefs to help highlight the uniqueness of each restaurant.

Pants: What are the characteristics of truly great ramen?
GK: Basically there’s harmony. You know you have something special in front of you when you can’t stop digging in and slurping away (by the way, slurping is polite. It shows the chef you mean business and want it bad). Your face is right in that bowl and you find yourself shoveling all that goodness in as fast as you can.

Pants: What are you favorite Ramen places in NYC and the world?
GK: It just so happens, my Corporate Executive Chef is none other than Chef Shigetoshi Nakamura. He is known in Japan as being the # 1 Ramen chef for many years and has recently moved to the states to work with Sun Noodle and spread the love of Ramen to the States. But if I were out and about, places like Chuko (in Brooklyn), Kambi, RaiRaiKen, and soon to pop-up Ivan Ramen and SakaMai on the Lower East Side.

Pants: New York has pockets of international cuisine all over the boroughs; Do you feel that more people are taking an interest in Ramen now than in the past?
Gk: Absolutely. And the number of Ramen Shops opening prove its not just a fad. We are looking at about 3 new Ramen shops opening each month he in NYC. More and more people are realizing the perfect meal can be packaged in one single bowl. Soup, starch, protein and vegetables, all working in harmony with each other.

Pants: Are there any other Asian specialities that you feel are ready for some time in in the NYC culinary spotlight?
GK: I say Japanese is and will be in the forefront for a while. It is just so dominant here in NYC, and I attribute it to two things: One, many of the noteworthy restaurants in the city are run by some of the best chefs in the world. The level of cooking done at even the line-cook position is relatively high and those talents are transeferable other professional kitchens doing other cuisines. I think the NYC foodie scene really took off in early to midd 2000’s, and precisely when sophisticated Japanese cooking took form in our city. Through decades of French kitchens paving the way for this sort of personnel infrastructure, the professional culinary scene was in a way established in NYC for the next big thing to happen. Spanish and Mediterranean cuisine had their moment but it is clear to say Japanese food is the dominating powerhouse in NYC and in many other of the big cities. Reason #2 why Japanese food is so dominant falls on the rather sophisticated palates of the residents patronizing the restaurants, giving them the ability to showcase their best. Japanese fine dining is extremely technical and also celebrates the quality of ingredients.

Check back later in the week for George’s thoughts on spice, hangovers, and Padma…