ABOUT

Mike Wooldridge has spent most of his life in the service industry, working his way through kitchens and dining rooms while putting himself through school. For a time, that path led him into emergency medicine, working as an EMT and responding to 911 calls in Los Angeles.

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Even then, restaurants never really left. On weekends, he found himself back behind the bar or in the kitchen, drawn to the rhythm and energy of it. 

 

Around that same time, he was introduced to ramen in a way that stuck, as its popularity boomed in Los Angelese in the early 2010s. 

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After returning to Ellensburg in 2017 to be closer to family and the place he calls home, something clicked. The pace, the people, and the sense of community brought him back to the kind of hospitality work that had always felt most natural.

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 What started as curiosity for carefully crafted bowls in LA, blossomed back home in Washington, turning into years of learning, experimenting, and refining. He was making noodles at home, studying the process, and making trips across the PNW in search of great ramen.

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Over time, the idea became clear: to build a place in Ellensburg that reflected both the craft of ramen and the community around it, while highlighting PNW flavors, and his years of unique culinary experience.

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This restaurant is the result of that path, shaped by years in kitchens, time spent serving others in different ways, and a steady commitment to doing things with care.