Baka Umai Ramen Den Is Open in Northwest Portland

Last week Baka Umai (soft) opened their second location in Northwest Portland. Affectionately called the Ramen Den, they offer their same creative dishes in a new, cozy space—which previously was the second location of Grant’s Philly Cheesesteaks. I spoke with one of Baka Umai’s owners, Robert Greenup, recently to find out more about the Baka Umai Ramen Den. Here’s what I learned.

Baka Umai: What’s in a Name?

Baka Umai is owned by husband and wife team Robert and Sarah Greenup. But Robert was the one who chose the name of the ramen shop and is the main driving force behind the restaurants, due to his keen interest in and history with ramen.

“Baka umai” is a Japanese slang term meaning “stupid delicious.” I asked Robert why he wanted to call his ramen shop Baka Umai.

“Back when I went to Japan in 2016, I was with my mom,” he explained. “She’s from Japan, from Fujinomiya in the Shizuoka province. We were all there as a family and eating sushi with my cousin Koji. We ate some basashi, which is raw horse, and he’s like, ‘Ooh, baka umai!'”

He continued, “I knew what Baka was—I knew it was ‘stupid’ because my mom used to say it to me all the time growing up because I was, you know, a little pain in the ass.” His mom said, “It means good, like stupid.” And he thought, “Oh my God, if I ever open a ramen shop, I’m going to call it Baka Umai!”

Opening Baka Umai

At that time, he had never even considered opening a ramen shop, per se. “I just thought, that if I ever did open a restaurant, it would be ramen,” he remarked.

He continued, “And you know, three years later after throwing ramen parties at home for friends and family, it became a reality instead of just a dream. My joke was I didn’t always know what I wanted to do when I grew up; I said that until I was 40. But I always knew I wanted to run my own business.”

The Early Days

Robert and his first wife had their first child when they were in their early 20s, and then two children after that. He ended up getting a corporate job in the semiconductor industry—starting at an entry level position and then climbing the corporate ladder over the course of 19 years. It gave him a steady income and good health insurance.

He also studied hard in his field, eventually getting a master’s degree while working full time.

Eventually he I started making ramen at home and trying ramen around Portland. He thought that perhaps there was a market for what he wanted to do—pushing the boundaries of ramen beyond authentic Japanese styles into the realm of fusion in Portland. It was around 2017 when he started getting serious about a ramen shop where he could execute his ideas and dreams in ramen.

Opening Baka Umai During Covid

In 2020, the COVID pandemic came crashing down on us; Robert originally had planned to open Baka Umai in March of that year. Eventually he opened Baka Umai on June 5, 2020. I was curious to know what it was like opening the restaurant at the beginning of COVID compared to the experience working toward opening the second location in 2026.

“It was just insane,” he remarked. “The difference between then and now is that now is a little more predictable—back then and it was completely unpredictable.”

“We signed our lease in December 2019,” he explained. “And then COVID hit the next month. We wanted to open March of 2020, but there was a limit on how many people at a time we could have inside the space to do construction.”

It also became clear during that period of construction that they did not want to do takeout ramen. “I was like, that’s not the proper way to have ramen,” he said. “Because that’s the true representation of our food, I don’t want people to eat a bowl of ramen at home and decide we’re not any good. But by the time we could open, the whole city was shut down.”

They had to adjust. They did have a garage roll up window, so they made that work. People would walk up to the window and order ramen and then they’d pass it to them through the window.

“We started off pretty busy because we were one of the few restaurants that were actually open during COVID,” Robert explained. “So we were able to survive that first year or so. Once we started getting people inside, we started getting busier and busier year after year.”

The Appeal of Opening a Second Baka Umai Location

A lot of people might think opening a second location is a questionable decision right now in this economy. I’ve certainly heard comments sympathetic to this line of thinking. So I asked Robert why they decided to open this second location. Essentially, he felt like the growth had flattened out with the one restaurant, and that a second location would help financially by doubling their revenue.

