There are few things better than a savory bowl of ramen, and Joe Nierstedt makes a particularly comforting one. The former KinFolk co-owner is back with a new-but-not-unfamiliar concept, Katsubō, now open in Park Circle.
The noodle shop first started as a pop-up in spots like The Daily and Slightly North of Broad while Joe and his brother Kevin were still operating KinFolk on Johns Island. The pop-up was a way to beat the slower season on Johns Island between January and April, but still maintain staff.
“You’re basically telling people, ‘Sorry, you can’t work here anymore. I don’t have enough hours for you. …’ Which is really horrible,” he said. “And then you’re begging them to come back in April.”
So Nierstedt decided to start the fledgling concept while falling back on his days at New York City’s now-shuttered Mu Ramen. He used KinFolk as a commissary kitchen and got the well-received pop-up underway serving ramen and chicken sandos.
The noodle connection
Nierstedt is a James Island native but his father is from Jersey City, N.J. When he was freshly graduated from Johnson & Wales’ Charleston campus (he was part of the final graduating class), he decided to move to his dad’s hometown to gain experience in New York’s Michelin-rated kitchens.
Nierstedt developed a relationship with Mu’s owner, Joshua Smookler, while he was in the build-out process of another restaurant. Smookler was dividing his time between operating Mu and developing his new concept and needed an extra hand operating the ramen enterprise.
“ ‘I’m not, you know, a ramen chef. I love eating it but I’ve never prepared it,’ ” Nierstedt recalled telling Smookler.
At the time, the noodle shop was already rated as one of the best in the city. The recipes were in place but needed some-fine tuning in systemic processes. Nierstedt took on a role similar to a kitchen manager and with that, the opportunity to learn the art of ramen, documenting the processes in a notebook.
He admired the fact that each bowl of ramen is essentially made-to-order. He was enamored by its makeup.
Nierstedt said there are five elements to a bowl of ramen: tare, aromatic oils, broth, noodles and toppings — and in that order. As he discussed the bowl’s components, it’s clear that his time at Mu left an impact. He talked easily about the process he has honed, detailing how fats are rendered into infused oils for a clean finish.
He explained that a tare is what brings flavor to the broth, giving the example of shio tare. “Shio” means “salt” in Japanese so the staff takes a high-grade salt, kelp and sugar and steeps it in water at a light simmer until it’s nearly dissolved. Then when it’s chilled, fresh yuzu is added. The process takes 36 hours.
Mostly, the bowls take two tares: one saltier, umami tare like shio and another often rendered from the meat that bowls are topped with.
“A simple chicken broth can be turned into 10 very different types of ramen bowls by switching out your tares,” he explained. The options are endless with tare combinations, which is why some noodle shops have lengthy menus with a wide range of creative interpretation.
Not to malign those interpretations, but for the Charleston venture, Nierstedt wanted it to remain as authentic as possible.
The restaurant outsources its noodles to Hawaii-based Sun Noodle, opting for the diversity of noodles that the company offers over making one noodle in-house that the smaller Park Circle kitchen would allow.
“There’s a thought process behind pairing certain noodles with certain broths,” he said.
A legacy space
As KinFolk was entering its final year at the Johns Island location, Nierstedt and his Katsubō business partner, Abby Leibowitz, began looking for a new space.
They didn’t need anything massive but desired a turnkey opportunity in a centralized location. Overall, they searched for about a year and a half.
Then, they heard Jackrabbit Filly was moving. The Chinese restaurant was looking for a sizable upgrade from its first home at 4628 Spruill Ave., leaving the spot empty.
The problem was, it really wasn’t enough square footage.
“Honestly just the size of the kitchen … I didn’t see a KinFolk menu being produced out of this space,” Nierstedt said, noting that the location came with a smaller walk-in, doesn’t have a smoker or a place for an ice cream machine.
“Selling a lot of chicken takes up a lot of space,” he said. “This was more akin to the size of the ramen shop in New York City. So I thought, ‘All right, let’s bring back the pop-up in this space and have some fun with that.’ ” So while the pop-up was able to shine as a standalone brick-and-mortar, KinFolk is dormant in Nierstedt’s laptop … for now.
Nierstedt said he admired Jackrabbit’s optimization of space so the dining room layout is similar, but the decor is where Katsubō sets itself apart. Along the walls, guests may find odes to Japanese pop culture with depictions of anime and Godzilla for those “craving” a little more than just Japanese cuisine.
After all, “katsubō” does mean “craving” in Japanese. Given its success as a pop-up, maybe that’s exactly what the area was yearning for.
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