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Paper Crane delivers quality ramen, crafted cocktails to Iowa City through new opening
Chic dual space offers new sophistication for an emerging cuisine
Oct. 31, 2024 5:45 am, Updated: Oct. 31, 2024 12:19 pm
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IOWA CITY — After 12 years opening multiple Momofuku locations across North America, the last thing Iowa City restaurateur and chef Sam Gelman wanted to do was open a ramen shop.
But with a rare kind of passion from one chef in his award-winning kitchen at The Webster, it was an opportunity that could not be ignored.
A chic new duo opening this week with seating for fewer than 50 — restaurant on one side, cocktail lounge on the other — is delivering an elevated vision for ramen in a casual, full-service concept.
Paper Crane, a joint venture of executive chef Ed Lee and The Webster owners Sam and Riene Gelman, tentatively opens this week.
If you go
What: Paper Crane
Address: 121 N. Linn St., Iowa City
Hours: To be determined for lunch and dinner service
Website: papercraneic.com
Details: Features elevated ramen dishes and Asian-inspired small plates at a modest price in a lively shop enveloped by chic design. Or, enjoy sake, beer and wine alongside sophisticated cocktails in an intimate, refined lounge.
How is started
Growing up eating an abundance of Asian dishes analogous to ramen, Malaysia native Ed Lee’s new job started in a tongue-in-cheek way.
About nine months into his new job as a cook for The Webster, the former Pullman Bar & Diner sous chef approached owner Sam Gelman about a ramen pop-up.
“Ramen soups and stews are a big overall passion project for me,” Lee said. “I grew up eating a lot of that, and a large part of my earnest and close-to-heart cooking stems from my upbringing.”
With a big kitchen and the know-how, all he needed was to procure the right ingredients.
In Iowa City — which only had one ramen restaurant at that time — he wasn’t sure how seriously diners would take it. Perhaps it was a venture that could become full-time five years down the road, Lee joked with colleagues.
His first ramen pop-up at The Webster in early 2022 was extended for a second night, with plenty of diner interest. The second pop-up, about a year later, sold 400 bowls in two days.
By then, Lee and the Gelmans knew Iowa City was taking ramen seriously enough for a new, independent concept.
The food
Many diners, even experienced ones, have only seen ramen as the “dorm food” purchased in cheap packets.
Needless to say, Paper Crane’s bowls will be a little bit different — even from offerings at Ramen Belly in Iowa City or the Hokkaido Ramen House franchise in Coralville.
As ramen has gained popularity through new U.S. trends, the dish with Japanese and Chinese origins has been the victim of corner cutting by restaurants across the country in favor of simplified, quick service concepts.
“It’s easy for someone to just make a pot of soup, buy the cheapest possible noodles, throw it into a bowl and cover it with a lot of toppings,” Lee said. “What I find lacking is ... that is does not respect the set of origins and authenticity of the dish.”
When done well, it’s a two-day venture with preparation over many hours of simmering, stewing, steeping and straining. A bowl of ramen presented at Paper Crane preserves three layers of flavors in the soup’s base: the stock from animal and vegetable products, a separate tare sauce that infuses soy sauce, and an oil steeped in aromatics like garlic or ginger.
Paper Crane’s specialty noodles are served al dente with a texture that changes as the dish cools in front of you — whether in creamy pork or clear chicken broth. Each hearty bowl is topped with matching meats and traditional ingredients like soft-boiled eggs, bamboo shoots, scallions, bok choy or fish cakes.
Lee’s approach distinguishes his ramen from other restaurants that often focus their attention on the visible toppings that make for eye-catching photos. And, borrowing from The Webster’s ethos, Paper Crane ingredients will be locally sourced, whenever possible.
“This is an almost archaic and traditional way of making ramen, but no one else, as far as I know, does that,” Lee said. “The approach I have is much more in line with ramen shops in Japan.”
In a world that has largely appropriated ramen to capitalize on new trends, he cares most about respecting the dish’s humble origins.
“Ramen, as a dish, is historically blue collar — it’s peasant food,” said Lee, who first came to the United States for school. “I want to remind people of that, and not just slap fancy ingredients and labels on it and charge $30 for a bowl.”
Each bowl can be ordered with small Asian plates, like a crispy karaage chicken with yuzu aioli or a fresh cucumber salad.
The space
In what may seem like a paradox to ramen’s historical origins, the interior of Paper Crane is about as elaborate as its namesake’s art form. The space, previously home to the short-lived Marco’s Island in 2022 and Bashu Chinese Cuisine several years ago, has undergone a remarkable transformation.
“There’s not a surface in there that hasn’t been thought about,” Sam Gelman said. “There’s not a material that isn’t there for a reason.”
Modern wall and ceiling wood paneling resembles origami over the dining room’s communal-style seating. Toward the kitchen, a buffer of Shou Sugi Ban — an intensely charred Japanese style of wood — panels the walls with a deep dimension of black.
At the restaurant’s rear wall, a pop of teal on skinny, vertical subway tiles frames a large window looking into the kitchen. Bar seating lines the kitchen window and the restaurant’s street-facing window, offering patrons a choice of views for people-watching.
A few steps away, a sophisticated lounge awaits behind a floor-to-ceiling curtain. There, diners can enjoy beer, sake and wine, or cocktails designed for a crowd with more sophisticated tastes than the average bar in downtown Iowa City.
“Where do you go for a cocktail that isn’t green and foamy, and full of sugar,” Sam Gelman asked rhetorically.
The answer is: here.
Along the wall, banquette seating is lined by small tables and chairs opposite — perfect for couples catching a drink before dinner or a show. Above it all, large cranes fanning blue auras with their wings envelop the intimate space with elegance.
In quiet contrast to the lively ramen shop, diners won’t be able to order noodles there. The bar menu, modeled after a Japanese Izakaya, instead will offer shareable small plates eaten on skewers and toothpicks — or simply with your hands.
Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.
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