On their side is the fact that they are on NW 23rd Avenue, which is very walkable, lots of foot traffic, and has a reputation of a part of town with good places to eat. So this location was a big draw for them. But before they landed here, they considered buying a building out in Sandy, Oregon, right on the highway; that fell through. They also looked at properties in Northeast Portland, Vancouver, Clackamas, and the Happy Valley area.

And, as they say, the rest is history. NW 23rd Avenue was—and is—their future.

It Needed Work, Though

One of the things they thought was going to work out for them was that the space, at first glance, seemed like it would be pretty easy to just move into. They didn’t think they had to dump a bunch of money into opening the shop. However, they ended up doing exactly that in the long run.

“It was kind of regretful,” remarked Robert. “Initially, we wanted to just be able to do a few cosmetic things, drop in some new equipment and then open up shop. We ended up having to saw concrete and do a bunch of plumbing, and pour concrete.” It was a lot of work, but it has yielded a beautiful space.

Food at the New Location

“We make all our own noodles and broth and everything from scratch,” said Robert. “And all our sauces. We’re one of the few shops in Portland that makes everything from scratch.”  

They’re going to keep the menu the same between the two restaurants. So if you are someone who knows and loves the OG Baka Umai menu, you are going to enjoy the food familiarity on NW 23rd Avenue location.

And while this place is called the Ramen Den, they do offer other things on the menu than ramen. Like karaage fried chicken, chicken katsu, bento bowls with rice and mixed vegetables, house-pickled veggies and ways to make things vegan and gluten-free.

“We have a lot of vegan ramen, and make our own vegetarian,” he explained. “We cater to everybody. We have modified a lot of our recipes to being completely gluten-free. I would say, about 80% of our menu can be made gluten-free and we cater to all types of food restrictions.”

He added, “We always try to come up with specials that can be vegetarian. We’ve got 13 appetizers—like small plates or small meals. Ten of them either are vegetarian or can be made vegetarian.”

The Vibe at the Ramen Den

The look and feel of the new location does differ from their original space. “We did invest a little bit more in the vibe at the new space,” explained Robert. “In our current space, I wanted it to be like very minimalistic. We have high ceilings at the Hawthorne location and it’s just very casual there.”

He continued, “And then the space that we took over [on NW 23rd Avenue], you go down some stairs—it’s like halfway underground and there’s very minimal natural light. You have maybe a 20-foot section of windows that allow natural light, but it’s already kind of tucked down in there. There are low ceilings, and so that’s why we went with the ‘ramen den.'”

Adding to that are ceilings painted black and the addition of moody lighting. And then there’s the ramen dragon mural. 

“We hired local artist to do a big dragon!” exclaimed Robert. “It adds a lot to the overall vibe.”

Plus, there are only about 26 seats in there, so it’s a little more intimate. And instead of counter service, they offer table service.

Full Bar

They have a full bar, which means beer, wine, cider, and liquor. “We’re going to go all out with our cocktails, just like we do our food,” said Robert. “We’re going to eventually be making our own bitters and shrubs.” Look for those to come.

This Includes NA, Too

They are looking forward to what they can create on the NA front. They have regular and Japanese sodas, and dedicate two taps to local kombuchas. They’ll also have local ginger beer and local ginger ale.

Dry cocktails are in the works, too, using fresh ingredients and interesting flavor combinations. They’d like to play around with making some mocktails with their draft kombuchas, too.

Favorite Things on the Baka Umai Menu

I love asking restaurateurs what their favorite things on the menu are. Here’s what Robert told me are his.

Tsukemen

“We do a thing called this tsukemen,” explained Robert. “It’s like ramen—like a dipping noodle. So you have the broth and one cup and then cold citrus noodles and another bowl, and then you dip the noodles in. It’s one of my favorites–it’s like extremely salty, super fishy.”

He added, “We have people come down from Seattle just to get it. It’s one of our more polarizing bowls.” He says that some people have told him that this is one of the grossest things they’ve ever had, but others have a different opinion. “Most of the people know what they’re getting into, and they’re like, ‘This is the the best bowl of ramen that I’ve ever had!'”

“I mean, it’s definitely something that is unique,” said Robert. “Nobody else is doing it. It takes like five days to make—it’s extremely labor ingredient and intensive.”

And because it’s made with cold noodles, it tends to sell better during the summer. “It’s definitely my favorite style of Japanese noodles,” he remarked.

Aka Mazemen

“So another one of my favorites is Aka Mazemen,” he said. “It’s a brothless ramen. We make our own house XO sauce, made with shrimp and scallops and shallots and oyster sauce. We make our own Sichuan bacon that we put in there.”

He continued, “So we have the XO sauce, and then we take serranos, poblanos, habaneros, Thai chilies, and jalapeños. We ferment those for a couple weeks with some garlic and onion, and then we blend it into a mash, cook that down with the XO sauce, and then toss the noodles in it.” I thought that sounded absolutely amazing.

“So that is one of my favorite dishes, and it definitely draws the crowd, too,” he remarked.

He says they have regulars—Portlanders and out-of-towners—that have been getting only that dish for five or six years. And sometimes that’s the only dish they want.

Chorizo

“And then my third favorite one is our Chorizo-men,” he said. We make our own Mexican-style chorizo in-house. It’s like a tantan-ramen-chorizo-Mexican fusion-bowl, or like a classic tantanmen.”

“So a regular tantanmen has ground pork, usually mixed with miso and some other stuff. But in this one we used chorizo instead. And then we do a Mexican-style pickled Korean radish that we put in there. And then we have a citrus-pickled onion that we put in there with cilantro and green onion and some spicy cabbage.”

“So there’s a lot of Mexican elements that go into that bowl. It was my first mad scientist idea when I was making ramen at home. And that’s the first thing on our menu.”

I wondered if the Mexican influence came from simply a deep appreciation for the cuisine or something in his family or a friend that affected him in the past. “It’s just that deep appreciation—it’s one of my favorite styles of food,” he said. “I’ve always loved spice—my dad got me into spice when I was younger—Mexican, Sichuan.”

He added, “We have a lot of Sichuan Chinese elements in a lot of our dishes, too. There’s just so many flavors and spices, aromatics and everything that they do. It’s just amazing!”

What Sets Baka Umai Apart

There’s the fact that they make their ramen noodles in-house, they create their own unique condiments, and they mix different flavor profiles together. Robert says that’s the start of what makes them special, but the sourcing is another important part of what they do.

“Part of our mission is to use local ingredients,” he explained. “Our noodles are made with local flour by small family farms in this country.” He mentioned Cairnspring Mills flour, as well as Carlton Farms for their pork. He also admitted that they have to import some things, but if they can get it sourced locally, they do.

Some Final Words

“We’re a family shop and a very small team,” said Robert. “Everything is a labor of love, and I have a lot of my family still working at the shop.”

And remember those three kids I mentioned earlier? They are all grown up—at 20, 22, and 24 years old—and all have helped at the shop. “All of them worked at the shop in some capacity for a while,” said Robert. 

“My oldest worked here a couple years and so he went off to go do his own thing as an electrician,” he explained. “Then my middle son works here full-time and he’s’s actually going to be running the Hawthorne location while I’m at the other location getting that going. And then my youngest son worked here part-time for a while until he got into the plumbing apprenticeship.”

Baka Umai Days and Hours

Last Thursday was their soft opening, and going forward they are looking at being open Wednesdays through Sundays. Wednesday through Friday will be 11am to 4pm, an hour break, then 5pm to 9pm. Saturday will be noon to 9pm. And then Sunday will be noon to 8pm. 

All the best to Robert, Sarah, their family, and Baka Umai team as they start off their time on Northwest 23rd in the Ramen Den!

Baka Umai Ramen Den [soft opened February 12, 2026]
1203 NW 23rd Avenue, Portland
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